Faculty of Information and Communication Studies

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    17 MOOCs In Six Emerging APEC Member Economies –Trends, Research, and Recommendation
    (Routledge, 2020) Jung, Insung ; Garcia Mendoza, Gibran A. ; Fajardo, Jennifer Christine ; Figueroa, Roberto B. Jr. ; Tan, Siaw Eng
    A collaborative team of five foreign researchers who reside in Japan purposefully conducted research to describe the development of MOOCs in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Mexico. It is important to point out that these countries represent six emerging economies that are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It seeks to answer three key questions: (1) When did MOOCs begin in APEC countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America? (2) How did they develop? (3) How were they supported? To accomplish these goals, research articles published in relevant local, regional, and international journals together with related books and reports were thoroughly examined. Furthermore, interviews of local experts were also conducted to provide meaningful context. This chapter begins with a review of the overall trends of MOOC growth in the six selected countries. It then discusses research findings and local experts’ comments on MOOC-based learning experiences and points out various challenges currently faced as well as apparent opportunities moving forward. Finally, it concludes with several valuable lessons learned from the MOOC experiences of those emerging economies.
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    A Communication Analysis of Climate Change Knowledge Gaps Between Uplands and Lowlands Farmers in Nueva Ecija, Philippines: A Validation of the Knowledge Gap Theory
    ( 2018) Irabagon, Maria Loida D.
    This study primarily aims to determine the knowledge level of 120 upland rice farmers and lowland rice farmers in Nueva Ecija, Philippines on climate change, with the hope of validating the Knowledge Gap Theory by Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien. In validating the said theory, the study looked into the relationship of the respondents' socio-economic status with their knowledge level on climate change as hypothesized in the theory. It also aims to recommend policies on disseminating climate change knowledge and information particularly at the local level. The study used the snowball sampling technique and the data were gathered using quantitative and qualitative methods. The T-test analysis and Pearson Correlation Analysis was used to determine the knowledge level of the respondents and to test the relationship of the variables. The results show that the respondents from the upland and the lowland were knowledgeable about climate change, its causes, effects, and impacts as well as to the climate change programs of the government. The respondents, however, were Only slightly knowledgeable on the technical aspects of climate change. Most of them were also not familiar with some of the recommended adaptation technologies as those technologies were not introduced to them. Additionally, the results of the key informant interviews revealed that the local government unit of Carranglan„ Palayan City, and San Isidro, Nueva Ecija were active in disseminating climate change knowledge and information and adaptation technologies. They did this through the conduct of different activities such as seminars, Farmers Field School, and Lakbay-Aral. Of the four local government units (LGUs), Guimba had the least number of activities on agricultural extension concerning climate change adaptation. The communication activities of various research and development and academic institutions such as the Araullo University, Central Luzon State University, and Central Luzon Agriculture and Aquatic Resources Research and Development Consortium also helped in educating the respondents on climate change. Drawing on from the results of this study, it is recommended that researchers should explore the effect of other factors—particularly the social and communication factors—in studying the knowledge gaps among groups of interest especially if the form of knowledge that will be tested is global in nature and one that includes technological interventions. It is also recommended among LGUs to strengthen their extension services on climate change. The study also recommends, in particular, the continuous implementation of the Farmers Field School and partnerships with.
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    A CSR Practitioner's Communication Practices in Engaging the Local Community in Watershed Conservation: An Autoethnography
    ( 2024) Amata, Dennis John M.
