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Cotabato
City, February 25, 2005 - Datu Ayunan National High School
Principal Nanang Ayunan Mangatong admits that she used to be afraid
of anything she considered "high-tech" - especially computers.
"I
was worried that if I pressed the wrong button, something terrible
would happen," she recalls with a grin. "I mean that's what happens
when I use the store."
For
a long time, her daughter had been urging her to enroll in a short-term
computer course, but "I simply did not have the time and motivation
to do so." But then came along CLIC-STI.
Principal
Ayunan confirmed that the STI-CLIC computer training program she
and her co-teachers attended recently showed her the benefits
of computer education and introduced her to the exciting new world
of knowledge available via the net.
"The
STI-CLIC training program made me appreciate the vast opportunities
offered by information technology and how these can be integrated
into to our day to day teaching activities," she says.
The
STI-CLIC training is a joint undertaking of STI, one of the country's
premier computer education institutions, and the Computer Literacy
and Internet Connection Program, which is being implemented by
the USAID-funded Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program.
The
CLIC Program is actively supporting the efforts of the national
government and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao-Department
of Education (DepEd-ARMM) to expand computer literacy and information
technology preparedness among students and teachers in the ARMM
and other conflict-affected areas in the island.
Under
a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed between STI and CLIC last
April in Davao City, STI will provide 16-hours of training to
public high school teachers on the use of Microsoft Office applications
- Word, Excel and Power Point - and on ways to access information
via the Internet. CLIC, for its part, will provide computers,
LAN installation, training on basic computer and internet repair
and maintenance, a printer, and a free one year Internet subscription
provided that the parents of the school children agree to pay
the fee for subsequent years' access.
"CLIC
recognizes the urgent need to bring the benefits of computer education
and basic computer literacy to public high schools in Mindanao,"
explains 'Happy" Raagas, CLIC manager.
To
date, the STI-CLIC Program has trained a total of 481 teachers
coming from the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Cotabato
and South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and the cities of Marawi,
Cotabato, Iligan and Zamboanga.
According
to Geoffrey Demerre, school administrator of STI Iligan, the STI
training is most effective because of its modern approach to learning.
"We
really designed our training program to be hands-on, as this method
provides our STI instructors more flexibility, and at the same
time, the teacher-trainees can easily understand fundamental concepts
as the sessions are interactive," says Demerre.
STI
is planning to develop additional training modules for teachers
who would like to learn computer programming and more advanced
applications.
Zosimo
Gomez, Mathematics teacher of Ma. Cristina National High School,
says that he is very satisfied with the training he has received
from STI.
What
he finds most instructive are the sessions on Excel spreadsheet,
which he says has helped him compute the grades of his students.
"Before, it took me several days to prepare the grades of my students.
Now, I can accomplish this time-consuming task in only a few hours,"
he adds.
Principal
Mangatong has already overcome her fear of computers (but the
store is another story). She now regularly surfs the Net to research
on the latest teaching methods. She even downloads instructional
modules which she shares with her co-teachers.
She
is however quick to admit that she is not yet that computer savvy
as compared to her nephews whom she describes as "constantly connected
to the outside world." "I'm still learning. But it is the joy
of learning which makes our efforts worthwhile."
(Luis Mendoza, Jr., GEM Program)
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