Cyber Isko | The Prodigal Kid

You get to study in UPOU and you can’t turn a blind eye on the changes that have long been brewing up for UP’s cyber university. For one, student slash passionate volunteers are hell bent on making sure that there will be student representation through the formation of a Student Council. Second, since media serves as the watch dog of society, a group of students are determined on making Cyber Isko as the official student publication of the University of the Philippines Open University.

These are worthy causes, indeed. I humbly admire the movers and shakers of hills, mountains and volcanoes in order for these causes to be realized. But how do we ensure that the council will continue on, will live forever, will last and will rise above and adjust to the unique system that the Open University has?

For one, student councils in campus units hold elections every February before the academic year ends. Second, students in the residential units mostly are full-time students. Third, these students study in one campus, take one system of transportation, take classes in various buildings and talk to each other in hallways. Well, if these students are classmates and friends, yes. And fourth, residential student councils have their own offices.

connected through the Internet

In contrast to other UP campus units, in UP Open University, most of the students have full-time jobs. Some are based abroad. Students only have MyPortal as the virtual classroom. These students interact using FB groups, Skype and other social networking applications. In UP Open University, the only link that students have is the Internet. This is obvious and to push for UP Open University’s student council similar to that of the conventional ones will only make the attempt futile if not unwise.

In my own opinion, before these student council can be established the group should know first each and every fellow student that UPOU has. What’s the point of establishing a council if you are only confined to the needs of a specific group of individuals in the university? The Student Council can’t just focus on the select few, on the active members of the Facebook Group. If a letter needs to be sent to every student one by one, personalized and addressed by their first names, asking for participation in the formation of a council, then I think it has to be done. I am more likely to respond to a cause contained in a letter that bears my first name in it. It is quite arduous but the best leaders have done this including Margaret Thatcher. If not equal then at least include more than half of the UPOU student population.

I received the email blast in my UPOU webmail account regarding the establishment of both the council and the student publication. But how many of my other fellow students also took their time to click the link and fill-out the survey form?

And with regard to choosing the leaders who are best fit to manage the affairs of the council, a core group with equal representation from various courses should also be considered. UPOU offers three undergraduate courses and a lot of post-graduate courses. Forming the core group with equal representation is hard since most of the graduate students are either working or have families of their own (well even the undergraduate students have families and are working too), but it just has to be done or there’s a danger that the voices of the select few are only the ones that will determine the future of the Student Council.

The student publication is easier to decipher. Form a core group, those that are, well, really good writers, recruit more good writers and establish the Editorial Staff. Writing should never be tainted with politics anyway. It should be independent of the student council and it has always been a rule that a leader of a student council cannot hold another major position in the editorial staff of a student publication to ensure that freedom of expression is pursued, preached and practiced. Well, again there should be equal representation. Send letters to students in South Korea, the US, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Indonesia, Norway, Singapore, Cebu, Iloilo, Aklan, Davao, Naga, Zamboanga. Even Africa. Gather stories from these students. Encourage them to write, write, write and write. Everyone has their own story. And what’s a better way to know the plight of the OU students than to let them share their lives through the use of that digital pen?

inter-connectivity

The funds for publication should come from the students’ miscellaneous fees too since OU students do not even use air-conditioned classrooms for classes and we pay miscellaneous fees equal with those students enrolled in campus units. Or if SMART Communications and Google can sponsor the student publication, why not? Ha-ha! The student publication will eventually get there. That’s why it’s imperative that the Editorial Staff should be composed of students who are really excellent and honorable leaders and writers.

Excellent I think is self-explanatory. Get good grades. Do your best in your assignments. Study in your exams. Aren’t these the marks of an excellent student? And of course passion. Writing is a calling. I’ve always believed that writers never stopped writing in their life. They started writing the day they learned how to write and practiced it with gusto, zeal and zest every waking moment of their lives.

I’ve also noticed that there a lot of skilled, wrong word, superb virtual artists/students in UPOU. Why not encourage them to join? We’ll never know, the next Pol Medina or Visconde Carlo Vergara will come from UPOU.

Cyber Isko should actually be a blend of Wikipedia, Facebook and Rappler. Wikipedia’s Philosophy is that anyone can contribute. Facebook’s motto is to let people share and connect. Rappler upholds the supremacy of editorial independence. With the emergence of technology in inter-connecting countries, I imagine Cyber Isko to be in the forefront of the digital student publication with stories that are boundless but stay true to the genuine concerns of the ODeL studentry.

But the question is: how to get there?

boundless

That is the dilemma. I think the best way to get there is to focus on the essentials. Focus on the things that would bring lasting legacy to a university that’s boundless and unbridled by conventional systems. If UPOU needs to innovate, to establish an original council, a federal-of-sorts student council, then research, studies and statistics should be done now. And I think these group of students are also doing the best they could. Heck, this initiative is not even graded. Talk about service. TRUE selfless service. Time will come when history will judge those who stayed true to their ideals.

Right now, I am actually thinking of Maria Ressa and Jesse Robredo. I dunno why. Just a random thought.