Category: Bacolod News

“Don’t just give them wings; teach them the tricks of how to use them well so, like you, they can spread their wings and fly.” —-Dr. Emeliza T. Estimo, Research Coordinator, JBLCF-Bacolod

On August 9-10, 2022, a Research Capability Enhancement Webinar-Writeshop was hosted by JBLCF-Bacolod for the faculty and staff identified to do research for the school year 2022-2023. The first part of the activity was a webinar held on the morning of August 9, which was graced by the wisdom of two of the best research leaders in the city, Dr. Dean DV Madrigal, Dean of the Recoleto de Bacolod Graduate School of UNO-R, and Dr. Carmen Castro Menes, Head of the Research Office of LCC-Bacolod. They shared their personal journeys in research and publication and inspired the participants to explore opportunities to be internationally acclaimed as published researchers. Miss Irene C. Mamon, faculty of the College of Maritime Education and an active member of the Unit Research Committee, served as the MC of this virtual activity.

The second part of the activity continued in the afternoon of Day 1 thru a face-to-face writing session with the researchers. The primary purpose of this initiative was to guide the participants through the actual writing process while keeping tabs on fine points to develop publishable quality papers. Dr. Emeliza T. Estimo, the Research Coordinator of JBLCF-Bacolod, started the session by mentoring the researchers on how to write the INTRODUCTION.

We were also grateful for the professional assistance shared by Dr. Sylvino V. Tupas, our in-house research consultant, mentor, and expert in Statistics, who served as mentor-facilitator for the writing of the METHODOLOGY.

Day 2 continued with Dr. Elisa V. Garcia, who trained the researchers on the proper way of referencing and citing sources. She also introduced Zotero as one of the reference management tools which could help the researchers organize their research sources.

The two-day activity was participated by various researchers from the College of Maritime Education, College of Business and Education, and some administrative staff. The said event successfully ended with the presentation and critiquing of one of the model outputs authored by Mr. Rogie Padernal, a Mathematics instructor at the College of Business and Education. Kudos and thank you to all our participants for their cooperation which contributed to the activity’s success.

Key people of the JBLCF-Bacolod Unit Research Committee (JB-URC) joined their heads together in formulating the Unit Research Agenda for the next three years on July 28, 2022, at the campus Main Library. The activity was spearheaded by Dr. Emeliza T. Estimo, Research Coordinator of the Bacolod campus.

 

With the JBLFMU Integrated Management System Policy and the JBLFMU Ten-Point Agenda as the main points of reference, the URC identified key topics/areas for research and aligned them with the National Higher Education Research Agenda (NHERA), the Philippine Association of Maritime Universities National Research Agenda (PAMI-NRA), and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDG). The initiative of aligning the Research Agenda of the University with the research priorities in the national and international landscape is meant to ensure that the studies being conducted are relevant and responsive to the institution’s needs and the global community.

 

Other ideas for research were also derived from problems identified during the previous year’s Management Review; findings, observations, and OFIs from previous audits; topics suggested for further research by studies previously conducted; institutional problems needing solutions; and feedback gathered from various groups of stakeholders composed of the employees, students, parents, alumni, and shipping companies/industry partners who participated in identifying the pressing issues for further exploration and research.

 

For each identified research topic or key research area, suggested research titles were proposed by the committee members, who were divided into six working groups. The interactive workshop was done face-to-face, aided by Teams, one of the applications included in the Microsoft Office Software Packages. Using this application, all groups could simultaneously encode their ideas on the e-spaces. The application has editing features; hence, the Research Coordinator could automatically review, edit, and improve their inputs as the workshop progressed, making the entire work ready for presentation when the allotted time for the workshop ended.

This best practice has worked well for the RDC of JBLCF-Bacolod since 2013. The activity was another remarkable experience for the members of the Unit Research Committee, who were driven by their sheer commitment and sense of volunteerism in sharing their ideas as they worked collaboratively to complete the task.

Sincere appreciation is accorded to the significant contribution of all the URC members who actively participated in the process. Thank you also to Engr. Roberto Neal S. Sobrejuanite, Administrator of JBLCF-Bacolod, for the gentle push and encouraging words that warmed the hearts of the participants.

Two more paper presentations from JBLCF-Bacolod made it to the national and international levels for the school year 2021-2022. These are the papers authored by Mrs. Irene C. Mamon, a faculty member of the College of Maritime Education, and Dr. Elisa V. Garcia, Chief Librarian of JBLCF-Bacolod.

Mrs. Mamon’s paper entitled “Note-Taking Behaviors of Top-Performing Junior High School Students” was presented at the 7^th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research held on March 24-26, 2022, via Zoom. This qualitative study descr ibes the students’ practices and experiences in note-taking, which can provide information that can aid the administrators, teachers, and students in organizing classroom activities to promote productivity and self-regulated learning. In her paper, she writes, “I have envisioned myself championing and empowering my students in facilitating their own learning.  With many studies such as this, I hope everyone gets to appreciate the efforts of the teachers in putting things in order, in trusting that students perform their initiatives in participating in the processes of learning.”

 

The second paper, entitled “Information and Communication Technology Capability, Service Quality, and Client Satisfaction of Libraries in the Online Distance Learning during Pandemic,” was presented by Dr. Elisa V. Garcia, Chief Librarian of JBLCF-Bacolod, at the 29^th PSERE Annual Conference held on May 19-20, 2022, also via Zoom. Dr. Garcia’s paper aims to determine the ICT capability, service quality, and client satisfaction of selected libraries of HEIs in Negros Occidental during the school year 2020-2021 as the foundation for the proposed enhancement program to improve the ICT capability, service quality, and client satisfaction. The paper proposes redesigning the libraries’ daily operation by integrating technology in its processes, acquiring recent and updated books, subscribing to electronic databases and e-books, building digital libraries with access to open access educational resources, and capability training of the library staff on automation and content management systems to automate the libraries and develop their digital libraries/repositories.

Dr. Emeliza Estimo, the Research Coordinator of JBLCF-Bacolod, has been reelected as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Society for Education Research and Evaluation (PSERE), Inc. for which she had previously served from 2017 to 2021. She had been voted in during the 29^th PSERE Annual Conference held on May 19-20, 2022, via Zoom.

Being an officer of a research organization outside the walls of John B is both an opportunity and a responsibility. While it establishes a strong linkage between the institution that you represent and the external community, it also demands your time and capability as you are compelled by the situation to perform beyond your routine and, sometimes, beyond your limits. It is a call to get out of your comfort zone and represent the school to the best that you can because you cannot afford to jeopardize what it stands for.

“Being an active member of the Board of Directors is a challenging experience as it entails another set of responsibilities apart from my current functions. This means going the extra mile, but I consider it as a good avenue for JBLCF-Bacolod and JBLFMU as a whole to establish active linkages with other research institutions and organizations who are members of the society at the national level,” Dr. Estimo said. “More than a responsibility, being an officer in prestigious research organizations like PSERE is an opportunity to serve for a greater cause, to be able to share whatever intellectual blessing you have as you work with others for a noble objective.”