English Language Fellow Kelly Keegan led four professional development workshops for the faculty and staff at her host institution, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University. There were 130 participants in total who came from various colleges within the University.
During the first seminar, Keegan introduced Engrade, which is an online grading system. This is a free resource and allows teachers to be more organized and also transparent with their grading. The second seminar included peer observation, which is a tool not often used in the Philippines.
Security guards, janitors, secretaries, maintenance workers and the like were invited to participate in the third seminar. This seminar included interactive games in English to improve their confidence and fluency. The last seminar culminated with the teaching of alternative assessments in the post-secondary classroom. Keegan demonstrated how self, peer, performance and portfolio assessments can be easily integrated into any classroom. These seminars provided essential information to the staff, and gave them more confidence in English language teaching and the use of technology.