Mobile learning now possible with tablet

Saturday, 01 October 2011 16:42 Rizal Raoul Reyes / Correspondent 

DIWA Learning System, a leader in the education publishing industry, recently unveiled the Classroom in a Tablet mobile education system to address the growing need for more efficient ways of delivering content. 

 

Jose Maria Policarpio, executive editor of Diwa, said the company decided to pursue a mobile platform to enable their content to become more relevant to the times.

“So we have put together Genyo eLearning, eTextbooks, digital classroom magazines, and our online portal in one mobile device to give our schools, teachers, and students their personalized Classroom in a Tablet,” said Policarpio in a press statement.

The Classroom in a Tablet is Diwa’s response to the growing need for effective ways of delivering content. With the wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi)-ready Acer Iconia W500 tablet, teachers and students alike can access Diwa’s extensive array of multimedia, curriculum-based resources through touch browsing.

“We’ve invested heavily in eLearning because as the Internet becomes more accessible and hardware becomes inexpensive, we want to make sure that quality content is delivered in an interesting and informative manner to learners,” explained Policarpio.

Through the program, Diwa is helping future-proof the current generation of learners by combining traditional resources such as the textbook with technology-driven educational materials.”

Genyo—the country’s first and only Web-based e-learning management system that contains learning objects, lesson plans, tutorials, activities and exercises for science, math, english, Filipino and araling panlipunan—is the core driver of the Classroom in a Tablet program.

Completing this mobile education package are e-textbooks, digital editions of Bato Balani and Salaguinto science classroom magazines, and the online portal Diwa Learning Town, a virtual library for teachers and students that hosts more lessons, teaching plans, reading materials, e-games, supplementary educational materials and more.

Policarpio said the Classroom in Tablet program is a leading-edge solution because it merges both traditional and new media in one portable PC tablet that can be carried in any place.

http://bit.ly/mobile-learning-now-possible-with-tablet

DepEd: Laguna students to get tablet computers

06/07/2011 | 08:51 PM

For this school year, students at some schools in Laguna province will have something even their counterparts in Metro Manila may envy: tablet computers.

Department of Education Undersecretary Tonisito Umali hinted Monday this may be the basis of a long-term DepEd program to replace heavy books with high-tech gadgets.

"Sa Laguna binibigyan nila ng tablet ang mga estudyante sa Laguna. Kausap natin si Gov. E.R. Ejercito, yan malaking bagay rin dahil makakatulong yan sa usaping kakulangan ng aklat," he said in an interview on dwIZ radio.

(In Laguna, some schools are getting tablets. Governor Emilio Ramon Ejercito III believes this will be a big deal for students because it will help address the lack of textbooks.)

However, Ejercito did not immediately say how many schools or students in Laguna will be using the tablet computers.

A feature article on the Laguna government website indicated the eRizal Tablet is to be distributed to schools on the 150th birth anniversary of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, June 19.

"The eRizal Tablet provides an easier and a more interactive access of students to electronic textbook copies, and avoids them from bringing numerous and heavy ones," it said.

Provincial Administrator Leonardo Ragaza Jr. said this tool would sharpen Laguna’s competitiveness when it comes to education.

Meanwhile, Umali said the DepEd is considering developing online learning modules that can use such tablet computers.

"Plano ng DepEd ang pag-develop ng modules, i-upload sa Internet o i-download ng batang may tablet ... dapat pagisipang mabuti," he said.

(We have been considering developing online modules that will be uploaded to the Internet, to be downloaded by pupils with tablets. We have to thresh out the details.)

He added that this is part of the government's efforts to be "more innovative" in the field of education by using computers and the Internet.

"Nagiging innovative lang tayo, sa computer at Internet, using it as a tool for learning and teaching (We have to be innovative. We can use the computer and Internet as a tool for learning and teaching)," he said. — TJD, GMA News