Smart mEducation initiatives take spotlight at UNESCO confab

Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) shared best practices in mobile education (mEducation) before the global community at the UNESCO Mobile Learning Week 2014 held in Paris recently.

Smart showcased its education initiatives that make use of mobile technologies to democratize access of students to quality education, and basic literacy to some 6-8 million out-of-school Filipinos.

These initiatives in the mEducation space include digitizing content of the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System (ALS), and making available to students in remote areas learning resource from expert teachers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discipline via the mobile device.

“In our journey in supporting education programs for the past ten years, we have learned at Smart that technology cannot be implemented for the sake of itself.  It becomes effective and reaches its full potential when done in the service of innovative teaching and learning strategies and pedagogies designed by educators themselves,” said Stephanie Orlino, Smart public affairs senior manager for education programs in her speech during the UNESCO global conference.

“As a technology company, we try to work with educators, scientists and the government partners to know when and how technology can best be implemented,” added Orlino.

DepEd’s ALS provides basic literacy to out-of-school youth and adults who did not have a chance to go through formal education but would like another opportunity to become educated and earn their elementary or high school diplomas.

The conditions of teaching and learning in an ALS environment are so different from the formal classroom setting.  Mobile teachers go where the learners are so that open fields, prisons, public markets, churches, and isolated sitios become venues for learning. Because of this program, the government reported that last year alone, more than 500,000 learners were provided with basic education.

“Smart worked closely with DepEd and came up with a very simple but practical solution—we got all the ALS content, organized it and conveniently put it in a single application, which we pre-loaded in Smart Bro tablets,” said Orlino.

“It’s not rocket science but it works. It’s very helpful to the teachers who have to bring all their printed learning materials while crossing rivers and hiking mountains because now they can just bring a few tablets and access their content whether they are online or offline,” added Orlino.

With educational content loaded onto the tablet, learning is made richer, more interesting and fun for the students.

Smart is also collaborating with the GSMA, DepEd, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and other telcos in the country in implementing a Philippine mobile education initiative targeting out-of-school youth this year.