ETHICS 1 SYNTHESIS

Background

The Ethics 1 Conversations with the theme “Baon-Bidahan: How did you teach GE X in your CU?” happened last April 26, 2021 from 10:30 AM to 12:00 NN. The panel discussants are Prof. Ma. Liza Ruth Ocampo (UPD), Prof. Ma. Paula Sioco (UPM), Prof. Krissah Marga Taganas (UPLB), and Prof. Olivia Mendoza (UPB). The panel members discussed the relevance of Ethics in the time of the pandemic, the Ethics 1 course pack, classroom management strategies, and challenges and opportunities respectively.

Panel conversation/sharing

Prof. Ocampo began the panel conversation by sharing her thoughts about the relevance of Ethics 1 during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. She argued that the relevance Ethics 1 springs from (a) its very nature as a GE subject and (b) from its content. In relation to its nature as a GE subject, the relevance of Ethics 1 lies in the fact that it trains UP students to think critically about social problems of our country and be active contributors to making a better and progressive Filipino nation. In relation to its content, the relevance of Ethics 1 lies in its being able to train students to reason morally about the dilemmas and issues we face during this pandemic. Also, Ethics 1 helps them articulate their moral judgments about these dilemmas and issues and translate them into action.

Prof. Sioco continued the panel conversation by sharing her thoughts about the mental health issues of students in the context of the virtual classroom. She argues that there is a need to recognize these issues because, as professors, we have the duty to be the ‘parents’ of these students in the classroom. Part of this duty is to protect them from foreseeable harms which include psychological or mental health harms. Proceeding from this ‘in loco parentis’ principle, she argued that we need to pay attention to the following mental health challenges that our students face in the virtual classroom:

1. The feeling of not being in control of their life (lack of autonomy and freedom) leads to anxiety.

2.They are isolated from their classmates and teachers and not being able to establish a connection with them.

3. The feeling of not being able to spontaneously express their emotions and ask questions directly.

4. The feeling of fear in anticipation of the coming class; being ashamed and anxious of being shouted at by their teacher in a virtual classroom-setting.

5. Some family members are suffering from COVID-19.

6. Some freshies are enrolled in 21 units.

To accommodate these mental health challenges, Prof. Sioco proposed the following measures, which she said she adopted in her virtual classes:

1. Practice empathy and compassion, i.e., to try to feel what they are feeling; imagine ourselves in their situation.

2. Sensitivity and compassion, i.e., conscious of how we express our messages to avoid hurting their feelings (e.g., email messages, messenger, FB).

3. extend patience and understanding to them.

4. Practice resiliency/flexibility, i.e., adjust our requirements but still be firm on what should be the bare minimum.

To share the UPM experience in relation to the development of the Ethics 1 course pack, Prof. Bernard Caslib proceeded to discuss his Ethics 1 course pack he developed in Canvas as a Learning Management System (LMS). He shared that he found it helpful to divide the content of Ethics 1 into seven (7) modules. Each module contains a motivation portion that utilizes comics and short videos; a main portion that contains his recorded discussion of the topic; and an exit part that asks the students to answer some questions that require them to summarize what they have learned in the module.

Prof. Mendoza began the second half of the panel conversation by sharing the UPB experience on the assessment tools and classroom management strategies that worked for them in teaching Ethics 1 in a virtual classroom. According to Prof. Mendoza, the formative assessment tools that worked among her UPB colleagues are:

1. Live chat recitations, i.e., recitations using the live chat functionalities of LMS.

2. Open sharing sessions, i.e., individualized efforts to contribute to classroom discussions.

3. Silent meetings, i.e., meetings that employ the Pomodoro technique, encouraging students to work on specific tasks with 25-minutes bursts.

4. Podcast questions, i.e., where students are asked to listen to philosophy/ethics podcasts on the internet (e.g., BBC, Philosophy Bites, IAI TV, etc.).

The summative assessment tools that worked for UPB, according to Prof. Mendoza, are as follows:

1. Short essays/position papers/thought pieces – a short written requirement would encourage students to articulate their thoughts/ideas succinctly.

2. Forum – students can be asked to contribute to discussions about a question posed in the forum section of LMS.

3. Video essays – instead of writing their thoughts about a topic, a student can be asked to deliver his/her insights through a short video.

With regards to classroom management, Prof. Mendoza relayed that the following worked for them in UPB:

1. Class participation proposal – students are asked to identify the forms of meaningful participation that he/she can do during the semester; the student’s success to fulfill this proposal would merit him/her a perfect score in the class participation.

2. Timely/quick assessment

3. Weekly/bimonthly meeting sessions (especially for asynchronous classes)

4. Deadline extensions

To end the panel conversation, Prof. Taganas shared the challenges that the UPLB philosophy division encountered in the teaching of Ethics 1 in the virtual classroom, along with the opportunities that these challenges allowed them to explore in the teaching of the subject. According to Prof. Taganas, the following are the challenges:

1. Internet access and technical issues during synchronous meetings

2. Lack of class interaction and student engagement

3. The difficulties associated with work-from-home set-up

4. COVID-19 induced anxieties

5. Learning new pedagogy suited to online learning

6. Mental health issues from both students and teachers

Due to these challenges, Prof. Taganas shared that they were prompted to explore the following:

1. Innovate and enhance new and creative teaching pedagogies, strategies, and skills

2. Use educational content found in social media

3. Empower independent learning

Q&A session

During the Q&A sessions, three questions were asked.

The first question is about how to maximize the synchronous sessions with students. The panel unanimously endorsed the idea that we could view the synchronous discussion as a venue (a) to provide further examples/illustrations to the abstract concepts/ideas contained in the learning materials and (b) encourage them to ask their questions and clarifications about the learning materials. It has also been emphasized that the synchronous sessions must impress the dialogical nature of ethical and philosophical inquiry.

The second question is about how to encourage students to participate in synchronous sessions. As a response, Prof. Ocampo honestly answered that she gives bonus points to those who participate. Prof. Mendoza emphasized the importance of designing and structuring well synchronous sessions to emphasize the value of being PROACTIVE to students. Prof. Taganas furthered the discussion by saying that the professor's clear, interesting and creative formulation of discussion questions could already inspire students to participate actively.

The third question is about the alternative assessment tools that could be employed in the online setting. The following are some of the suggestions:

1. Questions/quizzes that would require students to find/locate the answers in the readings themselves. The process of searching for the answers is already a form of learning.

2. Focus on the application of concepts/ideas/theories. Rather than asking ‘What’ questions, ask ‘How’, ‘Why’, ‘So what’ questions.

3. Explore non-written forms of assessments, e.g., video essays

4. Ask questions that require higher-order thinking skills to be answered

5. Case studies in the Philippine context, e.g., Community pantry

 Prepared by Vlademire Kevin D. Bumatay