Written by Kyle Sante
Illustration by Gino Delos Reyes and Liana Libongco
Published 2020 December 5
In an interview last Tuesday, December 1, Ateneo BOx AVP for Academic Affairs Miguel Valencia hinted at possible updates for the EduKit project of the organization.
The core team handling the project is said to be testing ways in incorporating the reviewers to a BOx Canvas course, maximizing the university’s use of the program in the current online academic setting, and providing the members novel module-style reviewers.
In addition, the team is also considering the implementation of more interactive resources in the near future.
“We are still testing whether it would be good to incorporate the reviewer information into our BOx Canvas Course,“ said Valencia. “We will [also] be taking into consideration the comments and suggestions of students and probably include active recall reviewers, flashcards, and other tips from upperclassmen into the EduKit.”
EduKit is the official Ateneo BOx database for biology course reviewers that can only be accessed by official BOx members.
Currently, the directory holds several learning materials for Zoology, Botany, Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology, Developmental Biology, and Systematics. Although, most resources focus on freshmen and sophomore courses.
“Most of our users are freshmen and sophomores so we do our best to prioritize EduKit modules for the subjects they take,” Valencia claimed.
He also added that for upperclassmen, EduKit is primarily a way to share materials with the lower batches to help them excel in the various courses.
“Mainly, the EduKit should be a database for students to use in their studies, to ease their academic workload by providing some notes that were prepared by previous batches of students. I think a lot of students know the stress of note-taking and possibly missing out on certain topics [or] lessons so the EduKit is there to lessen their stress,” he explained.
Aside from EduKit, since October, Ateneo BOx has also decided to give its official members various online mock tests and review games as supplementary study materials.
Online Setting: A Blessing and a Curse
Aside from allowing the core team to formulate more innovative ideas for the EduKit, The transition to online learning also helped the team collect more additional materials for the project.
“Compared to on-site classes, it’s much easier to gather reviewers online as a lot of students prefer taking digital notes instead,” Valencia noted.
He also mentioned that since the semester was divided into quarters, preparing and releasing the learning resources were much more manageable.
Although, the current situation also posed challenges especially in conducting meetings and updating reviewers.
“It’s hard for us to all meet as an entire team given all the suspensions and each member dealing with their own academic work. We also face some difficulties whenever we don’t have any existing reviewers for a subject or our current reviewers are outdated. Usually, since I don’t want to overwork the EduKit team, we move the releases of EduKit modules accordingly or I prepare modules instead to get them done quickly,” Valencia said.
The latest reviewers for EduKit were posted in the official Ateneo BOx Facebook Group last Saturday, November 28.
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