US profs train Pangasinan teachers on technology

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan— A program designed to help public secondary school teachers to learn about technology that they can apply in their teaching began on April 1 as a six-man team of experts from Foothill College in California, USA started to give a free two-week crash course to about 105 mentors here.

 â€œThis a program to help teachers learn about technology, to enhance what they can do, more effective, more engaging for their students,” Rushton Hurley told The STAR in an interview at the Daniel Maramba National High School here where the training is being held.

Hurley is joined by Kimberly Randall, Leslie Fisher, John Sowash, Stacy Hollingsworth and Gertrude Gregorio for this first-of-its kind project in partnership with the office of Pangasinan third district Rep. Ma. Rachel Arenas who provided P10 million to finance the program from her Priority Development Assistance Fund.

Hurley said the teacher-scholars will learn digital media tools, collaborative tools, how to use collaborative drive in innovative ways. For example, they will learn to connect with other teachers around the world and share ideas, learn to draw new talents out of their students because technology is really just a way to connect students and get them see new possibilities for themselves and that’s what’s exciting, he added.

In her speech during the opening program, Arenas said she was invited to visit Foothill College in California and she was inspired to have the project so that public school teachers in her district and outside can have the same experience “for you to be able to see and hear for yourselves new techniques and methods of teaching so that in turn, you may impart to your students a new and progressive way of learning.”