    This study aimed to answer the following questions: What are the CSR practitioner’s communication practices in engaging the local community in watershed conservation and what are the underlying views and assumptions of the communication practices? By positioning himself as the primary subject, the researcher employed autoethnography to deeply explore his interactions and communication practices used to engage a local community. Autoethnography as a research framework and methodology not only allows for an in-depth and reflective examination of his personal experiences but also provides a rich, nuanced understanding of the complexities involved in community engagement. The research methodology included gathering and review of the CSR practitioner’s personal journals during the implementation of the project from 2022- 2023, as well as a thorough review of related literature. Thematic analysis was employed to identify and explore recurring themes and provide insights into the patterns of his engagement with the local community. His journals were classified into two vignettes which included his communication practices when in project implementation and when the community is in conflict. Four communication practices during project implementation emerged in the analysis of data: engaging and empowering community leaders, integrating the local community’s wisdom and traditions; engaging the community in a long-term partnership; and recognizing literacy constraints. Each of these practices is made up of sub-practices, including: ● Sharing roles and responsibilities with the community ● Letting the community lead the completion of the project ● Including local voices in decision-making ● Inviting community leaders to educate employees and stakeholders ● Being mindful of local customs and traditions ● Respecting hierarchical structures ● Using the local language ● Involving community members in the storytelling process ● Bridging the language barrier ● Visiting the community to personally connect ● Immersing in the local community The findings from this study can inform more effective CSR communication practices and contribute to the growing body of research on the role of communication in fostering successful community engagement and partnerships in sustainability initiatives.
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    A Descriptive Analysis of C4D Model in CSR Communication – The Amway Philippines “One by One Campaign for Children” Case Study
    ( 2018) Ochoa, Michelle P.
    Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication happens extensively during project implementation, across various levels, and between various stakeholders. The importance of communicating the message and intention of the company is vital to the achievement of sustainable goals for individuals and communities that benefit from such initiatives. Amway Philippines' “One by One Campaign for Children” is a global campaign supporting various children’s causes worldwide. In the Philippines, the program is aimed at SDG 4, or supporting quality education through a values-laden literacy through storytelling campaign under the Department of Education’s Adopt-A-School Program (ASP). It was proven that in all locations where the Amway business operates, public school partners and students benefited from library renovations and other related support activities, which resulted in a sustainable relationship through effective communication and technology, such as email communication, social media channels, that mobilized volunteers across the organization. Morsing and Schultz (2006), noted that engagement in present times requires a more sophisticated and ongoing stakeholder awareness and more focused CSR communication strategies than previously. This solidifies the need to make a CSR communication platform as that is “sustainable” and more attuned to the needs of various stakeholders. The element of “sustainability”, makes the Amway Philippines One by One Campaign a movement to uplift the lives of its beneficiaries. The communication for development (C4D) model, allows the campaign to tap into various forms of communication, and utilize the technology that allows the implementation on a global and affiliate level. The barriers of distance and time is no longer a challenge since the messaging tools are freely utilized using email, social media channels, and the Amway web-based resources such as blogs, microsites, and websites. Feedback is gathered, and dialogues are made to open up the communication lines either personally or through technology-aided communication.
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    A Digital Platform for the Documentation and Exploration of Drag Culture and Artistry in the Philippines
    ( 2025) Bacanes, John Victor R.
    Makulay: A Digital Platform Prototype for the Documentation and Exploration of Drag Culture and Artistry in the Philippines is a project addressing the need for structured, inclusive, and accessible digital spaces for Filipino drag. Filipino drag remains underdocumented even though drag has gained visibility through popular culture and media. To address this gap, Makulay is designed as a digital platform that functions as a cultural archive, educational resource, and community hub dedicated to preserving and amplifying drag artistry in the Philippines. As informed by Queer Theory, Performance Theory, and the Queer Speculative Design for Cultural Empowerment (QSDCE) framework, this study employs a User-Centered Design (UCD) methodology. These perspectives guide both the conceptual grounding and design process, hence it ensures that the platform is inclusive, responsive, and culturally empowering. With that, the prototype integrates features such as drag artist profiles, an interactive historical timeline, a drag culture dictionary, a multimedia repository, and virtual interactive community hub. The data collection involved in this study were interviews, surveys, and user evaluations, which were analyzed thematically to identify user needs and challenges. Findings highlight four recurring themes: the urgency of archiving drag culture, the demand for representation and visibility, structural challenges faced by drag communities, and the potential of digital platforms to provide spaces of preservation, education, and empowerment. By situating Filipino drag within a digital framework, Makulay contributes to cultural preservation, queer representation, and multimedia design practices. The project demonstrates the role of digital platforms in legitimizing drag artistry and sustaining community engagement.
