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ICT Integration Training for new SSP partner schools

Trainings on ICT integration were simultaneously conducted for teachers of public elementary and high schools adopted under the Smart Schools Program (SSP) in 2008. These were held in clusters – the NCR and South Luzon cluster at the University of Makati (UMAK), North Luzon cluster at the Systems Plus College Foundation in Angeles City, Cebu cluster at the University of San Jose-Recoletos in Cebu City, Iloilo cluster at the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City and the Mindanao cluster at the Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan in Cagayan de Oro City.

During three days of intensive training, the teachers were taught how to use Internet tools to search for information and websites that would help them develop appealing and appropriate lesson plans more easily. They learned how to use email, use search engines smartly, post blogs, edit and upload photos, create wikis (editable websites), and hold web-conferences. As a culminating activity, each of the teachers had to create, upload, and present a one-day lesson plan.

ICT Integration is part of a series of regular trainings that the schools receive as one of the key components of the Smart Schools Program which also provides each partner school Internet access and online content. The program is the flagship community project of leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART).

Husband and wife Manuel and Meleanor Quinto of Net Learn Ventures administered the training for the NCR and South Luzon cluster with 24 teacher-participants from 12 partner schools. The course was designed to enable teachers to “build classrooms without walls” through their newly acquired Internet connectivity.

The teachers were of various skill levels but there was something new to be learned by everyone.

Some of the public school teachers from the NCR and South Luzon cluster who attended the ICT Integration Training conducted by SMART under the Smart Schools Program at the University of Makati.

“At first we were afraid because we have very little knowledge about computers but our trainers are expert and knowledgeable. Now we are ready to share what we have learned this coming June to our co-teachers and students back home,” says Genalyn Acosta, a First-Grade Makabayan subject teacher from El Nido Central School in Palawan.

Jonathan Marquez from Highway Hills Integrated School in Mandaluyong City said he plans to use the Internet to tell his students about Aesop’s fables. Viva D. Carreon, a science teacher who is a novice computer user, remarked, “This is the first time I had the chance to use Internet materials. I have now seen an online video of the pulmonary circulation of blood in the body and I can show that to my students.”

“The training we got here is very comprehensive even for an experienced computer user,” agree both Wilma Inmenzo, a beginner computer user, and Willer Arellano, a Grade 6 music, arts, and Filipino language teacher who is already knowledgeable with computers. The two are from Buenavista Elementary School in Sablayan, Mindoro Occidental. “We learned how to integrate the use of PDF files, Myspace.com, Yahoo! Messenger, video, and both paper-based and screen-based publications,” says Arellano.

Already a regular Internet user, Jomel Suaze, a biology and physics teacher at Alaminos National High School in Alaminos, Laguna, is no less grateful for the additional knowledge he gained. “This is my first time to create blogs and wikis. I’ve always wanted to learn how it’s done. It’s only now that I got to do it on my own. I already know how to use Powerpoint but the reach of the Internet makes blogs more accessible.”

Following the initial batches, more ICT Integration trainings are scheduled throughout the summer to equip the teachers with the necessary understanding in time for start of the next school year.

To date, a total of 750 teachers have been trained in ICT integration under the Smart Schools Program which is being implemented through the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), with the support of the Department of Education and Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Program.

(Published 18 May 2009, Smart Communications, Inc.)