CampBlog 1B now accepting applicants

With the success of the first Camp Blog, the iSchools Project Management Office (PMO) is pleased to announce the opening of the application period for Camp Blog 1B, from June 12 to August 14, 2009. Camp Blog 1B will happen on October 16-26, 2009.
To join, interested teachers and students of iSchools Project recipient schools must answer all 4 essay questions found below:

1. Why should I be included in Camp Blog?
2. What are my experiences as a user of the web and other new media technologies?
3. What subject do I excel in? What specific topics do I like best about this subject?
4. What are my proposed strategies in maximizing the advantages of blogging for
teaching (if teachers) | learning (for students)?

Please observe the following guidelines in preparing your answers

· There should be a separate answer for each of the 4 essay questions.
· Each of the four essays must be short and direct-to-the-point. Ideally an answer must be less than 100 words long.
· The Camp Blog selection committee is more interested in the content of your answers rather than the form. Please make all your answers count.
· Previous participants of the first Camp Blog cannot participate in Camp Blog 1B.
· Deadline of submissions is on August 14, 2009. No late entries will be entertained.
· Please send your answers to your designated iSchools Project State Universities and Colleges (SUC) Coordinator. There will only be at most 12 applicants coming from each SUC Coordinator so please send in your entries ASAP. Applications
sent directly to the iSchools PMO will not be accepted.
· From the submitted list, iSchools PMO will then select 60 participants to join Camp Blog 1B.
· For questions, comments or suggestions, please contact
camp.blog.2009@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . We will not entertain direct submissions here.

For more information visit http://ischoolscampblog.wordpress.com

Thank you and good luck!

iSchools Project to Deploy 8,000 ICT Equipments to 320 Public High Schools

The iSchools Project of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) will begin the deployment phase of its current implementation cycle on August 7, 2009. Eight thousand ICT equipments will be delivered to 320 public high schools nationwide within a month.

Each of the 320 beneficiary public high schools will receive the following: 19 multimedia desktop computers (LCD screen), a server, a laptop, a DLP projector, a 3-in-1 printer, a router and a wireless internet camera. Each recipient school will also receive a one-year internet connection subscription which will follow by mid August to September.

Aside from the equipment, the 320 iSchools beneficiaries will also receive four ICT training programs.

Initially, 20 school personnel (teachers, administrators, and students) will undergo a five-day basic computer and internet literacy course to be administered by certified International Computer Driving License (ICDL) trainers from 37 partner State Universities and Colleges (SUC).

Specialized ICT courses such as website development using Joomla, laboratory management using the Linux platform and library management will follow. Two personnel each from the 320 schools will attend these courses.

Despite the scale of deliverables, Antonette Torres, Project Manager of the iSchools Project, is confident that deployment can be completed within the target date.

“Our strategy is to tap our SUC partners as representatives of the CICT in the regions,” shares Torres.

“They would be able to create relationships with the high schools in their localities while at the same time serve as our partners in bridging the digital divide, especially in the provinces.”

The iSchools Project is one of the flagship projects of the Commission under the ICT4BE Program. The project aims to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education, by providing training modules and increasing ICT access in public high schools. Now on its 3rd year of implementation, the iSchools Project has provided these services to 680 public high schools nationwide.

Final M&E Training-Workshop: Selected pictures

CICT Inks Deal with Smart; Forty Nine Public High Schools Get Free Internet

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with broadband service provider Smart Communications, Inc. at simple rites held at Cravings Restaurant, Katipunan Avenue this March 5, 2009. Public high school principals and partner State Universities and Colleges (SUC) implementers witnessed the event.As a result of this partnership, forty nine public high schools, all of whom are iSchools Project recipients, were awarded a year's worth of free broadband internet connection.

“One of the biggest challenges the (iSchools) project is facing is connectivity,” Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua, Chairman of the CICT, observes.

Chua elaborates, “less than half of them are already connected and that is the area that we really need help from the private sector.”

Smart Communications is more than willing to satisfy this request.

“What we're doing is creating a whole ecosystem that will allow access even at the grassroots level,” shares Salvador Vea, Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart Communications, referring to the mutual value created with the forging of this partnership.

Camp Blog to Usher in Potential of Digital Learning in Public High School Education

Fifty-four of the most promising public high school students and teachers nationwide will converge at the Pampanga Agricultural College, Magalang, Pampanga for the first Camp Blog conference from May 18-28, 2009.The 10-day affair, which was organized by the iSchools Project, will equip a new generation of students and teachers with an appreciation of the benefits of digital learning.

Camp Blog will initiate hostilities with technical sessions which will frame high school education in light of advancements in 21st century digital learning. Discussions in this area will be led by Professors Bingo Espinosa and Katherine Esteves of the UP Open University and by Dr. Lloyd Espiritu of De La Salle University.

