so this upcomming sem magsisimula na kami mag-major. 4 ang mga majors na pwedeng makuha ng BS DevCom students: DevJorn(Development Journalism), ComBroad (Community Broadcasting), EdCom (Educational Communication) and SciCom (Science Communication).
ang major ko? SCICOM...
and here's an article i wrote about it. i wrote this for our DEVC 20 newsletter last sem :)
Department of Science Communication
It’s the youngest among the College of Development Communication (CDC) departments, but that does not mean it’s any less competent.
History Book
The Department of Science Communication (DSC) was made as a separate department of the CDC in academic year 1998-1999. At that time only 11 students first graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Development Communication major in Science Communication (SciCom), but this was back to back with another course. Those students graduated with what can technically be called a double major. “So, noong panahon namin, noong undergraduate pa kami, you could take up SciJourn, SciEd or SciBroad,” recalls Ma’m Mia Cabral, instructor of the DSC. Eventually SciCom was separated as a major on its own.
Before SciCom became a department, it began as one Subject. Dr. Juan Jamias proposed DEVC 263 which was offered for graduate students. In academic year 1991-1992, the first three SciCom courses were offered. These were DEVC 50 (Introduction to Science Communication), DEVC 150 (Scientific and Technical Information Processing) and DEVC 263 was offered via distance mode at the UP Open University.
The DSC has come a long way since then. In academic year 2002-2003, in the 5th year of SciCom as a department, SciCom graduates totaled 97, which is a lot more than the 11 who graduated on SciCom’s 1st year.
Currently, 126 DevCom students are SciCom majors, the second most in number to EdCom.
SciCom is an important field in Development Communication (DevCom). According to Ma’m Mia, “The College of Development Communication is the only academic institution formally offering SciCom as a major.” Also, she stresses that SciCom is not media based in the sense that you don’t limit yourself to one medium in particular, but the media used must depend on the audience and their need.
Lesson No. 1
Dr. Juan Jamias is the main proponent of Science Communication. At first he called it Scienctific Communication. This is defined in DEVC 50 classes as, “Scientific Communication includes the activities in producing, disseminating and using information from the time the scientist gets the idea for his/her research until the research results become part of scientific knowledge (Garvey, 1980).” Due to controversies in the title, it evolved into Science Communication which is, “The communication of the product, content, and processes of science to the various publics with the purpose of promoting development (CDC, 2000).” But this is not the only definition of SciCom for it has many definitions. Ma’m Mia adds a few points: It’s not just about popularization, but is also communicating to various publics, not just the general public. Prof. Ongkiko and Dr. Flor cite Dr. Jamias in their book Introduction to Development Communcation, “science communication’s function is to bring about innovation.” In his book Writing for Development, Dr. Jamias says that “understanding aims to enable people to make reasoned decisions of scientific information communicated through the mass media and other channels.”
The SciCom Major
Gone were the days where SciCom was just combined with other majors, now it is a specialization on its own. The thing that makes SciCom majors different from the other majors is that they are grounded on the basic sciences. The technical courses that aretaken up by SciCOm majors were carefully chosen by the department to give them that kind of edge.
Ma’m Mia mentions the competencies expected of a SciCom major:
1. A Science Communication major should be able to reflect critically upon and articulate issues in science and technology.
2. He or she should be able to communicate the content and process of science to diverse audiences, meaning scientists, academicians, R and D institutions, people, extension workers and the general public.
3. A Science Communication major should also be able to use information technology as tools for communicating the processes and content of science.
4. Trainings undertaken by a Science Communication major: competencies in information management, information storage and retrieval, knowledge management.
5. Well grounded in theory and also practice of Development Communication.
The list of Technical courses provides a section which lists the recommended course for SciCom majors. And this semester, just in time for the Plan of Study, the department came up with a longer list of courses SciCom majors can take. This is posted at the department, on the wall fronting the Infotru. SciCom majors cannot take some course which other majors can take, like economics, because the goal is for them to be grounded on science courses.
However, the implementation of the REGP posed some problems not only for the department, but also for the whole college. “Before the REGP was implemented we were able to offer our students higher technical courses,” says Ma’m Mia. Students under the old curriculum were required to take basic courses of technical courses. “But then with the REGP…di nyo na lang kailangan siyang itake. Pero prerequisite nga siya ng hundred-level courses. Ginawa na lang namin, we elevated the basic technical courses into a technical course.” Unfortunately the SciCom majors under the new curriculum would have a less intensive training in a particular field. But what is important is that they have adequate grounding on the basic sciences. “You wont be able to go deeper into the course, but then you still have the necessary skills, the necessary technical foundations that a Science Communication or generally as a Development Communication student needs to have, so ok din lang.”
Job opportunities are a big consideration in choosing a major. Don’t think that SciCom has a few. There are 6 areas for job opportunities for Science Communication graduates listed by the department. According to Ma’m Mia, these are:
1. Government
2. Non-Government Organizations
3. Corporate
4. Academe
5. Media
6. Business
Services
The DSC has 3 functions as part of the university, these are Teaching – instruction, Research and Extension. The department is currently conducting research on the knowledge management practices, processes of the Los Banos science community. Extension activities would be creating modules, facilitating seminars and other extension mateials. The Infotru is a service unit where students especially SciCom majors taking SciCom subjects with laboratory can use the facilities of the Infotru for free.
The People
Dr. Ma. Theresa Velasco is currently the department chair. Faculty include Dr. Cleofe Torres, Sr. Remi de Leon, Ms. Mia Cabral and affiliate faculty, Dr. Alexander Flor, Dr. Navarro, and Dr. Lumanta. From the Infotru there is Ms. Lagrimas Ercia, known as Tita Anning is also part of SciCom.
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