Online Vocational Education: A Philippine Experience
Kiran S. Budhrani
De La Salle University, Philippines
kiranbudhrani@gmail.com
Jose Lloyd D. Espiritu
De La Salle University, Philippines
espiritu.lloyd@gmail.com
Abstract
This paper presents the online education model and initial results of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) ONLINE PROGRAM in the Philippines. The program was launched in March 2012, with an attempt for wider reach and to reduce the expenditures incurred by the trainees. To date, TESDA offers four online courses with over 40,000 registered users (3,000 from at least 10 countries outside the Philippines). TESDA's re-designed online education model has two main features: 1) Short-term courses are broken down into job-centered micro-courses and 2) Center-based skills training now follows a "Learn-Practice-Certify-Employ" hybrid approach. Current and future developments on the project will also be presented.
Keywords: Blended Learning, Tech-Voc, Vocational Training, E-Learning, Adult Learning