Last October 4,
2013, instead of enjoying with my fellow teachers in the World Teachers’ Day
celebration in our school, I attended a seminar workshop about Information and Communications Technology
in Education Planning and Management. But I didn't regret accepting the
task to attend to this event, because I knew that I would learn something
new from this.
The learning
event was sponsored by Felta and Intel. It was held at Astoria Plaza, Escriva Drive,
Ortigas, Pasig City. Educational supervisors, ICT coordinators and computer
teachers from different divisions of Metro Manila were invited to this event. The
keynote speaker, Mr. Benjamin Vergel De Dios, guided the participants into a
modular approach of developing an ICT program for every DCS.
First, every division was asked to present the CHALLENGES
that we were currently encountering about ICT program implementation. Then, the speaker talked about the uses of ICT in Education particularly in teaching and learning
process. He also discussed about the stages of ICT development and its
pedagogical uses. I was amazed when he presented the ICT Master Plan of
Singapore and Korea. How I hoped that we could do the same in our education
system. Mr. De Dios said that they succeeded because they had a vision.
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| Mr. De Dios, while discussing the Stages of ICT Use |
The next
activity was about writing our VISION. In
writing our vision, the speaker gave us the following guide questions:
- What
do we do?
- How do
we do it?
- From
whom do we do it?
After stating
our vision, which we proudly presented to all other ICT leaders, we were guided
by the speaker to come up of at least TOP
5 PRIORITIES for ICT program to achieve our vision.
Lastly, all ICT
leaders were encouraged to conceptualize an ICT
PROJECT by setting goals and objectives, identifying components and
activities, and allocating funds. He even shared some of the ICT projects and
best practices of other schools around the country to serve as our inspiration
in working with our own.
 |
| Conceptualizing ICT projects for your division |
Mr. De Dios, in
his closing, shared a challenging quote from Karen Salmansohn, “Don’t shrink your dreams. Super-size your
courage and abilities.” It is indeed a challenge to transform our education
system through ICT. With limited resources and cynicisms, we might really
shrink our dreams and just settle for pre-historical approaches. But an ICT in
Education leader should strive with his super-sized courage and abilities by
upgrading himself and improving the learning situation of his school/division.
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