The Office of Field Activities (OFA) Diliman held the first ever Lakbay Natin: A Symposium on Academic Field Activities (Lakbay Natin) at the David M. Consunji Theater at the Institute of Civil Engineering on Aug. 26.
Over 60 full-time or part-time faculty members, lecturers, teaching associates/fellows, and students attended the symposium where select faculty members shared their experiences and best practices of planning and conducting Academic Field Activities (AFAs).
AFAs are authorized academic and similar experiential learning class activities that fulfill any/all of the approved competencies and learning outcomes of the course/subject. They include activities both off-campus such as internships, plant industry visits, study tours, community immersions, and cultural performance viewing at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and on-campus such as field surveys of engineering students at the Academic Oval and bird watching in the UP Arboretum.
Speaking at Lakbay Natin were former OFA Director Arlyn Macapinlac, Nancy Kimuell-Gabriel, PhD, Ana Teresa Prondosa, David Xander Lacson, Gina Alcoriza, Leslie Joy Diaz, PhD, and Ma. Brida Lea Diola.
Kimuell-Gabriel is a professor at the College of Arts and Letters, while Prondosa, Lacson, and Alcoriza are assistant professors at the College of Social Work and Community Development, College of Architecture, and Asian Institute of Tourism, respectively. Meanwhile, Diaz and Diola are professor and assistant professor at the College of Engineering (COE).
The invited resource persons have conducted or regularly conducted off-campus AFAs, on-campus / NSTP AFAs, international AFAs, and the Field Instruction Program. Displayed in and around the venue were select posters and exhibitions from Lakbay Natin: A Poster Exhibit on Academic Field Activities held in February 2026 at the COE Library Learning Commons building.
