By Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes (PDI Northern Luzon Bureau)
Philippine Daily Inquirer (Sunday Biz)
Edna's School, Dagupan City– All Grade 4 to fourth year high school students of Edna’s School here are guided to the computer world through an innovative way of learning.
Edna’s School is one of the non-sectarian schools in the Ilocos region that pioneered the implementation of e-Learning among its students and the first in Northern Luzon to adopt e-Learning technology in its curriculum.
School director Edna Gonzales says computer courses have been part of the 37-year-old school’s curriculum since 1991.
It offers courses only from globally accredited vendors, assuring customers of undated and globally accepted learning and training.
The school has a computer room that can accommodate 35 students for their hands-on exercises.
The preparatory students will continue having computer educational games, Grade 1 and 2 students the kiddie logo programming; and Grade 3 students the introduction to basic programming.
Four teachers, two from Edna’s School in Dagupan and two from its San Carlos campus, have undergone a training seminar conducted b the Yapster e-Learning on system’s functions.
“We are ready to teach e-Learning,” says Jennifer Ferrer, a computer teacher. “(Our) studetns are excited to study computer through the e-Learning course.”
Included in the e-Learning subscription are basic information technology (IT) courses and programming languages which are recognized by internationally accredited vendors such as Microsoft.
The basic IT courses offered will cover introduction to computer and information technology, operating systems and data filing, word processing, spreadsheets, presentation and the Internet.
“We are constantly upgrading our curriculum to fit it to the needs of the changing times, and this is why we signed up with Yapster e-Learning, Inc. for a three-year contract”, she says.
Candy Gonzales-Blancaflor, Edna’s School academic director, said the administration decided to take on e-Learning courses as part of the school’s educational services to its students.
But the information technology course was not the only innovation in the Edna’s School curriculum, said grade school principal Rosie Villanueva.
The school has adopted “the multiple intelligences (MIs),” a theory developed by Dr. Howard Gardner on the holistic approach to education that focuses on all aspects of shild development – intellectual, physical, emotional and spiritual.
“The trend now is, when a student excels in one of the multiple intelligences (Ex. Spatial, musical, linguistic, natural spiritual, logical reasoning, and emotional intelligence), then he or she is intelligent”, Villanueva says.
The school applies “thematic learning” in which the teachers present lessons in a variety of ways through music, art activities, role-playing, multimedia and field trips.