by Office of International Relations and Cooperation

Associate Professor Dawn Adams was one of the speakers in the webinar. Photo from Griffith University.

On April 6, 2021, faculty members from the Special Education Program and Early Childhood Education Program of Central Philippine University interacted with some faculty members of Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. The virtual interaction centered on presentations of faculty members from both universities on common fields of interest such as autism, special education, and early childhood.

Two experts from Griffith University spoke on their areas of expertise. Associate Professor Dawn Adams whose expertise is in Speech and Language Pathology, Special Education, Clinical Psychology, Educational and Developmental Psychology, is a Senior Lecturer of the Autism Centre of Excellence (ACE) at Griffith University. During the virtual meeting, she shared her extensive knowledge of autism. ACE is a multi-disciplinary research center, and the ACE team is globally recognized experts in autism, delivering postgraduate teaching in autism to both domestic and international students as well as being invited to give keynotes to international audiences across the globe.

In the field of Early Childhood and Gifted Education, Dr. Michelle Ronksley-Pavia, an internationally recognized expert and leading researcher in the field of gifted education, and Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Education and Professional Studies of Griffith University, Australia shared her extensive knowledge in this field. She is a member of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children and a founding member of the SPELD Victoria Australian Research Committee for students with specific learning disabilities.

Early Childhood and Gifted Education expert Dr Michelle Ronksley-Pavia.

From CPU’s side, Prof. Joan Iven Abello, Special Education Program Coordinator shared CPU’s curriculum on Special Education and the participation of CPU students in organizations that promote awareness of special education such as the Autism Society of the Philippines. On the other hand, Prof. Praise Glory, faculty of CPU Kindergarten and Early Childhood Education shared some meaningful activities and outputs of CPU students specializing in Early Childhood Education. She emphasized the outputs made during the on-going online classes because of the pandemic.

The two deans from the College of Education of the two institutions, Dr. Merle Junsay and Dr. Donna Pendergast welcomed the participants before the virtual presentations and are hopeful that more collaboration activities will take place in the future.

Anna E Du Plessis, Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and Professional Studies of Griffith University emphasized that collaborations allow the participants from both universities to learn from each other.