NORMISIST joins PC Recycling workshop

Mr. Alexander T. Demetillo, a faculty of the College of Engineering and Information Technology in NORMISIST and the training coordinator for the ischools "Computer Maintenance, Troubleshooting and Recycling Project" in Caraga, attends the PC Recycling workshop this week in Balanga City, Bataan.

Mr. Demetillo is among the chosen Open-Source Technical Experts (OSTE), network administrators, technicians and ICT coordinators from the 20 State Universities and Colleges in the Philippines who are partners of the CICT in the implementation of the iSchools project.

The PC Recycling project is "CICT’s response to the growing problem of un-maintained computers of previous recipient of various computerization projects of the government as well as the different non-government organizations and private institutions", as stipulated in the MOA. "This project will serve selected public high schools that are recipients of previous computerization programs. With the assistance of partner SUCs under the eQuality Program, customized training courses will be provided to selected teachers and students to build their technical skills in hardware servicing.

In so doing, the project aims to build a team of teachers and students within the public high schools who will maintain and ensure efficiency of their computer units. This project will also hone the skills of selected high school students to gain ICT skills that they can use for jobs, education and other growth opportunities.

written by: Engr. Jeffrey T. Dellosa

Recipients to complete sustainability plan

Butuan City - The sustainability plan of all seven public high school recipients in Caraga are expected to be completed this week and submitted to the Northern Mindanao State Institute of Science and Technology (NORMISIST) iSchools team, the implementing SUC of the project in region.

The plan of the schools outlines their approach in managing their computer laboratories to finance the expenses that would be incurred during the full operation of their laboratories. Their plans consist of the following:

+ The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) - 2nd level agreement

+ The business model the schools will adopt
+ Financial counterpart of the LGUs as presented in the resolutions
+ Operation plan, and
+ Customer satisfaction survey

It can be recalled that the plans were required after attending the Sustainability Planning and Workshop held in Pine Hills hotel in Malaybalay, Bukidnon in October 23-25, 2007.

Most schools have submitted their plans second week of November but after thorough review made by the NORMISIST iSchools team, only Bilay Nationa High School's plan stood out. Other schools' work were requested to revise and further add details especially on the 2nd level agreement. Resolutions from the PTCA, the barangay officials, municipal mayors and congressmen were requested to be included in the submission.

Relevant information expected to be present in their plan was the business models that the recipient schools would adopt either, or in combination of the following:

+ eSkwela
+ Training Center
+ AsC – SME, and

+ Adopt-a-School

The NORMISIST team is to submit the plans to CICT next week.

written by; Engr. Jeffrey T. Dellosa

SUCs lead Mindanao-wide sustainability planning in Bukidnon

Three of the four SUCs in Mindanao gathered all their recepient schools to undergo workshops for the Sustainability Planning in Malaybalay, Bukidnon last October 22 - 25, 2007.

The Northern Mindanao State Institute of Science and Technology (NORMISIST), MSU-IIT, and Bukidnon State University brought the primary stakeholders of their recipient schools to the workshop except for the Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) who joined the workshop in Cebu instead due to travel constraints to Bukidnon.

The higlight of the workshop is the presentation of the 4 key business models that each school can adopt during the operation of their own computer labs. The laboratory will have 21 computers, one LCD projector and a one-year free internet connection provided by the iSchools Project, a flagship project by the CICT - HCDG.

written by: Jeffrey T. Dellosa

Online workshop sharpens iSchools writers

Technical writers from the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) working for the iSchools project honed their skills in writing during the three-day online writing techniques training-workshop conducted at Hillside resort, in Tiniguiban, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan on 12th – 14th of November.

The iSchools project is one of the flagship projects by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) that aims to bridge the digital divide by providing selected public high schools with 21 brand new computers, 2 air-condition systems, one LCD projector, and one year free internet connection this year. The commission envisioned to make all public high schools internet-connected in year 2010.

