VECO’s E-learning Center ‘An Answered Prayer’

May 12, 2016

Fascinated by the works of veteran journalists she sees on TV, Stephanie Ablanque, 11, longs to become a documentary filmmaker herself one day.At home, she would often play journalist by taking photos and videos of just practically anything with the use of her mother’s simple camera phone. With the opening of an e-learning center at Stephanie’s school, she can now better lay the foundations for reaching her dream.The Visayan Electric Company (VECO) recently opened the E-learning Center at the Mabolo Elementary School in Cebu City. The center is equipped with at least 10 units of iPad Mini, an Apple TV and another flat-screen TV, plus more amenities for the students’ use during class presentations.“The center will provide students like Stephanie an avenue to maximize learning through iPad and Apple apps, enabling them to use photography, video and music to create and present their work to a worldwide audience,” VECO Community Relations manager Eric Ching said.The E-learning Center is actually the school’s defective bus that has stood idle for years.Eighty percent of the materials used were scrap, including the furniture and lighting fixtures. Green design principles were used to maximize ventilation and light within the bus, as well as on the designs of areas outside of it. The layout is expected to promote creativity and collaboration among students and teachers.The project aims to create an environment that encourages critical thinking, interaction and collaboration among students, teachers, parents and the community.By April, the pilot batch of teachers consisting of 15 master teachers and grade leaders from the school will undergo training on how to maximize the use of the equipment provided. In turn, the trained teachers will echo their knowledge to the other fellow mentors.Teresita Manzanades, the school principal, intends to integrate the use of the center in all learning areas to teach children computer literacy. She said the project is also expected to encourage teachers to have their learning styles implemented with the use of a computer-based strategy.“An answered prayer,” Manzanades describes the project. This complements the K to 12 goals of providing practical knowledge.“We believe this e-learning center will make our children globally competitive and give them lifelong learning because this is life skills-based. And we are looking forward to developing our children with 21st century skills under our K to 12 curriculum, so we are really blessed to have this project,” she said.

###