The beginnings of the 21st century have seen the unfolding of technology that can affect human interactions. As we experience the benefits of living in a highly advanced world, the challenge to be technological competent extends to the academe. Lets us be inspired and motivated by the story of Dr. Macugay.
Dr. Macugay earned his BS Nursing degree (with Clinical Distinction) and masters degree in nursing at St. Joseph’s College in Quezon City and Philippine Christian University (PCU) respectively. At the young age of 25, he then completed his PhD in Development Administration at PCU.
As a nurse-midwife by profession he served as geriatric nurse at Salesian Society of St. John Bosco Makati. His service in the academe includes being a clinical instructor at St. Joseph’s College and an assistant professor at Manila Central University. He has also authored a number of internationally published books including “Emotional Quotient in Designing Student Development Program”, “Newborn Screening: The Philippine Approach”, “Phenomenological Study on Women at Forty” and other local publications.
He is currently the Assistant Professor and Researcher at the Mizan Tepi University in Ethiopia, Africa and is completing his second doctorate degree, Doctor of Social Studies, at St. Linus University, Dominica. His dissertation will be focusing on the health and social challenges of the 21st century African Semagele (Ethiopian Elderly).
Let’s find out how Dr. Macugay view the union of teaching and technological advancement.
1. What piece of technology do you find invaluable in your
teaching?
The students of this generation are digital natives. They
understand the value of digital technology and use it to seek out opportunities
in every aspect of life. When students have an access to the Internet and
almost all have mobile devices, the use of multimedia in teaching becomes
invaluable.
Learning modules can now be accessed and assessed through the
university web portals. One particular module is the virtual reality simulation
for virtual patients. This simulates real-life patient experiences in a
risk-free environment, exposes students to diverse patient conditions, requires
clinical decision making and allows students a chance for repeated practice
sessions. Similar to the mannequin-based simulation, the only difference is its
use of robotic-human-like simulators as patients.
Healthcare educators should find this technological advancement as
a potentially powerful instructional tool and incorporate the principles of
effective learning by knowing when and how to use it.
2. What advice would you give to someone who wants to develop
their teaching mode or process?
Collaboration and Innovation. As educators, it is our
responsibility to prepare the future nurses to lead the technology-enabled
healthcare system. Technology eliminates the conventional limitations of space
and time. Proven best practices and insights from academic research are just clicks
away. In the coming academic year, I will be launching a weblog for
research-based collaboration, where teaching and learning have no boundaries.
But most importantly, despite the digital euphoria, we must not
forget the prime tenet of instruction – ETHICS – because ethics go beyond time
and technology.
3. What changes do you think will the next five years bring in the
way we teach especially in higher education?
With the ASEAN integration, higher education plays a significant
role. There will be a new class of students: the “Glocal” students. As defined
by Dr. Rahul Choudaha, director of Research and Advisory Services at World
Education Services, glocal students have global aspirations, but prefer to stay
in their home country or region for education. This is another milestone for
the emerging transnational education and ASEAN countries, like the Philippines,
are gearing towards this trend.
In the next five years, a more competitive and complex global
healthcare market will emerge and therefore a rapid harmonization of the higher
education system will be implemented. This will be based on the prioritized
areas such as student mobility, credit transfers, quality assurance, and
research clusters among others.
You and I are now global citizens of the world wide web of life.
4. Do you find phones and social
media as tools to enhance teaching or do they qualify as distraction in the
classroom?
We have seen and experienced the
pedagogical advancement in nursing education by revising curriculum standards
and encouraging nursing programs to incorporate not only nursing informatics,
but technology competencies as well.
Social media can be used as a
supplement for educators to instruct and students to learn despite the barriers
of time and distance. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter
combined with blogs, wikis, and file sharing of scholarly works like databases
such as Academia.edu are tools that augment the learners’ ability to
professionally communicate and expand technological abilities outside the
traditional classroom setting.
However, inside a traditional
classroom, phones should be banned while the instructor is lecturing and during
examination periods.
5. What achievement are you most proud of?
Success and achievement are relative
and subjective. But one thing that I am proud of is becoming a healthcare
educator. The young blood in me wanted to travel the world, become an
entrepreneur, experience adventures while doing my passion in teaching. I am
now based in Ethiopia under the Ministry of Education and have the privilege to
impart knowledge to my students in Mizan Tepi University (MTU). As one of the
research and development proponents, I am grateful that the MTU Digital Library
that we are developing will soon be deployed.
I am also excited that the hard
earned savings that I invested has come into fruition. Botika ni Mama, a start-up pharmacy business, has now three
branches operating in Metro Cebu.
As an OFW, I am a proud Global Pinoy Eduprenurse!