News and Features
Public School Teachers Gear Up To Advance High Tech Education
[April 22, 2007/ Manila] - Joan Miasco, a teacher from Lapu-Lapu City Science and Technology Education Center (STEC), has come up with a strategy to help her students enjoy learning. Teachers should find a way of arousing in young people as much interest in learning as they have playing games on the computer, she says.
The solution is to fight fire with fire. Teachers should present their lessons in an exciting way using the computer. Miasco plans to use Webquest in the classroom, post assignments on her web blog and design a website for her students. Webquest is an inquiry-oriented activity involving online data.
Miasco devised the strategy after attending a nationwide training on ICT integration in basic education and web design. The training was conducted for 192 teachers from 70 Smart Schools Program (SSP) partner institutions. The educators were taught new teaching techniques and methods to make their subjects more interesting. They were also trained in the basics of web development.
The five-day training was conducted by Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) in partnership with Learn.ph Foundation. It was held simultaneously in six sites across the country. In Luzon, teachers gathered at Ilocos Norte National High School in Laoag City and De La Salle Lipa in Batangas City. In Visayas, the training venues were the University of Cebu in Cebu City and Western Visayas College of Science and Technology in Iloilo City. Meanwhile, teachers in Mindanao were trained at the Misamis Oriental General Comprehensive High School in Cagayan de Oro City and Ateneo de Zamboanga in Zamboanga City.
The participants, who came from public high schools, discovered how information and communication technology makes teaching easier and learning more engaging. As Miasco says, "These innovative strategies not only lessen the burden of the teacher, they also widen the students' knowledge." Training of teachers is a major component of SSP.
Jerome Marquez, a teacher from the technology and livelihood education department of Dagupan City National High School, says he learned about new tools and methods that could improve his teaching technique. For example, he says, "Webquest made us realize that a simple classroom activity could eventually enhance the students' ability to maximize the Internet and follow instructions."
Rheyda Tejada and her fellow teachers from Aklan National High School for Arts and Trades learned about creating digital learning communities. They now tap a rich teaching resource by exchanging vital information with educators from other parts of the country and the world.
Access to information technology makes students better performers. Teachers like Lolita Pastoriza of Tagum City National High School believe it helps decrease the number of students who drop out or get failing marks.
Since Agusan National High School integrated ICT in their curriculum through SSP, Felishiela Toledo says their students have "developed a better appreciation of concepts". ICT also helps enhance their "creativity in presenting ideas about a particular topic." Toledo plans to use information from the training to supplement her lesson plan in computer education.
Aside from improving teaching techniques and students' academic performance, ICT can also help foster better relationships in the classroom. Marquez says that web blogs, which are now a fad among high school students, can be used to improve teacher-student interaction.
Several participants arrived with zero knowledge in web design. But during the training, teachers like Cheryl Enriquez of Bataan National High School learned to create tables, upload pictures, and display data and images on a web page.
Mala Magnaong, a teacher from Camiguin National High School, says the training was an eye opener for her. She realized she could make a website without taking up a course in computer science.
SSP's partner schools will develop their own websites. These will be hosted by SSP like STEC's website, which is already online. Miasco says the website is very important to them. "We aim to market our school both locally and internationally… and get sponsors for scholars and students."
Aside from promoting the school, an official website is a useful tool in establishing important connections.
Smart continues to assist public high school teachers in facing the challenges of times. On May 21 to 25, Smart will hold the same ICT training, this time for Luzon partner school teachers who were unable to attend the first batch. A number of seminars and trainings are already lined up for SSP educators this year. The trainings are part of Smart's efforts to create an online community of educators, improve the quality of education and help make Filipinos become globally competitive.
The educators attended the five-day training with the expectation of learning something new. They left with the promise of sharing their newfound knowledge with their respective schools. The message flashing on one of the home pages developed by the participants was quite apt: “So I enter that I may grow in knowledge, wisdom and love… So I depart that I may now better serve my fellow men, my country and God.”@