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    A Grounded Theory of Developer Communication in Extreme Programming Practices
    ( 2024) Viray, Ben Hur C.
    There is evidence that Extreme Programming (XP) software development practices are still actively used by Information Technology (IT) projects under the Agile methodology, one of the famous software development life cycle (SDLC) models. However, more information about the communication between programmers or developers for these XP practices is needed. Thus, this study, employing a constructivist grounded theory (CGT) design which emphasizes the construction of knowledge through the interpretation of data, was conducted to explore developer communication for significant XP practices. For the initial data, the researcher was fortunate to have the participation of eleven out of fifteen IT professionals, each with at least a decade of work experience. Their expertise was invaluable in shaping the direction of the research. Three out of four identified developers also participated in a follow-up questionnaire. Subsequently, semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted, focusing on their top three practices: Planning Game, Test-Driven Development (TDD), and Small Releases, which were selected based on their perceived importance in IT projects. During the interviews, it became evident that the developers play multiple roles, each significantly influencing communication. These fourteen identified roles highlight their work’s diverse and complex nature: Assessor, Collaborator, Coordinator, Designer, Developer, Documenter, Interpreter, Learner, Mentor, Negotiator, Presenter, Researcher, Tester, and Translator. The developers interacted with seven teams categorized into four groups based on their modes of communication: Direct Managers and Change management under Linear-Interactional, Business Team under Interactional, External Developers, Functional Resources, and Technical Team under Interactional-Transactional, and Transactional-Interactional for Internal Developers. With all the combined practices, roles, and interactions, this study has proposed an XP Developer Communication (XPDC) model. This framework can serve as a guide for understanding and improving developer communication in XP projects. For instance, it can help identify the key roles and their communication needs or guide the selection of appropriate communication modes for different teams. Although not all XP practices are covered, the components are enough to cover all the essential developer communication practices in XP.
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    A Home for Psychotic Depression: Building a Personal Knowledge Base for Meaning-Making in Obsidian
    ( 2025) Velo, Christian Paul R.
    This project outlines the creation of a multimedia prototype for an interactive digital environment that supports meaning-making, particularly in the context of psychotic depression, where meaning-making is severely compromised. The prototype comes in the form of a personal knowledge base (PKB) that captures and explores situational meanings and facilitates assisted meaning-making. The PKB was produced through techniques adapted from personal knowledge management — such as Johnny.Decimal, the Slip-box Method, and Maps of Content — and insights formed from my lived experience with psychotic depression, including a private dataset containing my firsthand account of the condition and other personal information. The methodology employed for the project is an iterative design approach that employs Obsidian third-party plugins, CSS, JavaScript, and Python to extend the functionality of the default Obsidian vault into a PKB optimized for meaning-making. Each iteration was documented using a changelog with semantic versioning. The methodology is rooted in the proposed Multimedia Meaning-making Model for Psychotic Depression (M4PD), a novel integrative framework derived from Hyper-meaning (van Os, 2014), Kegan’s Theory of Meaning-making (Kegan et al., 1982; Kegan, 1994), and the Meaning Making Model (Park, 2022). The project spanned an estimated 1 year, with the latest version of the PKB at Version 2.2.0. The PKB has multiple features that collectively enable the streamlined capture and exploration of situational meanings — which are excessive in states of psychosis — and facilitate assisted meaning-making, which addresses the disruptions to global meaning caused by depression. It is to be noted that the PKB successfully produced a topological network of over 12,000 nodes, comprised of entries about psychotic depression and my personal life from 2018 to 2025, suggesting an emergent yet unrefined map of my meaning-making. The results presented in this project are part of an ongoing, larger effort to develop an interactive digital environment for supporting meaning-making. The project concludes with a call for a future product, unique enough to warrant its own designation — the Personal Meaning Base or PMB.
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    A Narrative Inquiry into the Meaning of Smoking among Farmworkers in Southern Philippines
    (Southeastern Philippines Journal of Research and Development, 2024-09-14) Malinda, Reymark P. ; Flor, Benjamina Paula G.
