This paper was presented during the International Conference on Learning and Teaching, Miriam College, October 2011.

1. Discovering, Sharing and
Learning Local Knowledge
through Digital Tools:
The AUDRN Experience
Maria Lourdes Quisumbing-Baybay
Sheila L. Dingcong
Noel R. Buensuceso

2. INTRODUCTION
 The world is increasingly interconnected with
global knowledge travelling instantaneously; thus
local knowledge is threatened (Holmes & Crossley,
2004).
 For educational development to be effective, the
voices of local people deserve to be heard more
readily (Holmes & Crossley, 2004 ).
 Educational institutions need to embrace the
importance of local knowledge in this digital age.

3. WHAT IS LOCAL KNOWLEDGE?
 the totality of perceptions, beliefs, understandings,
facts, and skills that members of a community to
communicate about and manipulate the world
around them (Wisner, 2004).
 dynamic and changing and is mostly based on
experience; is often tested over time through
centuries of use and adapted to the local context (
www.fao.org/sd/links, n.d.).

4. is embedded in community practices,
institutions, relationships and rituals and thus,
often bridges physical and social functions and
realities.
Local communities, where this knowledge
emanates, are not just museums of traditions
but are workshops of knowledge production
(Wisner, 2009).

5. LEARNING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTIVISM
 Social constructivism emphasizes the importance of
culture and context in understanding what occurs in
society and the construction of knowledge based on
this understanding (McMahon, 1997).
 Students learn local knowledge in a social,
collaborative manner through digital tools.

6.  Because 21st century students are digital natives, their
social interactions are increasingly becoming “wired”
thus, the use of digital tools for academic work is
appropriate:
 Documentation of local knowledge through smartphones and
digicams
 Sharing of local knowledge and reflections through
interactive blogs and chats on a class website.
 Systematization of learnings in an e-portfolio which can give
varying degrees of access to audiences beyond the class

7. ASIAN UNIVERSITY DIGITAL RESOURCE NETWORK
 AUDRN is an innovative effort to inform and
ground students in their local knowledge through
digital tools.
AUDRN aims to share resources with Asian
universities, particularly in preserving and
sharing Asia’s local knowledge, through training,
research, online interest groups and a website.

8. Miriam College is the host of the AUDRN, an
innovative program of the United Board for Christian
Higher Education’s Local Knowledge Initiative.

9. Key first steps in launching this network were
taken at the United Board’s May 2009
workshop in Hong Kong, Digital Humanities in
Asia: Global Technologies and Local
Knowledge, attended by 50 specialists from 37
institutions from 10 countries.

11. AUDRN organized and successfully run
training events that featured documenting
and sharing culture and local knowledge
through Web 2.0 tools.

12. The first workshop, Preserving and Sharing
Culture through Digital Tools, in Jogjakarta,
Indonesia was hosted by
Duta Wacana Christian University in March
2010 was attended by 28 participants from 19
Indonesian universities and academic
institutions.

13. A second workshop, Sharing Culture and
Service-Learning through Digital Tools in
Manila, Philippines, at Miriam College in June
2010 brought together 36 academics and
librarians from 21 colleges and universities
around the Philippines.

14.  A series of smaller workshops or field camps from
September 2010 to March 2011 to share research
and/or academic projects on local knowledge:
Guided lecture by an expert on trends of LK
research
A short field trip to a nearby local cultural
destination
A demonstration and exploration on the use of
digital tools in participants’ respective
disciplines

15. Two field camps, “We’ve Got FB. Now What?”
were co-hosted by La Salle, Canlubang and by
the University of Baguio for Luzon
participants.

16. Three workshops, “Local Knowledge in a
Connected Global Village,” were co-hosted by
the Ateneo de Zamboanga University,
Zamboanga City in Mindanao, Silliman
University, Dumaguete City and the University
of San Carlos, Cebu City in the Visayas.

19. An international conference-workshop in the
Philippines “Discovering Local Knowledge in
the 21st Century, Connecting Classrooms to
the World,” in May 2011, gathered 42 local
participants and 12 international delegates
from China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The conference portion highlighted speeches of
guest speakers and the presentations of research
projects on preserving, sharing, and teaching
local knowledge using digital tools.

21.  The workshop portion focused on a field work
exercise of exploring local knowledge of
Metropolitan Manila and of surrounding provinces.

22.  The workshop portion focused on a field work
exercise of exploring local knowledge of
Metropolitan Manila and of surrounding provinces.

