NWU students get together online for E-Kamustahan Webinar Series
The Northwestern University Office of the Student Affairs and Guidance Office conducted a Webinar series on December 11-15.
The four-day virtual activity discussed various topics under the three aspects: 1) Kalinga—care for the students; 2) Kamalayan—awareness on indigenous people; and 3) Karapatan—the rights of the people. The discussion aimed to share more information about digital technology, mental health, future literacies, COVID-19, indigenous communities, intercultural exchange programs, and people’s rights.
The first day of the webinar series highlighting “Kalinga” was led by Globe representatives on E-skwela Webinars Digital Thumbprint Programs. They had a lot of giveaways, including a pocket wifi as the grand prize for students and faculty who attended. The webinar included tips for students and employees who are Globe users with nifty ideas and ways on how to be thrifty data users. This was followed by COVID-19 updates and protocols by Dr. Emma Joy Bareng, the university physician.
Also included on the first day was the UNESCO Futures Literacy Summit where NWU President Atty. Ferdinand Nicolas, the keynote speaker, expounded on the role of futures thinking in higher education. He pondered future-proofing NWU instructions, adopting future-based methodologies and apposite community extensions for students to help the adopted barangays for projects and enhancement of their community, while adopting and learning their culture.
The second day of the webinar series tackled “Kamalayan—awareness on indigenous people” with Dr. Edwin Antonio, Founder Katutubo Exchange, deliberating on how to value our culture and other people’s culture, as well as the proper way of addressing practices and traditions of different cultures to avoid cultural misappropriation. Mr. Froskham Abdurahim, the National Director of the AFS Philippines on Intercultural Exchange and Global Competence Certificate (GCC), ruminated on AFS as a bridge between culture that provides intercultural learning opportunities to help people develop the knowledge, skills, and understanding to create a more just and peaceful world.
On the last day, students who joined the webinar series were given chances to win gift certificates sponsored by Sharetea, care of the Office of the Student Affairs and Guidance Office. The last topic of the webinar series was “Karapatan—the rights of the people.” Atty. Jasmine Balucio (PAO Lawyer, VJSSGSC President, NWU Alumnus) tackled RA 11313: Safe spaces act and gender-based online sexual harassment, advising students to limit contacts to people online. The last speaker was Atty. Robert August Camarillo (NWU Legal Officer, Law Professor, NWU Alumnus) who enlightened students’ awareness on social media violations and other similar platform-related violations.
Prof. Agustina Dancel-Matias, acting Dean of Student Affairs, said that events such as these are important, as they “[find] relevance and means to touch base with students amid this pandemic, and provide meaningful engagements online and support mechanisms to adapt to the changed learning environment.”
