eSkwela-QC reports during the National ICT in Basic Education Congress

Congratulations to FIT-ED, DepEd, and UPOU for holding the 3rd National ICT in Basic Education Congress last Sept. 10-11, 2008. It was well-organized and very informative. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to network with and learn from fellow ICT4E advocates and implementers.

The eSkwela Project team would like to congratulate Mr. Johnny Obierna and Ms. Irene Barzaga of the Quezon City site for presenting their eSkwela-QC experience in one of the breakout sessions during the Congress. [Photos and presentation file to be uploaded at a later time.] The pair talked about their experiences in implementing the eSkwela Project - including positive accounts as well as barriers/challenges encountered and actions taken. They showed a sample module (Safety in the Workplace) as well as some learner outputs (blogs, forum entries, etc.).

It is heartwarming to note that the eSkwela learners (combined site-based and school-affiliated) performed better (59.48% passing rate) than the the average QC and NCR A&E takers (30.19% and 32.43% passing rate respectively). We are still consolidating the comparative figures for the other sites, but they have reported their passing rates as follows:

• CDO: 73.42%
  
• Cebu: 73.24%
  
• SJDM: 27.78%
  

These figures are significantly higher than the conservative estimate of 20% passing rate by the site implementers during the 2007 eSkwela Conference held at DAP Tagaytay. A cause for celebration indeed. The CDO site has even given CICT a Plaque of Appreciation to commemorate the achievement.

We hope that these positive outcomes will continue, especially since the national government has invested heavily on a number of highly improved elearning modules (due to come out by late 2008/early 2009), a more robust Learning Management System (to be out by Q1 2009 hopefully), and a more systematic eSwela personnel training program (for the instructional managers, center managers, and network administrators - still in the design/pilot phase).

In close coordination with BALS and eSkwela's pool of dedicated impelmenters, we are closely monitoring the sites and assessing the project's effectiveness to continually enhance the model. In line with this, we have lined up activities and studies that will look into the actual impact of ICTs in the implementation of the A&E Program soon, under the guidance of our expert ICT4E consultants.

With this, we invite interested stakeholders to join us in promoting and bringing the project to your respective communities and bring basic education to more Filipinos.

We are aware that the project model is far from perfect. We foresee that the project model will mature in about 2 to 3 years - there are still a lot of birth pains and adjustments going on. But we enjoin you to work with us, learn with us, and grow with us as we make ICTs work for the Filipino people.