e-Book project for out-of-school youth launched

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiwaan Center for Learning (SCL), in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd), launched recently its e-Book Project, which aims to develop interactive les- sons for out-of-school youth.

Fr. Benigno Beltran, executive director of the SCL, said they aim to produce 200 modules in Mathematics, English and Science.

Each module costs P50,000.

“These e-books are linear sequences of screens which include text, graphics, animations, audio, video, links to online resources, interactive com- ponents that allow for collaborative communica- tion and feedback, and supplemental resources and assessments,” he said.

The SCL has conducted non-formal educa- tion programs for out-of-school young people in Smokey Mountain, Tondo, Manila since 1987.

Beltran said the project will be piloted in Manila.

“If this project will succeed, the DepEd’s Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) would implement it nationwide,” he said.

The Sandiwaan e-Book Project is learner- centered and cloud-based, and can take the form of both self-paced and instructor-led courses, according to Beltran.

It makes use of the SCL Learning Manage- ment System, where individual support and feedback can be shared with learners through e-tutoring, e-coaching, cloud-mentoring and learning aids like short animated lessons and infographics.

“SCL and BALS recognize the potential that the digital medium presents in creating a new educational philosophy and pedagogy for a parallel-processing, multi-tasking genera- tion,” he said.