Clarissa B. Orpilla and Mark Kelvin D. Dumaya, (Bachelor of Secondary Education students) have recently completed the 10th Socially Innovative Global Classroom hosted by Osaka City University (now Osaka Metropolitan University) in Osaka, Japan.

This program, which is supported by the Inter-University Exchange Project fund from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-Japan and endorsed by the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP), kicked off on March 1, 2022 and culminated on March 25, 2022.

Under the theme “SDGs: Social Innovation in your Local Community toward Solving Global Issues”, the 10th SIGLOC aimed to develop collaborative social innovators. The participants were expected to work in “the field”, share their experiences, exchange opinions from different perspectives, and collaborate to create solutions to social issues.

The format used throughout the program was the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), a form of teaching which uses Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to connect students in different countries so that they can participate together in projects designed to boost their understanding of various fields or to help them acquire specific skills. Instead of listening to lectures, the participants completed individual and group tasks surrounding sustainability and social innovation through synchronous and asynchronous discussions.

There were more than 100 applicants from 15 countries/regions for this cycle. The 11th SIGLOC is currently accepting applications.