The twenty - nine writers who took part of the workshop were:
1. Balandra, Ma. Belen of Western Visayas College of Science and Technology
2. Baluyot, Lirio of Bataan Peninsula State University
3. Banlawe, Miriam of Western Philippines University
4. Biray, Ersyl of Aklan State University
5. Candari, Milvi Mae of Aklan State University-School of Rural Resource Development and Management
6. Carpio, Marife of Benguet State University
7. Castro, Sheryl of Western Philippines University
8. Cero, Leyma of Cavite State University
9. Cruz, Grace of Aklan State University
10. Dellosa, Jeffrey of Northern Mindanao State Institute of Science and Technology
11. Dollolasa, Julie Anne of Polytechnic State College of Antique
12. Evina, Julie Hope Timotea of Western Philippines University
13. Gabrillo, Christina of Visayas State University
14. Gilbas, Sherill of Sorsogon State College
15. Gonzales, Viveth of Bicol University
16. Lambino, Ramir of Tarlac College of Agriculture
17. Lopez, Mark Anthony of Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College
18. Lora, Ma. Belinda of Eastern Visayas State University
19. Mandac, Philip Constantine of Apayao State College
20. Martinez, Mabelyn of Western Philippines University
21. Nanaman, Mara Barbra of Mindanao State University Iligan Institute of Technology
22. Nangpuhan, Julian II of Ifugao State College of Agriculture and Forestry
23. Pagatpatan, Jonathan of Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College
24. Quidayan, Marie Joy of Laguna University
25. Ramos, Rizza of Bukidnon State University
26. Repayo, Benedicta of Aklan State University
27. Salonga, Gerardo of Tarlac State University
28. Serrano, Angelica of Batangas State University
29. Villareal , Dante of Western Mindanao State University

The writers went through a series of talk on news, feature, headline and opinion writing, photojournalism, and blogging facilitated by Ms. Yvonne Chua and Ms. Luz Rimban, the two top print journalists and editors in the country today.

“I found feature writing as the toughest workshop we had”, Ms. Rizza Ramos of BukSU answered when asked about the most difficult part of the workshop after the workshop. “Unlike news that is straightforward, you need to provide a very good picture of the event taking place”.

“This workshop was conceived during a meeting in Bacolod with the iSchools project managers and Ms. Toni Toress of the CICT”, said Mr. Nilo Banlawe of the Western Philippines University during the opening of the workshop. “We saw the need to document what is happening from the start to the conclusion of the project.”

The writers were tasked to develop an online journal in blogspot.com as the host website of the SUCs iSchool sites. “The iSchools blogs we created here will help the commission updated what is happening around the partner SUCs in the implementation of the project”, Rimban said. Rimban was the speaker in on-line blogging session.

The Western Philippines University (WPU) hosted the workshop.

written by: Engr. Jeffrey T. Dellosa

What is the iSchools project?

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology iSchools project aims to integrate information and communications technology (ICT) in education to strengthen classroom learning and instruction by expanding access to various sources of information.

The government’s initiative of integrating ICT in education hopes to enable our public high school graduates to be at par or globally competitive with their peers in all parts of the world. Further, the project aims to:

• Build the ICT literacy and competency of Public High School (PHS) Teachers such that they can integrate ICT in teaching and learning
• Build the capability of DepEd regional and division ICT coordinators such that they can handle similar undertakings in the futureFacilitate the cooperation between various educational institutions in the local area, State University and Colleges (SUC) – PHS partnership.

This project will help enhance classroom learning of the PHS students and develop instruction strategies for the teachers utilizing various sources of information. The project hopes to produce students who are adept to emerging technologies, and aims to make the mentors more updated to some learning techniques and utilize the information highway that the internet brings.

This year, a total of 320 public high schools were selected as recipients of the iSchools Project all over the Philippines. Seven (7) out of 320 public high schools were identified as beneficiaries from the different municipalities and cities here in CARAGA Region.Twenty-one (21) computers, one multimedia projector, 2 air-conditioning systems, 1-year free internet service and a 3-in-1 printer, scanner and copier will be provided to the recipient schools.

By the year 2010, the project aims to deploy internet-connected computer laboratories to over 5000 public high schools nationwide.The Implementing TeamThis project is implemented and governed by the SUCs (State Universities and Colleges) as the local partners in every region.

Here in Caraga, the Northern Mindanao State Institute of Science and Technology (NORMISIST) is the implementing arm of the CICT - HCDG’s program.Faculties in the College of Engineering and Information Technology (CEIT) lead the implementation of the project for the recipient schools with the strong support by the President, Dr. Edgar W. Ignacio. The NORMISIST campus is located at Barangay Ampayon, Butuan City.

written by: Engr. Jeffrey T. Dellosa

It's all worth it!

It was all worth going to all the recipient schools of the iSchools project in Caraga from the community mobilization conducted first week of October this year, especially in Lawigan National High School in Barangay Lawigan, Bislig City.

