by Christine Mae Tecson
For the first time, the College of Education makes a breakthrough in pursuing its international presence through the conduct of an online field work with the Faculty of Tarbiyah Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kudus of Indonesia. The contrived field work lecture with the theme, Glocalization of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Learning through Local Potential-Based Projects, was conducted on August 13, 2020, at 9:00 A.M. (Philippine time) online.
The Online Field Work Lecture is part of a larger project of the college entitled Cross Country Collaboration: An Investigation of Pre-service Concept on Indigenous STEM Knowledge. The project aims to explore indigenous STEM knowledge between two countries (Philippines and Indonesia) and establish a cross-border online collaboration to work on projects based on indigenous STEM knowledge.
The online lecture which imparted valuable information to the 260 pre-service teachers of the Faculty of Tarbiyah (Education) IAIN Kudus, Indonesia, was presented by three of the esteemed faculty members of the Department of Science and Mathematics Education of the College of Education.
Dr. Monera A. Salic-Hairulla tackled about MSU-IIT Profile: In focus to Department of Science and Mathematics Education. She showcased the university’s vision and mission, history, accreditations, and achievements through the years. She highlighted the undergraduate and graduate programs under the Science and Mathematics Education of CED.
Dr. Manuel B. Barquilla discussed the Educational Policies and Status of STEM Education in the Philippines where he shared about the policies concerning STEM Education in the Philippines, the K-12 Curriculum, the status of STEM education in the country, and the capacity building experience of CED in terms of STEM education.
Dr. Amelia T. Buan shared about Exploring the Local Potential of Iligan City Philippines in
Teaching STEM for Global Learning. She featured the various researches in the field of STEM Education at CED which might be useful in identifying STEM learning activity during the online collaboration with the Faculty of Tarbiyah (Education) Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kudus, Indonesia. She also expressed her hopes for more international collaborations.
Muhamad Imaduddin, the head of Natural Science Education of the faculty of Tarbiyah, expressed his positive note on the new collaboration with CED in his personal Facebook account post saying, “Their hospitality, even though we haven’t met in person, has convinced me that this collaboration is a beautiful starting point and will last a long time.”
This endeavour was made possible through the joint efforts of Drs. Buan, Barquilla and Salic-Hairulla of CED and the cooperation of their counterparts from Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kudus, Indonesia, Muhammad Imadudin (Head of Natural Science Education), Achmad Ali Fikri (Head of Biology Education), and Arghob Khofya Haqiqi (Head of Mathematics Education).
This project is an enabling mechanism of the college to still move forward towards internationalization despite the absence of physical interaction and the existence of travel restrictions imposed during this pandemic. The College of Education hopes that this international initiative could help expand its international linkages in Southeast Asia and beyond.