The COVID-19 pandemic forces a lot of people to work from home. Colleges and universities were forced to shift to remote learning. Overnight, Zoom becomes the buzzword, and later on, when exams were given, Chegg becomes the other buzz word. There is a paradigm shift. Although students and teachers, didn;t sign-up for this set-up, this is the only solution in our present situation. Once the semester ends and with people almost at home most of the time, webinars have become the norm in almost all fields. In teaching, I can see webinars being delivered almost daily, I was grateful to be invited by the Filipino Science Hub head, Dr. Jeffrey Bunquin, to be their webinar series second speaker on thoughts of being a teacher (available in YouTube) and interviewed by our kababayan, the renown Math Teacher based here in NYC, Ramil Buenaventura, to give tips on how to prepare for the online learning which is available in YouTube. These experiences further opened my eyes to the reality that I can help my kababayans in Pinas by sharing my experiences in remote learning through webinars. The first thing I did is to update this website and put on materials that I hope will be helpful to everyone in the chemistry community (hence Chemunity). I am thankful that the President of World Citi Colleges (Patrick Guico) asked his faculty to hold a webinar with me as their speaker on June 19. I prefer the format of me giving a 30 min talk and afterward having a dialogue (questions and answers portion) with the participants. I think this type of setting allows me to see their present situation and comment on what they can do to overcome their problems. The month of July will surely be a busy month for me giving webinars to organizations and educational institutions willing to have me as their speaker.
The books sent through balikbayan box last October has arrived at UPLB last December and has been and will be distributed by this month at IC, UPLB. To get a copy, please contact Prof. Rene Micor or Prof. Mark Angelia. Books were also sent to Zamboanga City through my sister. I would like to thank Dr. Ruel Desamero (York College), Dr. John Sharkey and the late Dr. Raifah Kabbani (Pace University), Bronx Community College and Borough of Manhattan Community College for the books. Hopefully, I can send another box full of books this year. I already have books (chemistry and biology) that can fill half of balikbayan box. I will be coordinating this year with the BKP-NY (Bagong Kulturang Pinoy New York) if they can facilitate the sending of books around the country. During the past several days, I have been updating the website uploading materials that I wanted to post. I also chat with some of my friends in facebook telling them about the existence of this website. One of them is a former colleague of mine in IC, UPLB. His name is Remil Aguda. He reminded me about the intellectual property rights (IPR) of the materials I am posting. From the original idea of posting powerpoint slides I obtained from different publishing company, I have to change it instead by putting links to materials or resources that can be used in teaching chemistry and available in the internet. I have to do this to prevent any violation of copyright or IPR. A day or two after, I got an email from the uncle of Remil, Dr. Baltz Aguda telling me that the website is nice and its link has been posted on the PAASE website. This really boosted my morale knowing that other people appreciate what I have been doing. I would like to thank the Agudas, Remil and Sir Baltz for the supprot you have given for this website.
Masaganang bagong taon sa inyong lahat. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu While on vacation here at Buffalo, I put some of the finishing touch in this webpage. The analogies, chemtertainment and lecture notes is almost done. The last section everyday materials will be uploaded soon. With this, I can say Project Chemunity has already experience a rebirth. I have let my friends in Facebook know about its existence. Hopefully other teachers will find my advocacy helpful and useful to them.
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AuthorElmer-Rico E. Mojica has been teaching chemistry since 1998. He completed his PhD degree in Chemistry from University at Buffalo, SUNY in 2010. Presently, he is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences, Pace University. Archives
June 2020
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