TESDA leads meeting on application of XR technology in TVET delivery

April 18, 2023

Gearing up for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), in partnership with local and international stakeholders, kicked off the three-day Manila Skills Experts’ Meeting on Extended Reality (XR) today, April 18 at Green Sun Hotel in Makati City.

The three-day Manila Skills Experts’ Meeting will be conducted until April 20 in partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO) through its Skills for Prosperity Programme funded by the United Kingdom government, the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO), the European Training Foundation (ETF), and the Inter-Agency Council for Development and Competitiveness of Philippine Digital Workforce.

The meeting aims to present innovative solutions for skills development and lifelong learning in the field of XR and facilitate detailed discussion among national stakeholders on how to best apply these solutions to the context of the Philippines.

Present during the meeting are high-level public policymakers, local lifelong learning-focused authorities, TVET and academia experts, industry representatives, and XR technology developers.

According to Director General Danilo P. Cruz, the meeting will also provide a platform for stakeholders to work multilaterally, and for them to review together the existing XR solutions to identify areas for potential adoption in the Philippines.

“This meeting specifically supports our ongoing efforts to strengthen skills assessment and certification programs and lifelong learning mechanisms in the country. The learnings from today’s forum will also be very useful, especially in pursuing digitalization, modernization of the Philippine skills development ecosystem, and in strengthening TESDA’s overall institutional capacity,” he said.

The three-day activity also includes a one-day “hackathon” for the participants to draw up action-oriented technology solutions to the challenges that will be presented.

Earlier last March 14, as a prelude to this Skills Experts’ Meeting, a preparatory meeting was held. In the meeting, participants were requested to provide initial inputs on the vision and challenges of adopting the XR technology through individual and group workshops.

As a result, the key challenges were categorized into cost, connectivity, training of trainers/facilitators, content/curriculum development, enabling environment, user experience, assessment and certification, and industry experience.

Meanwhile, the Skills Experts’ Meeting is also attended by TESDA Deputy Directors General Rosanna Urdaneta, Aniceto Bertiz III, and Vidal Villanueva III, other TESDA officials, and international stakeholders.

“This Manila Skills Experts’ Meeting is indeed very timely as TESDA is geared towards accelerating the development of innovative learning solutions in TVET to address the issue of skills gaps and skills mismatch that continue to exist between what is provided in skills training and what actually the industry demands and requires,” DG Cruz emphasized.