【Article by College of Education】

Visiting Scholar Profile
Professor Teresita T. Rungduin, PhD, RPsy, CSDP, is Vice President for Research, Extension, and Quality Assurance and Professor of Developmental and Clinical Psychology at Philippine Normal University (PNU). She earned her doctorate in Developmental Psychology, with a minor in Clinical Psychology, from the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her scholarship and academic leadership encompass developmental and clinical psychology, socioemotional development, mental health, teacher education, research ethics, institutional quality assurance, and policy-oriented inquiry. At PNU, she has held leadership roles involving research, graduate education, student affairs, and academic administration, including work connecting research evidence with institutional improvement and public policy.

Purpose and Scope of the Visit
Hosted by the NCCU College of Education, the six-day visit combined three academic lectures and interactive classroom conversations with faculty exchange and a meeting on possible future cooperation. The academic program linked teacher research culture, research quality assurance, and student wellbeing with cross-national comparisons between Taiwan and the Philippines.

1.In-Service Master’s Lecture · October 17, 2026
Rooted in Practice: Growing a Culture of Research within the Philippine Teacher Education Context
10:00am – 12:00nn

The first lecture examined how schools and teacher education institutions can develop research as an enduring part of pro-fessional practice rather than a one-time requirement for a qualification, promotion, or administrative report. Drawing on PNU’s institutional experience and international teacher education models, Professor Rungduin discussed teachers as evidence-informed practitioners, participants in collective inquiry, and researchers of their own classrooms.
The interactive discussion compared Taiwanese professional learning communities (PLCs) with Philippine Learning Action Cells (LACs), considering how collaborative teacher activities can move from routine meetings toward systematic investigation and school improvement. The participants also discussed changes in teaching and assessment associated with generative AI, including the risk that students might bypass reflection or substantive reasoning when using automated tools. A central question emerging from the exchanges concerned what happens after a research project or teacher-community report is completed. Discussion focused on whether findings are taken up by school leaders or education agencies, and how research evidence can be translated into usable guidance, educational practice, and policy.

Key Contribution

The session connected research culture with research utilization: the meaningful test of practitioner inquiry is not merely its completion, but whether it supports sustained reflection, credible evidence, and improvements in educational practice.

2.Graduate Student Lecture · October 20, 2026
Beyond Counting: Weaving a Culture of Quality into University Research
13:10pm -15:00pm

Professor Rungduin invited graduate students to consider how the quality of research should be judged if publications were not counted. She proposed five interrelated criteria—rigor, in-tegrity, transparency, relevance, and use—and contrasted compliance-driven measurement with a genuine institutional culture of quality. Her six-stage research life cycle (plan, ap-prove, conduct, report, use, and learn) highlighted the im-portance of following evidence beyond ethical approval and publication. Using a weaving metaphor, she described institu-tional procedures, ethics review, research offices, and data systems as structural threads, while integrity, mentoring, dia-logue, and commitment provide the human threads that cre-ate a cohesive quality culture. International initiatives such as DORA, the Leiden Manifesto, the Hong Kong Principles, and the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science were intro-duced to illustrate more responsible approaches to research as-sessment.
During the lecture, students considered how personally mean-ingful education issues can become researchable questions, including questions arising from special education practice. Discussion also covered consent and ethical research with children, questionable research practices, AI-generated or inaccurate citations, and the limits of automated AI-detection tools. The Taiwan–Philippines exchange returned to a shared question: how can research be communicated to teachers, families, schools, and policymakers who can act upon it?

3.Undergraduate Student Lecture · October 20, 2026
Nurturing the Culture of Wellbeing: Thriving Now, Ready for What Comes Next
16:00pm – 18:00pm

The undergraduate session connected student wellbeing with learning, interpersonal support, and preparation for future careers. Drawing on the PERMA framework and self- deter-mination theory, Professor Rungduin discussed positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment, and students’ needs for autonomy,　competence, and relatedness. Through comparisons between Taiwanese and Filipino experiences, she examined academic pressure, family expectations, the difficulty of asking for support, social media habits, and uncertainty over future educational and career pathways. The culturally grounded concepts of kapwa, ginhawa, and bayanihan were introduced alongside Taiwanese ideas of everyday happiness and interpersonal warmth. Practical suggestions addressed rest, physical activity, connection, help-seeking, and respectful support for peers. Students participated by identifying sources of stress and ways they recharge, reflecting on confidence and personal strengths, and imagining possible futures in 2035. The discussion of a rapidly changing VUCA environment emphasized career adaptability, transferable skills, exploration, and the understanding that one’s present university major need not determine a single future.

4.Academic Exchange and Prospective Partnership
Meeting with Dean Prof. Joy Yueh-Luen Hu (and other activities)

During the visit, Professor Rungduin met with Dr. Joy Yueh-Luen Hu, Dean of NCCU’s College of Education, to explore a potential partnership with PNU. This meeting was not audio-recorded; the following points are based on the host’s account of the discussion and are presented as preliminary possibilities rather than commitments. The discussion considered an institutional Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NCCU’s College of Education and PNU, at the college-to- university level, subject to the relevant internal approvals. Dean Hu emphasized the importance of identifying concrete activities that could give practical substance to any agreement.

Possible starting activities include jointly organized online classroom exchanges involving NCCU’s in-service master’s students and suitable PNU counterparts. The host also raised several possible comparative research topics of mutual relevance to Taiwan and the Philippines; the specific topics and prospective research teams would need to be refined in subsequent discussions. Professor Rungduin further introduced a possible invitation for NCCU’s College of Education to consider joining the Association of Southeast Asian Teacher Education Network (AsTEN) through its AsTEN Plus membership category. Eligibility, application procedures, and institutional arrangements remain to be verified with the network.

5.Impact and Outcomes
Academic engagement — Three lectures with a total of 120 participants (16 in-service graduate students, 17 graduate students, 87 undergraduate students) created opportunities for in-service teachers, graduate students, and undergraduates to discuss research, educational change, and personal development with an international scholar.
Research capacity and integrity — Participants examined research culture, trustworthy inquiry, responsible assessment, research ethics, and the use of evidence in practice and policymaking.
Student development — The undergraduate exchange linked psychological wellbeing with self-understanding, peer support, and flexible career preparation.
International partnership — The visit opened preliminary discussion of a College of Education–PNU MOU, online class-room collaboration, comparative research, and possible AsTEN Plus participation.
Follow-up — Suggested next steps are to identify a pilot online activity, articulate initial joint research questions, confirm institutional approval pathways for an MOU, and obtain current AsTEN Plus membership information.