MANILA, Philippines - Imagine thousands of preschoolers from Pangasinan to Tawi-Tawi feeling excited to go to school, even when classes are suspended, because there they are able to develop essential skills using mobile tablets or “big cell phones,” as some of them call the device.
Kindergarten teachers from dozens of public schools have reported heightened enthusiasm for learning and better performance among their students, ever since their schools received mobile digital laboratories from mobile leader Smart Communications.
Since June 29 this year, Smart has donated Smart TechnoCarts to several public schools, with the goal of enhancing learning among children through mobile technologies.
The Smart TechnoCart, which can be easily wheeled from one classroom to the next, contains 20 seven-inch tablets, a laptop, projector and a Smart BRO pocket WiFi with an initial load for Internet connectivity.
Each tablet in the Smart TechnoCart is pre-installed with the Batibot app, the first mobile application for literacy aligned with the K to 12 curriculum.
The app, which can be downloaded for free on Android devices, is designed to help children learn basic concepts like matching and grouping. They are shown how to identify shapes, colors, numbers, the alphabet and letter sounds. The children can also practice tracing letters with the proper strokes.
The TechnoCart package comes with a one-year subscription to the learning management system called Smart One Campus. This platform allows school administrators and teachers to track and measure the performance and progress of students.
“Absenteeism has declined. One time, classes were suspended because of heavy rains. But a lot of the students still went to school. They asked me, ‘Teacher, aren’t we using the tablets today?’ I had to tell them to go home,” said preschool teacher Violeta Bellen of Bacacay East Central School in Albay, one of the recipients of the Smart TechnoCart.
“During our first grading lecture, my children were not really interested in reading letters and they didn’t even participate in our daily activities. Only a few of them could identify the letters or the numbers. But when the TechnoCart arrived they improved a lot. They really enjoy tracing letters using the Batibot app, and I am surprised they can now easily identify the letters,” said kindergarten teacher Hja. Shaiha Irahani of Datu Halun Laboratory School in Tawi-Tawi.
To date, 29 public schools with nearly 7,000 kindergarten students have benefitted from the Smart TechnoCart program.
Smart donated TechnoCarts to 15 schools, and matched the monetary donations of organizations and individuals to provide TechnoCarts to 14 more schools.
Interested donors may get more information at www.smart.com.ph/learnsmart.