Asst. Prof. Finaflor F. Taylan, Program Chair of the Diploma in/Master of Social Work and Diploma in Women and Development of the Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS), won the Best Paper award for her paper entitled “Protecting and Promoting Child Rights through the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU)” during the 3rd Asia Engage Regional Conference 2016 held on 21-23 November 2016 at SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Her paper discussed UPOU’s engagement with UNICEF in offering MOOCs on Understanding the Child Better, the Legal Instruments for the Protection of Children, and Institutional Mechanisms for Child Right Protection and Promotion. The paper also described how the multimedia learning materials developed also led to the creation of open educational resources on child rights protection and promotion while creating a community of practice of child rights workers and advocates.

Associate Professor Consuelo DL. Habito of FMDS also presented her paper entitled “Advancing Cross-learning and Artistic Creativity among Woodcarvers in the Philippines.”

The 3rd Asia Engage Regional Conference 2016 with the theme “Universities in an Integrating Regional Communities Engagement with Government, Communities, Industries and Civil Society” aimed to bring together diverse practitioners from the academe, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, and foundations that are passionate about university-community engagement for regional development.