Pangasinan teachers to train with US profs

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan , Philippines   â€“ About 105 public secondary school teachers were chosen to be part of a two-week training for Education with Technology project with professors from Foothill Community College in the US.

Funded by P10 million from the Priority Development Assistance Fund of Pangasinan third district Rep. Rachel Arenas, the project aims to deliver to the teachers of Pangasinan, particularly in her district, the benefits of technology by providing them with learning tools on the use of modern advances inside the classroom.

With the assistance of PhilDutch Scholarship Inc., a non-government organization specializing in providing specialized training and skills upgrading of professionals, and the Department of Trade and Industry, professors from Foothill Community College will visit Pangasinan starting April 1 to train the teachers.

This program is designed to promote innovation with the integration of technology and pedagogy into the participants’ academic content area.

The methods and practices taught in this program transforms the common paradigm of teacher-driven instruction to student-centered learning to help the participant create a dynamic 21st century-style learning environment for all learners.

After their two-week intensive classroom training, there will be a six- to seven-month online or Internet-assisted follow-through monitoring through a secure and exclusive professional learning community website developed by the provider, which will be kept active for the duration of the project.

With this, students will improve learning in math and science and will have early exposure on the proper use of technology as a tool in learning, more than as a tool for entertainment.

This will make them more open to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in their daily lives and will expose them to possible careers in ICT or in the sciences.

The initial 105 participants will also be equipped to train their peers in the methods taught by the FCC faculty, so they will have a multiplier effect in improving the skills of teachers in Pangasinan.

To be able to fulfill the objective of the Philippine Digital Strategy which was drafted to create a national blueprint in the assimilation of ICT in the private and public sectors, Arenas said “more investments in professional development for ICT must be made in the province.”

Foothill College, a two-year community college in the heart of Silicon Valley, was named one of California’s best community colleges.