    Cigarette smoking is recognized as a global health threat. By the same token, it remains highly prevalent in low and middle-income families like farmworkers, despite efforts by the government and private health agencies to prevent smoking. Thus, this study explored the meaning of smoking among farmworkers and how the meanings reproduced their tenets while living in a farming community. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that qualitatively investigated the smoking phenomenon among farmworkers in a rural area in Southern Philippines— a topic that has not been treated in much detail in the literature. The research framework used in this work is the socio-cultural tradition (SCT) of communication theory, which theorizes communication as the (re)production of the social order. Using narrative inquiry, the study delved into the seven narratives of farmworker participants about the meaning of smoking. Individual open interviews were conducted among the participants to elicit stories relative to their experience with smoking. The data were analyzed through re-storying and narrative thematic analysis, yielding five themes constituting their meaning of smoking that reproduced a new social order. Results showed that smoking is (1) a parent and peer influence, (2) a means to manage negative feelings and emotions, (3) a thought-provoker and organizer, (4) a culture among friends, and (5) an integral part of life. All these meanings consequently formed and reinforced a new social order, seemingly an indestructible barrier to smoking cessation. Anchored on SCT, it can be surmised that farmworkers’ tenets, while living in their community, were reproduced by these meanings of smoking that governed their lives.
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    A Narrative of Haribon’s Online Environmental Advocacy
    ( 2017) Corcuera, Winnie Aurea D.
    This qualitative study aims to understand the experience of Haribon Foundation, a non-government environmental organization, in using social media as a communication platform for environmentalism. It describes the mechanisms used by Haribon to make its presence felt online and investigates how environmental communication survived in an online advocacy. This study was written with a problem-solution or issue-realization sequence in six parts based on William Labov and Joshua Waletzky's natural narrative. These are abstract, orientation, complicating action, resolution, evaluation, and coda. The communication officers of Haribon were observed and interviewed for this study. Results revealed the crucial role of the communication officers as vehicles of information between Haribon and its audience. Communication officers are advantaged if they are knowledgeable about the advocacies as well as equipped with the skills in delivering these advocacies to the audience through social media. The strategies in promoting Haribon's advocacy through Facebook (FB), Twitter, and Instagram were the use of informational campaigns through creative posts, sharing trivia about specific topics, riding on popular culture, conversing with the audience, linking and tagging posts to partner international organizations, and using FB boosts and analytics. Through the communication officers' experiences, this study drafted a theoretical framework as a guide in developing a social media strategy or plan for non-government organizations of the same nature.
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    A Perception Study of Behavioral Change Through Communication: The Edukasyon Social Marketing and Mobilization Project
    ( 2017) Calayag, Roxanne
    Sustainable behavioral change is a by-product of communication through action. This scenario happens when people realize the perceived benefits and values of making a change in one’s behavior, for instance, towards exercising the right of children to education. Given the power of communication as reflected in social marketing and social mobilization programs, this study aimed to analyze the perception of parents towards the potential influence of communication (through the Eduk-Aksyon Program) in insinuating sustained behavioral change. Through focused group discussions, interviews and cross-case analyses of parents who continued to send their children to school even without government reinforcement through the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), it was found out that Eduk-Aksyon Program led to a sustained change in behavior of parents. Change was brought about by communication – through – action – via channels including the distribution of school supplies and the realization of perceived benefits of their children’s schooling. The factors intrinsic about the Eduk-Aksyon project that parents mostly value that led them to sustained behavioral change included the distribution of school supplies, the rewards and incentives systems, and the holistic development initiated by the program both mentally and spiritually. These factors were viewed as a means to alleviate the burden from the family by shouldering a portion of the overhead expenses at school. Meanwhile, the parent’s motivations in sending their children to school would be their personal and moral obligation to provide their kids the right to education; and the vision that education is the key to escape the vicious cycle of poverty. As compelling as it sounded, the rationalized benefits from the perceived outcome of completing or graduating from school, contributed to sustained behavioral change of parents. The findings from the content analyses of the transcripts affirm what Bandura suggests – that behavioral change can be determined by an interplay of both personal motivations and external factors. In this case, the respondent’s behavior, together with their responsiveness towards gaining benefit through rewards and incentives that Eduk-Aksyon program provide, led them to have a sustained behavior. Based on these findings, it appeared that the future social marketing and social mobilization programs can be sealed and ensured if the programs offer both short-term and long-term benefits that could entice parents to be an active influencer for the kids to finish their schooling. For as long as the perceived benefits are rationalized by parents [and the perceived benefits exceeded the costs of education], social marketing and social mobilization programs such as the Eduk-Aksyon could continue to serve as communication platforms that drive behavioral change of the targeted audience which are the parents.
