The Challenges of Online Distance Education for Real Property Valuers and Managers
Cesar Z. Luna
Faculty of Management and Development Studies, University of the Philippines Open University
The Philippines is in the midst of comprehensively reforming its real property sector, including the professionalization of its corp of real property valuers and managers. The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) has responded to the challenge of upgrading the knowledge and skills of the country’s property valuers and managers by offering the country’s first graduate program in land valuation and management. The program seeks to produce professionals who will follow international standards of practice as defined by the International Valuation Standards Committee. In its initial offering, the program has attracted 79 students, which is noteworthy among UPOU’s graduate programs. This paper describes the program, presents a profile of the initial batch of learners, and discusses the challenges of offering the program in the online distance learning mode. The main challenges center around online teaching of technical skills, oral communication skills, ethics and research.