VECO Helps Students Get State-of-the-Art Learning

May 12, 2016

VECO Helps Students Get State-of-the-Art Learning
Exterior of the new E-learning Center donated by the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) to Mabolo Elementary School. The center, which is actually a dilapidated bus furnished with upcycled materials from their scrapyard, will serve as venue for the making of video documentaries. To properly teach the students, teachers will be trained by the University of the Visayas New School (UVNS) and Apple, the computer company.
Exterior of the new E-learning Center donated by the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) to Mabolo Elementary School. The center, which is actually a dilapidated bus furnished with upcycled materials from their scrapyard, will serve as venue for the making of video documentaries. To properly teach the students, teachers will be trained by the University of the Visayas New School (UVNS) and Apple, the computer company.
Interior of the new E-learning Center donated by the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) to Mabolo Elementary School. The center, which is actually a dilapidated bus furnished with upcycled materials from their scrapyard, will serve as venue for the making of video documentaries. To properly teach the students, teachers will be trained by the University of the Visayas New School (UVNS) and Apple, the computer company.
Interior of the new E-learning Center donated by the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) to Mabolo Elementary School. The center, which is actually a dilapidated bus furnished with upcycled materials from their scrapyard, will serve as venue for the making of video documentaries. To properly teach the students, teachers will be trained by the University of the Visayas New School (UVNS) and Apple, the computer company.
Imagine nine-year-old students making video documentaries on their own with Apple iPad minis.This is how the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) envisions the teaching-learning experience with their putting up of an E-Learning Center at the Mabolo Elementary School.“The first of its kind and the pilot project of VECO, this will redefine teaching-learning experience for students and teachers who will be using them by school year 2016- 2017,” VECO Community Relations Officer Eric Ching says.VECO hopes that this will become a venue for students to set a different standard of learning by not only encouraging them to go to school but also performing better.With the help of Genesis Raña, the founder and director of the University of the Visayas New School (UVNS), VECO transformed an old, dilapidated bus found sitting idly inside the school into a learning space for the students to use for classes.“The idea was not only to provide the students gadgets but at the same time equip them with the facility to go with it,” Ching says.Apart from the bus, the entire 200-square-meter area, where it sits, was converted into a learning space with tables and chairs around tree trunks and an al fresco area that the teacher could opt to use as a classroom or screening room.Upcycled materials from VECO's scrapyard like wooden crates, old posts, scrap metals, scrap wires and wire reels were put into good use in the refurbishing of the E-Learning Center.Aside from the learning space, VECO will also be providing 10 iPad minis, an Apple TV and a 50-inch LED TV for the school to use.To make sure the given materials are used well, Apple, the main gadget provider, is set to train the teachers on how to use iMovie, a video editing application for Apple users. This application enables users to edit and produce video materials.UVNS will also be conducting a training on filmmaking for the teachers to pass on to students in grades four to six.The training is slated this summer. Teachers will be required to bring their syllabi to help them determine which subject areas can use the technology.The creation of this E-Learning center, according to Ching, was born out of the drive to provide improved and better ways of learning for students.“I first saw the old bus sitting idly on a corner of the school and thought it could be put into good use again by transforming it into a library,” Ching relays. But the idea was not cost-efficient since the there is a need to update the books from time to time.So it was shelved until the use of tablet computers like the iPad minis to aid students in their learning experience came to mind.The cost of putting up the E-Learning center was estimated at P1.4 million. The funds come from the sale of VECO's disposed scrap wires and used transformer oil.Ching said they plan to create more projects of this kind to raise the bar of teaching-learning system for the students in Cebu.VECO will formally launch the E-learning Center on Feb. 18 at 5:30p.m where the deed of donation to the school will also be signed.The E-Learning Center is only one among the many VECO projects aimed at giving back and helping the community it serves.

To date, for example, the company has already helped improve school safety by rewiring almost all public schools within its franchise area from Liloan in the north up to Naga City in the south. Each school rewiring costs and average of P500,000 to a million pesos.

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