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    A Policy Study on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in Guagua, Pampanga and the Inclusion of Persons with Disability (PWDS) in Their Disaster Plans
    ( 2016) Mercado, Joshua Marie G.
    The study describes the current practice of risk communication, warning and response in the Municipality of Guagua, determines if its disaster risk reduction and management plan is consistent with the National Council’s standards, and identifies the gaps in knowledge, capacities, and resources that address the needs of Persons with Disability (PWDs) during disasters. The researcher used a descriptive survey research method where participants were interviewed using survey questionnaires. The main research instrument was adopted from the UNISDR 2013 Survey on Living with Disabilities and Disasters. The questions in the questionnaire were patterned after the objectives of the study. The study population consisted 244 Persons with Disability age 18 and up in Guagua, Pampanga who were randomly selected from the total list. The sample size of 244 was computed using Raosoft sample size calculator. The random numbers were generated using the random number generator in the site “randomizer.org.”
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    A Predictive Model for Online Content Virality: The Case of University of the Philippines Open University's Massive Open Online Courses Calendar
    ( 2024) Tanay, Shaira F.
    In today's interconnected digital landscape, social media platforms drive the dissemination of online content. Cutting through this digital clutter to achieve visibility and resonance has become essential for effective communication on these platforms. A widely recognized but little-understood phenomenon in social media is "going viral," characterized by rapid and extensive dissemination across social circles. Understanding the factors that initiate viral spread typically occurs after the content has gained traction. However, there has yet to be a consensus on a universal model for predicting virality. The study focused on identifying the key drivers of virality, understanding the interactions among these drivers, and developing a predictive model to anticipate content-sharing behavior. A quantitative methodology was employed, including a cross-sectional survey of 380 respondents who registered for UPOU MOOCs during a user surge from January 19 to March 2, 2023. Data collection was conducted through an online survey, and the analysis involved descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and binary logistic regression to predict sharing behavior. The study developed a predictive model that provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the dynamics of online content sharing. It highlights the interplay of external, intrapersonal, and interpersonal factors in driving the sharing of online content. The model emphasizes the significance of both online and offline sharing behaviors, demonstrating the lasting impact of word-of-mouth. This sharing behavior creates a social sharing infinity loop, where content perceived as relevant or useful continues to be disseminated, further enhancing its virality. In conclusion, the study offers valuable insights into the complex dynamics of content virality, emphasizing the importance of understanding the various factors that influence sharing behavior. These insights can help optimize the reach and impact of online content.
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    A Quantitative Investigation into the Influence of User-Generated Content on Gen Z Consumers' Purchasing Behavior on Shopee and Lazada
    ( 2024) Guevarra, Preciosa Christine C.
    This study focuses mainly on the influence of user-generated content, specifically in the two popular e-commerce platforms, Shopee and Lazada, on the purchasing decisions of Gen Z consumers in Los Baños, Laguna. It also further explores how these Gen Z consumers rely on and trust UGC and critically review such content before deciding to purchase. Moreover, the sample size of respondents in this study is relatively small, as it is limited only to 100 and mainly Gen Z consumers of Shopee and Lazada who are 18 to 26 years old and live in Los Baños, Laguna. It will not cover or compare to the other generations and other e-commerce or social media platforms that have adopted the use of UGC. Lastly, the results or findings are limited only based on the information and insights provided by the respondents from the survey questionnaires as well as existing related literature and studies from various online sources.
