After the devastating typhoons Rolly and Ulysses came class suspensions, aggravating the already challenge-filled learning atmosphere brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention connectivity issues.
Under this circumstance, two innovative faculty members from the UST Department of Political Science of the Faculty of Arts and Letters were able to take on the challenges of teaching and learning in the so-called ‘New Normal’ as opportunities, and joined their classes for an international lecture with experts from abroad.
Asst. Prof. Ronald Castillo teaches Introduction to International Relations and Global Politics, while Asst. Prof. Ma. Zenia Rodriguez teaches Gender Studies. Both courses are offered to the current batch of junior political science students at the Faculty of Arts and Letters. Together, the two faculty members bridged education technology, internationalization, and alumni relations towards a better normal pedagogy by holding an International Professional Lecture in Political Science on December 5, 2020.
With the hope that this activity becomes a first in a series, the endeavor was an in-class activity for both their courses who got together using a UST-Zoom classroom using the faculty account of one of the professors. With the help of AB Political Science alumnus, Angelo Brian Castro M.Sc, they invited two researchers from the National Chengchi University, Taiwan, to share practical, research-based insights on International relations and gender studies.
The first speaker was Mr. Antonio Bolaños Casanova, Jr., MSSC, of the International Doctoral Program on Asia Pacific Studies, who gave a talk on Cross-Straitization of Higher Education: A Harbinger of Cross-Straight Peace.
The second speaker, Prof. Chuing Prudence Chou, Ph.D., of the Department of Education, National Chengchi University, spoke on Institutionalized Gender Bias and the Impacts of SSCI and SCI Indexes on Women.
The activity was stimulated by the trainings from UST EdTech and UST CITED for the development of new normal pedagogy and was incorporated into the course plans prepared before the start of the academic year beset by the Covid-19 pandemic.
