Foundation University High School is taking a bold leap in educating its second year students by going to cyberspace.
Starting this school year, high school sophomores are required to have an iPad, Apple’s revolutionary handy tablet computer, which has become a popular platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content.
Students will learn Math, English and Science through iPad applications either downloaded from the internet or developed by EntheosIT, a software, animation, and architectural company located within the FU campus.
EntheosIT has developed a Learning Management System (LMS) which may be used by students to submit homework and take exams. “Teachers may also use it to manage their classrooms, and make lesson plans, which the students can view online,” said Carlo Simpao, EntheosIT production manager.
This is actually an open-source LMS software named Moodle and customized for FU. Teachers might need to refer to multiple resources so these may be posted on LMS.
“The beauty of LMS is that students can adjust their pace and review their lessons. Or they can go on advanced training,” Simpao said.
Foundation University is no stranger to technological innovations, being one of the largest Mac users outside of Manila. “We easily have 300 machines for students only — not counting the offices,” said Victor “Dean” Sinco, vice president for finance & administration.
“To count the total number of Macs at FU, either university or personally-owned units, would easily top 400,” he said.
Sinco said the University is removing PCs (personal computers) and replacing them with Macs, just like what President Barak Obama did when he first entered the White House.
Sinco brought the first units of iPads into Dumaguete last year, giving them to administrators on soft loan to experiment with learning tools.
The administrators found that using the iPad was more convenient that the laptop. FU President Mira Sinco herself was so excited with the new device she stayed up until 2 a.m. on the first day to explore its capabilties.
Since then, Foundationites saw more and more iPads being used by their teachers, classmates, and friends. Even the university carpenters have one iPad among themselves to enable them to watch educational videos that teach them how to improve their craft.
Dean Sinco also observed that iPads have a strong appeal to the children. “My own kids would grab my iPad as soon as I put it down, and they would use it the whole day,” he said.
The iPad has been a great help for Sinco, an itinerant architect and educator who spends half of the year in the Philippines and the other half in Hawaii.
“I primarily purchased the iPad for mobility. In the beginning, it was good for email but I found that I could edit architecture designs on the iPad also, and email it back to the office. No time was lost.”
Educational applications on the iPad are also on the rise. “I also discovered all the apps like Tedtalks on the iPad. If you have a 3G connection, you can access these webinars everywhere. As a tool for continuing education for professionals, it’s valuable because you don’t have to be in the classroom.”
Sinco also makes it a habit to check the blogsites of computers daily. “There were more and more articles from people realizing what kind of valuable tool the iPad could be in education, and I would email all these articles to the faculty here at Foundation so that awareness would grow.”
“We have a whole year of experience, and each experience solidifies our conviction that an iPad is a good tool to have, to a point that we think, ‘Where would we be without it?’”
It was a no-brainer that those circumstances could just as well be addressed in the classroom as in the professional workplace.
The University is also digitizing its books in the library so that students may access these books on their iPads.