Professors Sol Hidalgo and Bambi Torrecampo will share their expertise in ICT-enabled teaching of Science and English subjects.

Camp Blog will then transition into equipping participants with the necessary skills to best position their content for online consumption. Skills such as online research and ethics, writing for the new media, online photo journalism and blogging will be taught by veteran media practitioners such as Katrina Stuart-Santiago, Joe Torres and Jimmy Domingo.

The event is envisioned as an annual reinforcement activity to the iSchools Project by “remaining consistent with the Project’s credo of bridging the digital divide,” states Antonette Torres, Project Manager of the iSchools Project.

Torres asserts that Camp Blog will achieve this through “the convergence of the best of traditional learning content requirements encountered in public high school education with the promise that digital learning modes afford.”

Camp Blog will be open to all students and teachers of public high schools who were previous recipients of the iSchools Project.

The iSchools Project is a flagship initiative of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology – Human Capital Development Group (CICT-HCDG). The project aims to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education, by providing training modules and increasing ICT access in the public high school sector. To date, the iSchools Project has endowed 360 computer laboratories across the Philippines.

Camp Blog to Usher in Potential of Digital Learning in Public High School Education

Fifty-four of the most promising public high school students and teachers nationwide will converge at the Pampanga Agricultural College, Magalang, Pampanga for the first Camp Blog conference from May 18-28, 2009.The 10-day affair, which was organized by the iSchools Project, will equip a new generation of students and teachers with an appreciation of the benefits of digital learning.

Camp Blog will initiate hostilities with technical sessions which will frame high school education in light of advancements in 21st century digital learning. Discussions in this area will be led by Professors Bingo Espinosa and Katherine Esteves of the UP Open University and by Dr. Lloyd Espiritu of De La Salle University.

Professors Sol Hidalgo and Bambi Torrecampo will share their expertise in ICT-enabled teaching of Science and English subjects.

Camp Blog will then transition into equipping participants with the necessary skills to best position their content for online consumption. Skills such as online research and ethics, writing for the new media, online photo journalism and blogging will be taught by veteran media practitioners such as Katrina Stuart-Santiago, Joe Torres and Jimmy Domingo.

The event is envisioned as an annual reinforcement activity to the iSchools Project by “remaining consistent with the Project’s credo of bridging the digital divide,” states Antonette Torres, Project Manager of the iSchools Project.

Torres asserts that Camp Blog will achieve this through “the convergence of the best of traditional learning content requirements encountered in public high school education with the promise that digital learning modes afford.”

Camp Blog will be open to all students and teachers of public high schools who were previous recipients of the iSchools Project.

The iSchools Project is a flagship initiative of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology – Human Capital Development Group (CICT-HCDG). The project aims to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education, by providing training modules and increasing ICT access in the public high school sector. To date, the iSchools Project has endowed 360 computer laboratories across the Philippines.

Training Prepares iSchools Project Writers for Web Publishing

Twelve participants from partner State Universities and Colleges (SUC) were taught the essentials of writing and producing multimedia packages in the recently concluded Advanced Online Writers Training held in Calumpang Resort in the picturesque town of Argao in Cebu from February 2-6, 2009.

The training equipped participants with the skills to help communicate the message of the iSchools Project to the larger audience of the world wide web. Veteran journalists and educators Yvonne Chua and Luz Rimban taught participants how to formulate stories into audio and visual formats through sound slides, audio and video presentations. Chua and Rimban are two of the main proponents of the VERA Files and teach journalism at the University of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University.

For their final project, participants produced video features on the iSchools laboratories of Ocaña National High School in Carcar and Talaga National High School in Argao. Six videos resulted from this activity, all of which highlight the project's impact to the school community.

The participants who have completed the course include:

• Angelica Serrano of Batangas State University

• Bernadette Lelina of Eastern Visayas State University

• Bobby Gerardo of Western Visayas State University

• Christian Calma of the iSchools Project Management Office

• Dexter Ontoy of Cebu Normal University

• Frannie Belarmino of Camarines Sur State Agricultural College

• Gerard Atienza of Capiz State University

• Gerard Salonga of Tarlac State University

• Gilda Deguma of Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College

• Jelyn Alentajan of Polytechnic State College of Antique

• Magdalene Cesar of Visayas State University

• Theody Sayco of Central Luzon State University

With the conclusion of the course, the online writers can now create and publish multimedia content for the iSchools web portal.

The iSchools Project is a flagship initiative of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology - Human Capital Development Group (CICT-HCDG). The project aims to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education, by providing training modules and increasing ICT access in the public high school sector. To date, the iSchools Project has endowed 360 computer laboratories across the Philippines.

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