AMA adopts US Web-based teaching tool

AMA, one of the largest IT-based educational institutions in Asia, has introduced IntraLearn, a US Web-based learning management system, to its students to further assure them of lifetime employability in the global economy.

Dr. Roger Posadas, chief academic officer of the AMA Education System, said the introduction of this Web-based teaching tool was the result of a partnership AMA forged with IntraLearn Software Corp., the Massachusetts-based developer of high-value, Internet-based applications.

"Use by AMA students of IntraLearn means not only state-of-the-art access to the institution’s intensive and extensive database of digital learning resources. It also means they are empowering themselves with e-learning skills needed for lifelong learning and employability this 21st century," he said.

Posadas said use by AMA students of the IntraLearn system is in line with AMA’s thrust to deliver quality education using state-of-the-art educational technologies.

Thus, he said not only are the standardized syllabi, lecture notes and other course materials given online through this e-learning portal, online interactive discussions between instructors and their students are also enabled through chat rooms and newsgroups.

Yet, students still come to class for traditional face-to-face, instructor-led mode of learning and teaching, making AMA schools a pioneer in "blended learning," which is proven to be the most effective kind of learning today.

In particular, AMA is using blended learning to deliver all 10 Carnegie courses to all its students in computer science, information technology, information management and computer engineering all over the Philippines and in Bahrain.

In step with all other forward-looking educational institutions worldwide, Posadas said AMA has realigned its manner of teaching to reflect the 21st century paradigm shift in educational methods.

Unlike during the Industrial Age of the 19th and 20th centuries when students looked up to the teacher as the all-knowing source of knowledge and wisdom, the teacher in the Information Age is now regarded as a well-informed facilitator guiding them on learning skills and avenues, someone who is a "guide on the side."

Thus, Posadas said what are being taught in AMA by way of the IntraLearn portal are not just the contents of specific subjects but more importantly, the invaluable skills needed in using online tools to search for and acquire information.

He said this "learning-to-learn" skill is vital to a student’s economic well-being in the future because the explosion of knowledge this 21st century requires people to constantly update their knowledge and skills in order to remain professionally active, globally competitive and employable on a lifelong basis.

Posadas said ensuring online delivery of lessons via IntraLearn is the institution’s robust Internet infrastructure to which all AMA students have individual access.

Connectivity is made possible through AMA’s DS 3 network as well as access rooms in each of its campuses that have computers linked to the Internet. AMA also has a data center in its head offices on Panay Avenue in Quezon City to manage the network and assure the integrity of its data and robustness of its operations.

Amable Aguiluz IX, president of AMA Education System, said AMA’s being a Microsoft premiere education partner means that all software used in the institution is genuine and state-of-the-art. AMA schools also use PCs powered by the latest Pentium and AMD processors.