DepEd launches ‘virtual labs’ for senior high school

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) has launched a new program that aims to improve access to technology for senior high school (SHS) students and teachers.

The DepEd, through its Information and Communications Technology Service (ICTS), partnered with Microsoft Philippines and CloudSwyft Global Systems Inc. for the implementation of the virtual labs initiative.

A component of the DepEd Computerization Program, virtual labs allow teachers and students to access various application software across different devices.

“The department is always open to technology advancements and digitalization. We aim to contribute and advance the digital reform in the education sector,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said.

“Our partnership with Microsoft has brought us so many projects such as driving digital literacy, skilling, enhancing accessibility to technology and much more that our learners and teachers can utilize to advance digital education in our country,” Undersecretary for Administration Alain del Pascua said.

“We are grateful for this partnership and the opportunity to work with CloudSwyft and we hope to launch more projects soon,” he added.

The initiative will give students equal opportunity to develop 21st-century digital skills even if they do not have high-powered devices, according to the DepEd.

DepEd ICTS director Abram Abanil said the virtual labs would enable students to use heavy-graphics applications for class activities and outputs, while teachers could utilize these applications in the development of online education materials to support the different learning modalities.

Among the applications that SHS students, teachers and office employees can now access for free using their laptops, tablets or other mobile devices are Microsoft’s Office 365 applications and Adobe’s Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Illustrator, Animate and InDesign.

Other applications that can be accessed through the virtual labs include ibis Paint, Arduino, FILMORA, SketchUp, GEOMATH, Audacity and TINKERCAD.

CloudSwyft and Microsoft created over 4,200 “virtual labs” for the DepEd, with the Bagong Silang High School in Caloocan City, Las Piñas City National Science High School and Las Piñas City National High School identified as pilot schools.