There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemice changed many facets of our lives: the way we live, the way we work, the way we learn, and the way we interact with each other. Even society saw drastic changes in terms of economic, political and social developments, coupled with rapid advances in technology.
To be able to rapidly respond to the changing needs and demands of the education sector and the Filipino learners, Rex Education provided a further boost to its student-centered Edukampyon advocacy through online webinars and conferences for teachers and school administrators.
Champions of education
The Edukampyon advocacy has been Rex Education’s banner initiative. It calls for the empowerment of the whole community where all are duty bearers with an obligation to recognize, respect, protect, and fulfill the right of every learner to good, quality education. This advocacy has been the guiding principle of Rex throughout the years as it remained dedicated to grooming a whole Filipino learner who is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, challenged, and values-oriented.
The goal of the advocacy is to inspire all schools, all teachers, and all partners in learning to become duty bearers and champions of education.
Under the Edukampyon advocacy is Student Agency—a concept developed not only to answer the problems posed by the new normal of learning, but as a long-term approach to the development of education. Student agency is deeply rooted in the principle that students have the ability and the will to positively influence their own lives and the world around them. It is about promoting independent learning so the students are “agents in their own learning,” and that they have the most invaluable skill to have in life—which is wanting and learning how to learn.
To further engage all educators to adapt the Edukampyon mindset and Student Agency approach, Rex Education released online webinars through Rex Academy, and held the Annual Educators’ Conference (AECON) Summit at the beginning of the year.
AECON 2021 Education Heroes’ Summit
AECON 2021 Education Heroes’ Summit was the first-ever virtual AECON conference that brought together hundreds of educators all over the country for two days of learning and conversations on championing education and putting the learner at the center.
AECON is an annual summit attended by representatives from different basic, secondary, and tertiary institutions nationwide. To preserve this yearly tradition, Rex Education created a virtual conference site where participants were able to explore and roam around the 3D world, just like they would in a live conference. “Leveling up our virtual booths that we debuted at the 2020 CEAP Congress, this time, the virtual venue that we created for AECON 2021 Education Heroes’ Summit became a space for our attendees to gather together and learn. Even though we are still in the midst of a pandemic, we believe that learning should never take a backseat. So we went over and beyond to provide the same kind of energy and experience—if not better—to our participants, without sacrificing health and safety precautions,” says Don Timothy Buhain, chief executive officer of Rex Education.
The two-day virtual summit was packed with insightful talks and panel sessions to introduce the participants to the Edukampyon and Student Agency agendas. The lectures included: Student Agency by Dr. Katie Martin, author of Learner-Centered Innovation and globally renowned speaker-educator; and Bawat Paaralan Edukampyon for developing Whole Learners by Dr. Jerome Buenviaje, dean of the College of Education at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
Dr. Buenviaje’s talk on the Bawat Paaralan Edukampyon Initiative was an insightful session that aims to assist institutions to level up their processes and programs to be more learner-centric. Two panel discussions were held separately for basic and tertiary educations: Student Agency for Basic Education with Myla Lee, educator and instructional coach; and Student Agency for Tertiary Education with Fr. Johnny Go, SJ, director of Science and Art of Learning and Teaching (SALT) Institute at the Ateneo de Manila University, Dr. Chito Salazar, president and CEO of PHINMA Education, and Dr. Ronnel King, associate professor at the University of Macau and Education University of Hong Kong. Participants who attended the lectures secured CPD units, as approved by the Professional Regulation Commission.
Student Agency Webinar Series
Following the success of the first Edukampyon webinar series held last year to prepare educators for a school year amidst restrictions and challenges brought by the pandemic, Rex Education launched the Edukampyon Webinar Series 2, titled “Student Agency: Preparing an Independent Learner for the 21st Century.” This webinar series will dive deeper and more meticulously into the many disciplines of learning and teaching, and how educators can improve their resources, processes, mindset, and strategies to champion the Filipino Whole learner in every step of the way.
Developed in partnership with the Ateneo SALT Institute, each episode will tackle the fundamentals of Student Agency, underline the importance of promoting independent learning, and discuss techniques, approaches and practices for developing better engaged and more self-directed learners.
The webinar series kicked off last February 13, 2021 at the Rex Education Facebook page, and will continue to release new episodes every Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Next in the lineup are: Gradual Release of Responsibility—a Key to Independent Learning with Rita Atienza on April 17; Using a Language of Agency—10 Things to Say to Students Everyday with Rita Atienza on April 24; Using Technology to Enhance Learner Agency with Galvin Ngo on May 8; and Developing the New Literacies with Ryan Bulosan on May 15.
Those who missed the first episodes of the Student Agency webinar series can watch them at the Rex Education Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/watch/230137773679127/889845978456127/.
For more information about Edukampyon and Student Agency, visit www.rex.com.ph/edukampyon.