DepEd to start nat'l assessment of ICT for basic education

By Alexander Villafania, INQ7.net

THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) has said it will be conducting a national impact assessment and monitoring program of information and communications technology (ICT) to gather quantifiable information on ICT use in basic education in the Philippines.

The department added that it will work with the non-government organization Partners in Learning (PIL) to conduct the assessment. Program results are expected to help the DepEd fine-tune its ICT integration plans in basic education curricula.

Apart from PIL, the program’s participating coordinators include the Philippine Normal University, Cebu Normal University, University of the Immaculate Concepcion, Southeastern College, and the Center for Teacher Excellence Cebu.

Private sector partners include the Philippine Business for Social Progress, Learn.ph, Softrigger Solutions, and QSense.

The DepEd has already started training teachers who will be conducting the assessment in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The teachers will come from 44 public high schools where the assessment is to be conducted, officially starting in March.

The DepEd has been mapping out plans to integrate computer-assisted education in the Philippines to increase the overall awareness of ICT in schools as well as to retool teachers with new teaching methodologies.