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    A Semiotic Analysis Of Senior High School Students' Perception On Covid-19 Infographics In Calbayog City, Samar
    ( 2023) Guanzon, Greta Glory B.
    Since 1918, infographics have been used to communicate health and safety measures. They contain text, images and other signs that provide information to people reminding them to wear face masks, sanitize their hands and observe social distancing. While many studies were undertaken to analyze the content and context of various infographics as perceived by young people, this study specifically discussed the meaning of COVID-19 infographics as perceived by Senior High students and analyzed their perceptions vis-à-vis Roland Barthes’ theory on myth and connotation. Using the mixed method, the quantitative research design was employed to tabulate the participants’ profile, as well as the frequency, ratio and rank of their responses. On the other hand, the qualitative methods, specifically thematic and semiotic analysis were utilized to explain their perceptions and interpretations, the corresponding semiotic levels and the factors that prompted them to make inferences. Results show that participants construct denotative and connotative meanings through their literal understanding of the infographics’ verbal and non-verbal signs and the associated meanings of the signs with the participants’ past experiences, present circumstances, and other biases.
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    A Study of Filipino Gen Zs Residing in the Greater Manila Area’s Perception of P-Pop’s Potential as a Global Phenomenon
    ( 2024) Buñag, Karla Kate M.
    Utilizing a quantitative-descriptive research design, this study determines the significant relationship between the level of activeness on social media platforms and the level of awareness and familiarity with P-Pop, determines the significant difference between the perceived P-Pop's ability to achieve global recognition and its factors, and determines the significant difference between the perceived P-Pop's ability to achieve global recognition and its cultural showcase, innovation and representation elements. It surveyed 385 Filipino Gen Zs residing in the Greater Manila Area about their perceptions of P-Pop and its potential to become a global phenomenon. The findings of this study revealed that Gen Zs view P-Pop’s potential to become a global phenomenon positively. In addition, they find that social media presence is the most important factor for P-Pop to achieve such status. Furthermore, cultural representation and innovative elements were also viewed positively and important factors as well. With these findings, the researcher gave recommendations of potential strategies and insights for P-Pop industry stakeholders and future interested researchers.
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    A Unicorn Amongst A Field of Horses: An Autoethnography of Sexual Orientation Microaggressions in the Workplace
    ( 2023) Limpiada, Abraham C.
    Despite the societal changes and growing acceptance of the LGBTQ community, discrimination persists, both in overt and subtle forms. The study focuses on the subtle form of discrimination and microaggressions in the workplace against members of the LGBTQ, and how these shaped my experiences and communication behaviors as a Filipino LGBTQ individual. I used autoethnography and symbolic interactionism to examine my experiences with microaggressions from 2013 to 2019 after disclosing my sexual orientation at work. I explored how microaggressions shaped how I disclosed personal information and how I interacted and communicated at work. Specifically, I documented (1) the microaggressions I have experienced after my self-disclosure, (2) my interactions after self-disclosure; and (3) how I communicated to resolve the microaggressions. I experienced verbal and non-verbal forms of microaggressions after disclosing my sexual orientation to my co-workers. To cope with these repeated microaggressions, I ignored or tolerated my coworkers' behavior and became withdrawn from them. However, this approach created a communication gap and was perceived negatively by my coworkers. To resolve the microaggressions, I opened a non-confrontational discussion I termed as ‘pagpapaunawa’ with my coworkers and ‘educated’ them about the impact of their words and actions. This approach improved my relationships with my coworkers and emphasized the importance of communication in resolving microaggressions.
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    Accomplishment of Interorganizational Collaboration: An Ethnomethodological Study of the Communicative Practices of an International Body
    ( 2023) Bravo, Ma. Victoria D.