23.  To faciliate collaboration, a set of more formal official AUDRN
websites (http://audrn.net/ and http://audrn.org) was established
to show highlights of sample documentation of local knowledge
projects that are supported directly by UB and indirectly via AUDRN.

24. The community site at http://people.audrn.net is
the platform for 230 AUDRN members to connect
and share digital resources on local knowledge.

25.  An associated Facebook Fan page at
http://www.facebook.com/audrn and a Twitter page at
http://twitter.com/#!/audrn operate as parallel information
and communication touch points to promote AUDRN.

26. AUDRN supported higher education
institutions to conduct research in order to
develop and evolve reference models for
documenting local knowledge using digital
tools.

28. NEXT STEPS
Building of a more formal network of
academic institutions and professionals in the
Philippines and
Establishing stronger links with potential point
persons in selected educational institutions
for the sustainability of this initiative

29.  Network building with identified
“champions” in the different institutions
 E-portfolio training
 Fora on the integration of local knowledge
into the curriculum
 An International Conference
 Stage 2 of the MC Tree Mapping Project

30. Local Knowledge Research with Digital
Tools: Two Examples from Miriam
College – Hiligaynon Lullaby: A
Multi-disciplinal Approach to the
Preservation and Promotion of
Music in the Vernacular and the MC
Tree Mapping Project

34. Mellow, calm, simple, sang with feelings, soft, slow
What do you think of the (really slow), used minor notes which makes it
music of the lullaby? emotional, it’s like a love song, sleepy, repetitive
Narrating a story, talks about daily routine, way of life,
What can you say about poetic, love of nature, love for another person, nature
the lyrics of the song? and girl
What do you think of It shows love for our culture, nationalistic/ nationalism,
using the local languages expressing ideas – it is easier to express with the use of
in lullabies? the mother tongue
Music motivates in starting lessons
How can this be use as Fixes the mood; creates the atmosphere in learning
content in your course? A form of the child’s expression
In memorization
Use during sleeping time for pre-schoolers

35. http://bit.ly/oeqSRp
Integration in Teaching and Learning

36. MC Tree Inventory and Digital
Mapping Project
by
Noel R. Buensuceso

37. Aims and Objectives
•Digitize existing tree inventory
•Provide narratives from historical and scientific
perspectives in particular trees covered
•Inform the broader community of the importance of
promoting living museums
•Encourage conservation and appreciation of biodiversity

38. Methodology
1. Take photos of trees using a camera ( with GPS feature )
2. Upload photos in Picasa album
3. Incorporate relevant information ( common names ,local names,
scientific names, historical and scientific narratives, etc. )
4. Plot the specific trees onto Google maps and Panoramio

41. HYMN TO THE TALISAY TREE
By Dr. Jose Rizal
At Dapitan, the sandy shore
And rocks aloft on mountain crest
Form thy throne, O refuge blest,
That we from childhood days have
known,
In your vales that flowers adorn,
And your fruitful leafy shade,
Our thinking powers are being
made,
And soul with body being grown.

42. COMMON NAME: Perfume tree
FAMILY: ANNONACEAE
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Cananga odorata (Lam.) Hook.f. &
Thomson
DISTRIBUTION: E tropics from India to N Queensland.
Planted in most of the tropics. Throughout the Philippines in
cultivation, occurring in some forested areas up to an
altitude of 800m.
LOCAL NAMES: Ylang-ylang ; alangigan (Ilocano) ; alangilang
(Tagalog) ; anangilan (Cebu Bisaya) ;anangiran (Manobo) ;
angilan (Subanon, Sulu) ; arinigan (Tinguian) ; burak (Samar-
Leyte Bisaya) ;danipo (Igorot) ; tangid, tangit (Bikol)
-This tree is the source of the ilang-ilang flower from which
the ilang-ilang, or Cananga perfume is obtained. Used for
making wooden shoes and fish nets floats.

43. Conclusions
An enriched map of MC trees on Google map
Share local knowledge about trees
(Re)discover 30 indigenous / endemic trees
Awareness and appreciation of trees and biodiversity
Digital mapping- a platform or tool for collaborative academic
research and education

44. Recommendations/Applications
Food
Music
Animals
Heritage Sites
Historical Places / Events
Arts
Languages
Ethnic groups
Local products
Festivals

45. Thank you!
noel.buensuceso@gmail.com