Students level up on online skills with Smart’s community mapping project

MANILA, Philippines - This year’s batch of stories about interesting places, exciting activities, must-try delicacies, colorful festivals, historical landmarks, and other less known stories from various places in the country can now be viewed in an interactive online map, through the 6th Doon Po Sa Amin (DPSA) project of Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) as students improve their skills in using online technologies.

Supported by the Department of Education and Here — a Nokia business subsidiary, DPSA is the longest running and biggest annual school-based crowd-sourced mapping activity in the Philippines. Through the annual competition, primary and secondary students from public and private schools nationwide are encouraged to discover unique stories about their hometowns, present these stories using digital and online tools, and publish them on the web.

When DPSA was launched in 2008, schools were asked to create a website or blogsite for their stories. In the succeeding years, the competition became more challenging as students were required to present their stories using various online tools such as timeline, online presentation, digital flipbook, and video and pin these on an online map.

As the competition levels up each year, the quality of entries has improved as students learn new skills, embrace technology further, and enjoy telling their hometown stories to the rest of the world.

Something new and interesting about the Phl

“Each year, we don’t only learn something new and interesting about the Philippines through DPSA, we also get amazed at how well the students use technology and online tools to tell a story,” said Smart Public Affairs Group head Ramon Isberto.

“Through DPSA, we aim to help students be up-to-date with the latest available digital and online technologies and urge them to use these technologies to make learning more fun and meaningful for them,” Isberto added.

The online map containing the hometown stories developed by the students can be viewed at Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.>.

DPSA 6 finalists

For this year’s finalists, schools in the primary level category that made the cut are Butuan CES-Science and Technology Education Center in Agusan del Norte, Naga Central School 1 in Camarines Sur, Ilaya Elementary School in Rizal, and San Roque Central Elementary School in Davao City.

For the secondary level category, Cavite National Science High School, Kalayaan National High School in Pasay City, Barobo National High School in Surigao del Sur, Naga City Science High School, Sovereign Shepherd School of Values and Learning in Batangas, and Palawan National School qualified for final judging.

Entries include stories about the famous restaurants in Naga, coconut worms as exotic food in Butuan, unique seafood delicacies in Barobo, cacao production in Cavite, Mabini Plaza in Batangas, Crocodile Farm in Davao, Philippine Air Force Aerospace Museum in Pasay, the beauty of Tinapak River in Rizal, and the magnificent beaches of El Nido.

Winners of the online mapping competition will be awarded on Feb. 13 in Makati Shangri-la.

People’s Choice award

Aside from the best entries, Smart will also recognize the most popular entry. The poll is being done online via DPSA Facebook App (https://apps.facebook.com/dpsa-app/).

The poll is ongoing and will close on Feb. 12.