    This study looks into the communicative practices of an international body in the accomplishment of interorganizational collaboration or IOC. It aligns with the Montreal School of the communicative constitution of organization or CCO approach, wherein conversations reflect the collective experience of individual members and become authored into text that shapes the collective organization. An ethnomethodological approach was used in carrying out the data collection and analysis. This includes transcribing and coding conversations from meeting workshops of a consortium established by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). Results from this study show that contextualizing, consensus building, and confirming commitment (3Cs) are accomplished through communicative practices. These 3Cs constitute IOC through co-orientation and formation of authoritative text. The 3Cs demonstrate an authoritative text that enables individual members of an interorganizational network to act in consonance as a collective organization. This study also explains how the 3Cs could help gain a better appreciation for communication as well as recommendations for future research.
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    ACES: Automated Academic Essay Scoring Using a Natural Language Processing-Based Regression Mechanism
    (Asian Association of Open Universities, 2022) Pugoy, Reinald Adrian
    Academic essays are essential testing instruments that evaluate the students’ ability to organize thoughts and synthesize information. However, grading them is an exhausting and cumbersome process that requires considerable manpower. It may be prone to errors, and there are also serious concerns about fairness, such that an essay graded B+ today may be graded B- tomorrow by the same checker. Therefore, the author proposes ACES, an essay scoring mechanism that employs natural language processing (NLP) to address the issue at hand. NLP is a sub-field of artificial intelligence (AI) concerned with granting computers the ability to understand texts in much the same way humans can. With essay scoring reformulated as a regression problem, ACES takes the essay answer as the input, converts it to a vector representation of numbers in the embedding space, and feeds it to the neural network model (which serves as the approximate regression function) to predict its score as the output. In this paper, the author successfully implements four versions of ACES that employ different embedding sources and neural network models, with the ACES variant that considers context and word frequency information performing the best (i.e., ACES-BERT).
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    Adapting the Compass Framework in a hybrid course on wearable technology design and futures thinking
    ( 2022-11) Maranan, Diego S.
    The Wearable Futures Hackathon (WFH) was a 12-week long, hybrid learning experience was collaboratively created with and for undergraduate students at UP Open University’s Bachelor of Arts program in Multimedia Studies (BAMS). The course explores wearable technology, e-textiles, speculative design, and futures thinking. The course is the first of its kind at the university in terms of the following aspects: - The course themes (i.e., physical computing, e-textiles, speculative design, and futures thinking); and - The use of a hybrid format (80% online, 20% face to face) for BAMS studio course. For this course, the Index Project's design thinking framework--the Compass--was integrated with UPOU’s standard principle and practices in outcomes-based online learning design resource-based course authoring.
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    Agile Communication in an International Educational Organization: A Phenomenological Study
    ( 2023) Aguilar, Monalice G.
    Using phenomenology, the researcher explored staff members' experiences in an international educational organization and made sense of the dynamic nature of their communicative practices in an ever-changing work environment. Based on the Husserl and Habermas frameworks, the study provided a comprehensive understanding of communication practices and organizational dynamics in the context of agile communication and the staff’s lifeworld. Through in-depth interviews and employing the Discourse of Understanding grounded on the Phenomenological Tradition of Communication, the researcher made sense of the experiences of selected staff members, resulting in an emergent communication-centric concept of Agile Communication. The inquiry revealed that Agile Communication is flexible, adaptive, and stakeholder-centered, enabling quick response to changing circumstances and delivering value to stakeholders. It is a collaborative, innovative, and iterative process that promotes efficient work environments by working hand-in-hand with the iteration process. Agile communication is direct and transparent, promoting simple, face-to-face interaction that leads to consistent feedback loops. It is embedded in organizational culture and process, allowing for pivot strategies, structures, and processes. Finally, it maintains the quality of work outputs, enabling stakeholders to respond to changes without compromising quality and ensuring the timely delivery of projects. Hence, Agile Communication is a flexible, user-centric, collaborative, and transparent approach that prioritizes organizational quality. It lies in the social interaction and communicative activities of people within the organization, which allow the utilization of appropriate strategies, processes, and tools in managing and responding to change. More importantly, the study revealed that agile communication had become a concept that limits the systems to colonize the staff members' lifeworld.