FEd Professor and CODTL Deputy Director Presents GenAI and ODeL Research at QPR 2026 Conference

Professor J. Aleta R. Villanueva of the Faculty of Education and the Deputy Director for ODL Research of the UP Open University Center for Open and Digital Teaching and Learning (CODTL) recently participated in the Quality in Postgraduate Research 2026 conference held in Adelaide, Australia, with the theme ‘Transforming Graduate Research for the Future’ which aimed “to bring together educational researchers, policy makers, research students, research degree supervisors, and university leaders for the purpose of better understanding the policies, processes, practices, pedagogies and theoretical frameworks which inform and govern doctoral and research masters education” (QPR 2026).

Professor Aleta completed two presentations, namely  ‘A Short Course on GenAIs in Academic Writing and Research: A Reflective Case Narrative’, and ‘A Researcher Development and Education Framework for Open and Distance eLearning Programs in Asia’.  The oral paper presentation highlighted the development of a short course on GenAIs under the Faculty of Education Continuing Education Program (FEdCEP) intended to equip undergraduate and graduate-level research students with the proper mindset and skills to apply ethical use of GenAIs in academic writing and research. The presentation focused on the course rationale, learning outcomes and content coverage as rightfully informed by the research-based E.T.H.I.C.A.L GenAI framework (Eacersall et al., 2025) and the AI literacy framework with domains on foundational ethics, cognitive and socio-emotional awareness (Pretorius & De Caux, 2025). The basic and practical course content grounded on the responsible exploration and use of AIs demonstrated ways a design thinking course development cycle for a short course prototype can feed into other initiatives (Figure 1) to ensure students as stakeholders are involved in the integration of GenAIs in the teaching and learning of research courses in an open university.  The pilot run of this FEdCEP short course, eTL 194 Ethical GenAI Use in Academic Writing and Research, will happen this 2026.

The development of eTL 194 short course is a work in progress and part of a collaborative research project “Towards a Harmonious Co-existence with GenAIs for Researcher Development and Education” under a small-scale UPOU research grant.  The Phases 1 and 2  of this action research project  involves Sophia Mondejar, CODTL Student Assistant from the Bachelor of Multimedia Studies and Veronica Dungao, Special Project Student from the Bachelor of Education Studies under the CODTL Service Learning Option,  Lexter Mangubat, Program Chair of Associate of Science in Instructional Design and Technology Degree and Anna Sala-Bubare of Universitat Ramon Llul. The collaboration highlights the roles of Faculty-as-Peers and Students-as-Partners in the CODTL Quality Circle Team in the context of nonformal course design and development as well as worthwhile project implementation in service of the UPOU community. This project illustrates how CODTL ODL Research collaborates with other faculties of study through research work and dissemination. Interestingly, the resulting narrative is a concrete example of the Scholarship of Online Teaching and Learning or SO2TL at work, under a valuable CODTL Research Thrust  which neatly connects with the UPOU Faculty of Education’s eT AL Collaborative research framework.  

As for the second presentation in the QPR 2026 conference, Professor Aleta shared the poster on ‘Researcher Development and Education Framework (RD&E) for ODeL Programs’. This was undertaken alongside other presentations, namely ‘Introducing the ACGR Researcher Development Framework’ from the Australian Council for Graduate Research and ‘Localising Graduate Research Education: A Researcher Development Framework for Aoteoroa New Zealand’.  The RD&E framework for ODeL Programs was borne out of the autoethnographic reflections on a doctoral journey from the dual perspectives of a doctoral student and researcher development specialist by Villanueva & Eacersall (2024) which delved deeply into research as a self-expression and a scholarly act, a reflective act and a collaborative act. Post-Phd and with the autoethnographic study, research as an intentional form of ‘practice’ was realized, it being a transformative act, and likewise, a technology-enhanced practice given further research experiences within open and distance elearning programs (Villanueva et al., 2024). The framework is foreseen to guide collaborative research teams, inform research supervision practices and advocate for research student support mechanisms to ensure postgraduate student success in reimagined researcher education programs within online and distance learning environments.

Recent content validation gave way to modifications in the framework’s elements and areas of work. The elements of research as a practice have now been nested and no longer in sectioned parts to show connectedness across the elements as how researcher identity development and educational experiences are. The core values have been maintained for each element. A dial was added to represent the development of researcher skills and researcher identity across these elements. Most of the skill areas were maintained, with ‘community engagement’ now added under research as a collaborative practice, indicating relatedness with research participants and their context, and to be consistent with the values of social responsibility and sense of community. Future directions include review of selected skillsets to improve alignment across elements, crafting of user guidelines and checklists for self and collaborative reflections and for research planning. This research is in collaboration  with  Dr. Shari Eunice San Pablo of the Faculty of Information Studies and Dr. Leo Mendel Rosario of the Faculty of Management and Development Studies and Dr. Douglas Eacersall, Adjunct from the UPOU Faculty of Education and a Researcher Development Specialist from the University of Southern Queensland.  The groundworking for the RD&E framework by the CODTL ODL Research unit is in support of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in the strategic area of research and innovation and UPOU as a Learning University, an essential pillar of UPOU as a Transformative University of the Future. As such, the team looks forward to a round of validation with other open universities in Southeast Asia.

Acknowledgements: 

Professor Villanueva acknowledges the participation of the UPOU Faculty of Education, Faculty of Management and Development Studies and the support from the UP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs-System.