Spring Updates in 2022

Hello everyone! Graduating from my PhD program opened up new opportunities both in the academia and the consulting scene. I am still writing research articles from my dissertation with the hope of publishing them in autumn. I am still getting up to speed with work at the university so it was a bit challenging to focus on my projects.

Hopefully, getting back to blogging would help me align my tasks with what really matters by reminding me of my vision and journaling my thoughts and ideas while finding new collaborators and advisers in this new phase of my life. Here are some of the things I am currently doing:

1. Avant Article: I am still in the process of revising a journal article I submitted with co-authors in Japan regarding the use of virtual reality-based tours in a Filipino studies class among Japanese university learners whose classes shifted to emergency remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I plan to submit the revised article on May 20. Please wish me luck! 頑張ります！
2. Benchmarking for a center for immersive open pedagogies: I was given the responsibility to lead a team that will propose and later operate a center for immersive open pedagogies. The term immersive open pedagogies was coined by one of our advisers, Dr. Alexander Flor. While it is loosely understood as the use of immersive learning technologies and environments in open educational practice and open educational resources, he still has to refine the term and contextualize it so that we can all efficiently operate into achieving the vision of establishing this center. I am currently benchmarking with similar centers in Japan.
3. Digital Communication in Japanese: I am currently co-developing an online course with a Japanese collaborator, Taniguchi Hiroshi-先生 . The open course proposal is still being reviewed by the office of the chancellor. I am also in the middle of a grant proposal from the Japan-ICU foundation. I still need to work some details for it to be approved. Since it is primarily targeting Filipino learners, we plan to consult with the embassy of Japan in the Philippines through my connections in PHILAJAMES so that we can address the current and future language needs of Filipino scholars and workers in Japan.
4. Promotion: I am currently assistant professor 7. Upon obtaining my PhD, I am eligible to apply for promotion and hopefully cross-rank to associate professor. I am currently gathering all of my recent articles and updating my curriculum vitae. I plan to post all of them here too.

I guess those four are the most important projects for me right now. Please contact me if you are interested in collaborating or if you have ideas on how I could achieve my goals. Until next time!