Lawigan was the first stop of our planned mobilization. Together with our project manager Mr. Jaymer Jayoma, our training coordinator Engr. Alex Demetillo and me, we reached the areas I never envisioned to visit in my lifetime. We may have been completely drained and physically exhausted, isolated from our families for a week, but the happiness and the huge smiles the project brings to the members of the community especially the students of the schools was all that mattered for me that week.

The mobilization was the first major step of engaging the schools principals, their teachers, students, the officers and members of the PTA, the barangay and municipal officials, and their respective congressmen into the implementation of the project in their area.

Lawigan National High School is situated south east of Bislig City, about 22 kilometers away from the city. Bislig is a fourth class city in the province of Surigao del Sur in Mindanao and is approximately 158 kilometers southeast of Butuan City

Off we go to Bgy. Lawigan
Spirits were high as this was the first trip planned for the mobilization and the first trip I have to make to Surigao del Sur. While I am from Mindanao, I never had the chance to go to Surigao del Sur while I was younger. Surigao is considered as one of the secluded provinces of the south and not one tourist spot is present in the area.

The team left at 4AM on September 26 from Butuan City to make sure we get to the school earlier than scheduled. I used to bring my own car in going to the different cities in Mindanao for my family’s comfort but this time, we were advised to take the regular bus instead as the roads are not still covered with cement. True enough, about 15 to 20 kilometers only of the road going to Bislig has been cemented yet. What could have been just a 3-hour trip, the journey was extended for another two hours. It would have been better for travelers if the buses going to Bislig are equipped with an air-condition system but not one bus travels to the place with such system.

The bus going to Bislig has an interval of two hours. This means that people on the road have the chance to ride any given bus going to Bislig every two hours only. It was no longer a surprise that the bus has to get in every passenger every time we pass someone along the road. We seem to have been packed like sardines inside the bus, sprinkled with limestone dust, and heated by the scorching heat of the sun.

The team arrived 930AM in Bislig City and proceeded to Barangay Lawigan. It was another difficult trip going to the outskirt barangay as only small jeeps and single motorcycles can make their way up to the place. Though it was only a 22-kilometer road stretch from the city to Lawigan, it took us over an hour to reach the school. The rough, jagged and uphill road going to the school prevents every vehicle to speed up.

Surigao del Sur is known to be the logging capital province of the south with the presence of the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines operating for few decades already processing lumber to produce papers. Different types of old and preserved trees can be identified along the sides of the road to Lawigan. It is in the place going to Lawigan that one has to shout to the other side of the mountain to call for a neighbor’s attention.

Figure 1.0: Not so fast. Members of the iSchools team are working to start the engine back before they reach Lawigan.

Conducting the mobilization proper
The warm welcome by Mrs. Josequita Iral, the principal, in the front gate of the school and the faculties of Lawigan National High School gave us a sigh of relief reaching their place away from harm. The team started the mobilization immediately and acknowledged the presence of the schools stakeholders. We saw the delight of every stakeholder as our project manager announced what the CICT – iSchools project will be providing to the school: 21 computers, an LCD projector, one-free internet connection and a series of trainings for the development of the faculties and the computer lab.

I could not remember how many people I shook hands with thanking us for considering Lawigan as a recipient to the project this year. I felt the huge impact of the project to them. “This time, our students have no longer to imagine pressing keys on cardboard box boxes as keyboards. They no longer have to see pictures and prototypes of monitors in carton boxes now that this project is here”, Mrs. Iral said after the mobilization.

I witnessed first hand how the students were disadvantaged and underprivileged of the chance to use and even touch computers since its existence. While it was difficult to believe, this may all be true to schools in the far-flung barangays in the countryside.

We were like supermen to the rescue to the students that we ourselves never have to be, and that I never wished for. But I was humbled on that experience. We left the school with a more mission-oriented view for the project: working for the welfare of the students who waits to get hold of what I considered mankind’s greatest invention, the computers.

Indeed, it’s all worth the pain we labored for the community mobilization.

Figure 2: Tired and hungry.

Students in an elementary school in far-flung Barangay Lawigan, Bislig City have to endure an hour-long walk every time they go to school and go home. Fortunately, the NORMISIST iSchools team passed by and allowed them to ride the vehicle. Engr. Alex Demetillo shares his food with the kids. The team has just completed its mobilization in Lawigan National High School on September 26, 2007 and also is going back home to Butuan City.




written by: Engr. Jeffrey T Dellosa