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My Exciting and Rewarding Journey toward Online Education

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.”

Anthony J. D’Angelo

The story behind my first online education at UPOU.

Learning is a continuous process. It is a lifetime commitment. Clueless, I don’t know where I got this strong desire to advance my studies after earning my college degree in Nursing. At the age of 26, I earned my doctoral degree in Education and I thought it would end there. Four years later, I felt that my passion for learning has faded. This feeling inspired me to get started once again. However, traditional classes were no longer an option since I am currently abroad for work. I searched the web for schools that offer online study programs in the Philippines then my path crossed with the University of the Philippines Open University.

In the past, I have not heard of UP Open University. Hence, I felt very lucky for having searched UPOU through the web. While exploring the website, I learned about the degree programs and non-formal courses offered and the corresponding fees. Nevertheless, I became unsure if I could ever make it as an online student at University of the Philippines. Having said that, I took hold of my chance as I believe people grow when they face challenges in life.  Eventually, I made a wise and tough decision to be a part of the UPOU family.

My mind was set to enroll Caring for the Child with Special Needs since this was so far the only non-formal course that I found to be related with nursing. Sadly, I wasn’t able to enroll before the course started in July 2015. Since then, my frustration made me visit the UPOU website more often. To my surprise, two (2) new non-formal courses for nursing graduates were introduced and were expected to run in September of the same year. Tied between two courses, I finally chose Financial Management in Nursing Practice (FMNP) and this was my first online course ever but most certainly not the last.

What made me enroll Financial Management in Nursing Practice?

I had attended and completed a course on Financial and Material Resource Management in Nursing Schools when I recently enrolled PhD in Nursing Education during my vacation in the Philippines last June 2015. After completing the course, I became more interested in learning about finance and its relationship with nursing. I feel challenged doing something that I am not used to or trained to do. Truly, I just made the right choice with the FMNP course.

To register, you have to visit the UPOU website. You will receive an email containing the admission form which you need to fill up after registering. Completely accomplish the form with your photo and signature. A photocopy or scanned copy of your proof of highest educational attainment (diploma or transcript of records) will be requested as well. To complete the requirements, you need to include your proof of payment (course and registration fees). You may send your requirements via email, courier or mail. Then a confirmation email will be sent to you followed by your username and temporary password. This marks your journey to online education.

My novice experience as an online FMNP student.

I was the first student to enroll in the course when it started in September 2015. I felt very excited when I get to have my username and temporary password to login to the web portal. I updated my profile, uploaded a picture, read the course guide and explored the course site as well. Because of my excitement, I was logging in many times and exploring the course site repeatedly.

In addition to learning the course, I was also enthusiastic to personally experience online education. I wanted to personally know how an online class differs from a traditional class. During the course delivery, I felt that something was missing or there was emptiness while in the virtual class but then I realized that I was not in a traditional class where teachers and students can exchange ideas right away. As an online student, you have to be patient in waiting for your classmates to share their ideas and post their comments which may depend on how often they visit the portal. Online education in UPOU is self-paced requiring time management and commitment. Before enrolling in the course, I used to have no activities after work. The course then made me use my available time after work to do some article readings and to accomplish the self-assessment questions (SAQs). The SAQs involved balance sheets, income statements, cash flows, financial analysis (the most difficult for me), and cost allocations in addition to the forum discussions. All these were new to my vocabulary as a nurse and college professor. Also, I expanded my references by reading other articles about financial management in google which I found very helpful in understanding the course even more.

The benefits I got from learning the course.

The course was delivered for 12 weeks and it really helped me gain ideas on how to help bridge the nursing-finance gap to deliver cost effective and quality patient care. I also learned about proper staffing ratio and the importance of nurse managers to be involved in decision-making particularly in resource allocation in their nursing units. Though I am not into nursing practice, I believed that this course also contributed in my understanding of how nursing schools allocate material and human resources. As a nursing faculty for more than 10 years now, the knowledge this course instilled in my mind would be useful in holding managerial positions especially in making some budget allocations in the school. I am now confident that I can participate in any undertakings that concern the allocation of resources in my current or future workplace whether in a school or hospital. This I owe to my online classmates and faculty in-charge for their valuable insights. Above all others, a billion thanks to University of the Philippines Open University for this countless and rewarding opportunity. I am proud to be a part of the first batch of students who successfully completed the Financial Management in Nursing Practice course. Indeed, I had an exciting and rewarding journey toward online education.