Deliriously Happy

There is nothing like good pizza, good stories, and a good-looking woman to make your day. My officemate tells me that my guest looked like Sam Oh. But I remember her as my OJT, many many years ago, when the Online Learning Center still existed.

I marvel at our similarities... She was Chinese-Filipino with a Filipino howe (girlfriend/boyfriend)... I was a Filipino with a Chinese-Filipino howe... Both of us had our fair share of pains with our clandestine relationships... and last but not least... we were both very sensitive souls... and we would find ourselves both crying about the crazy things happening in our lives back then.

She amused me with her stories about Oracle consultancy projects at Philippine Airlines, finding work in the US, and telecommuting. I did not tell her then, but the similarities were just too bizaare: I had been doing my fair share of consulting work with ADB, I was considering some interesting overseas opportunities, and I was doing some telecommuting work for some clients.

But the similarities ended there. She and her howe had chosen to get married, and she was eagerly awaiting returning to the US to rejoin her husband who works as a SPED teacher. I had chosen a different path since losing a relationship of seven years. With my howe, I had lost touch and let go.

At the end of about an hour, my OJT left and I was at an emotional high.

It was empowering for me to be reminded about my power of choice. And I was glad that many years ago, I made the right choice to reach out to this person.

To Teena, thanks for making my day.

Supporting Online Learning

I just had a long discussion with one of our part-time teachers trying to make online learning work at another school. He was (visibly) frustrated. Among other things he didn't have

• Facilities (No computer lab to work in, and internet connections were difficult to access)


• Support (No management or technical support)


• Student Competency and Aptitude (Some students did not like online learning and did not care to like it)

He then said that he began thinking more about the things that I had said regarding online learning as BOTH a teacher choice and a student choice. I had also been thinking about this during the holidays and it seemed that for online learning to move to the next level at DLS-CSB, I would need to work with others in coming up with policies that are more supportive of online learning practices. Together with some administrator-friends, we created a draft of policies for online learning at DLS-CSB.

Some highlights of these policies:

• Proposed certification system for online faculty;


• Level-certified online faculty may declare up to 50% of their total lecture hours as online sessions (for these sessions, faculty and students may decide to be off-campus);


• Level-certified online faculty can declare online sessions as make-up classes (with some conditions)

I will be presenting the draft to our online learning teachers for their comments in the next two weeks. Wish us luck.