Miriam College, in partnership with C & E Publishing, Inc., held ExCel Plus at the Henry Sy Sr. Innovation Center at Miriam College in Quezon City from February 27 to March 1, 2017. ExCel Plus is a rerun of the Executive Course on E-learning for Leaders (ExCel), a three-day academic credit-earning graduate certificate program for school leaders first held in October 2016.

ExCel Plus provided more than 60 administrators and owners of basic education institutions nationwide with expert input and workshop sessions on the principles and practices vital to leading schools towards technology integration. The program looked into three strands of learning, namely innovisions, which focused on scenario planning, an alternative strategic planning for integrating technology in Philippine schools; risks involved in developing e-learning; and characterizing e-learning innovators through decisions and drivers.

The certificate course is equivalent to three academic units and part of Miriam College’s Master in Education major in e-learning. It is a graduate program for a 43-unit non-thesis diploma course which can be completed in two academic years. Course participants who will enroll in the graduate program in August 2017 will be exempted from taking the major subject “Learning and Teaching with Mobile Technology.”

Dr. Edizon Fermin, director for innovation development and high school principal of Miriam College, and Marion Jude Gorospe, library and media center supervisor of Miriam College and former president of the Philippine Association of School Libraries, Inc. (PAARL), led the institution’s team of course facilitators which included innovation program coordinator Sophia Soledad de Guzman, e-learning specialist Justin Josef Villano, Department of Natural and Engineering Sciences chairperson Resty Collado, Miriam College High School assistant principal for academic affairs Reina Rama, science and technology supervisor Rosemarie Punsalan, and mathematics faculty Celeste Joy Matias. E-learning specialists from KITE E-Learning Solutions, Inc., C & E Publishing’s educational solutions division, also assisted the participants during the workshop sessions.

In her opening remarks, Ms. Candida Gomez, president and chief executive officer of C & E Publishing, emphasized the benefit of the professional development program for both learners and educators:

In this era of rapid technological changes in education, I believe that everybody in the education sector, most especially school administrators and policymakers, must be equipped with the necessary tools, programs, and interventions to effectively facilitate the integration of technology in the classroom.

Dr. Rosario Lapuz, president of Miriam College, also shared her optimism in collaborating with each of the participating schools:

I think that our partnership [with your institution] is going to work well. It’s going to be a merging of two entities that are really committed to the same things: education, 21st century learning, and empowerment of teachers.

In April 2016, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) granted Miriam College an autonomous status effective until May 31, 2019, while its College of Education was designated as a Center of Excellence for Teacher Education. Miriam College is the only higher education institution in the Philippines that offers a major course in e-learning as part of its graduate program in education. More than 400 teachers and 1,800 students have undergone its e-learning program since 2011.