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.
Mrs. Mamon’s paper entitled “Note-Taking Behaviors of Top-Performing Junior High School Students” was presented at the 7th 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 29th 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.