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Smart Communications, Inc (Smart), has been busy this week. It unveiled its partnership with iflix to provide video on-demand services for its subscribers last Wednesday. And now it’s bridging the digital divide by helping underprivileged kindergarten pupils with Smart Technocart.
Smart launched Smart Technocart, a new program for education aimed at enhancing formative learning with the use of mobile devices and applications.
The Smart Technocart is a mobile laboratory designed to enable learning among Kindergarten pupils using mobile education solutions like mobile devices. The Technocart contains 25 computer tablets for the use of the pupils; a laptop and projector for the use of the teacher; a Learning Management System (LMS) to help the teachers keep track of their students’ academic performance; and Tablet 101, a training module for teachers to help them optimize the use of mobile devices as a teaching tool. The tablets are pre-loaded with the Batibot mobile app, which digitized the Batibot TV show for mobility and accessibility.
The Smart TechnoCart project is a product of the company’s years of experience in working with educators for the use of wireless technologies. Smart started its education geared community programs way back in 2004.
In 2013, Smart commissioned a study on the use of tablets for learning among kindergarten students of partner-school, Culiat Elementary School in Quezon City. Tablets loaned by Smart were used by an entire class of Kindergarten pupils for 30 minutes each day. Learning mobile applications on colors, shapes, alphabets, and numbers were pre-loaded into the devices. After three months, learning outcomes of pupils have improved significantly compared to the previous quarter when it was only the teacher explaining the concepts to the pupils.
Smart believes that mobile is uniquely positioned to help facilitate learning opportunities from pre-school up to college, which is why it has tailored initiatives that are targeted to address the needs of learning communities.
The Technocart was unveiled and turned over to 15 beneficiary-schools in a ceremony held at the Museo Pambata, a children’s history and science museum, located in Manila.
Here is the initial list of beneficiaries:
- atu-Batu Central Elementary School (Tawi-Tawi)
- Datu Halun Laboratory Elementary School (Tawi-Tawi)
- Yusop Dais Elementary School (Tawi-Tawi)
- Calasiao Central School (Pangasinan)
- Mangatarem Central School (Pangasinan)
- Bacacay East Central School (Albay)
- Polangui South Central School (Albay)
- Maluso Central Elementary School (Basilan)
- Tipo-Tipo Central Elementary School (Basilan)
- Antonio L. Jayme Elementary School (Bacolod)
- Education and Training Center School II (Bacolod)
- Rodolfo A. Medel Sr. Elementary School (Bacolod)
- Banilad Elementary School (Cebu)
- Regino Mercado Elementary School of (Cebu)
- Parañaque Central Elementary School (Metro Manila)
To help schools optimize the use of the Smart TechnoCart, teachers are also given training on tablet basics as well as on child and curriculum development provided by the Community of Learners Foundation (COLF).
Representatives from the Department of Education, and the Community of Learners Foundation, which is behind the Batibot TV show, were present during the event.
For more information on Smart Technocart, click here.
