Technology
Microsoft Phils Launches App for e-Classroom, Others
In the height of technology where the wider and bigger source of information come from, Microsoft Philippines in partnership with Vibal Publishing launched the new software for e-classroom, Vsmart.
It is an integrated e-textbook reader, classroom learning management and e-learning system which runs with or without internet connection. The target users of this are the educators, schools and universities where it enhances its approach in learning. With Vsmart, teachers and students will have a digital style of learning that is more advanced, updated and diverse through a table top device which serves as the main board of all information that students in the classroom access to. The teacher has the complete control of the navigation of all of these including lesson plans, award badger, grades, quizzes, names of students, and even a chat room for posting of announcements. Students’ devices like laptops, tablets, and smartphones can also be safe-kept in the Vsmart table top after class. The new e-classroom software runs on Windows 8.
Microsoft Philippines launched the software during the 2013 Catholic Educational Association of the Philippine (CEAP) National Convention being held in Cebu City. The convention attended by teachers, education leaders and policy-makers in Cebu aims to empower educators with the 21st century learning tools and skills, thus, Microsoft participates, being a company committed to bringing holistic transformation in education through technology.
Aside from Vsmart, Microsoft also shared its other available innovations for learning namely Office 365, Partners in Learning and Dreamspark. Office 365 is a free user-friendly application for schools, which allows faculty and students to collaborate with email, instant messaging, calendar, video conferencing, and document storage among others.Teachers can conduct online classes, record them, and share with anyone who is online or offline, keep students informed and on track with Class and Group sites with SharePoint Online 2012 where they can share documents and collaborate on projects from any location. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote files can also be viewed, edited and shared online with students through SharePoint and Office Web Apps. Through this, teachers can create and distribute student assignments and projects.
Partners in Learning on the other hand is a global support network with professional development training, community discussions, free software, step-by-step tutorials, and tested lesson plans. It is also free to educators and schools around the world. It is a good one in cross-country collaboration and best practice sharing acrtoss countries. One can just log in to www.pil-network.com Once inside the website, they can open the ‘Learning Suite’ icon and download special selection of softwares of choice or everything, for education. Educators can tackle different subjects with their students like Math, navigate the world through worldwide telescope in Science and create a 3D environment from own photos in Arts. There are also a thousand other learning activities in the forms of videos, downloadable resources, and assessment rubrics. One can join community discussions composed of teachers, different schools and educational staff from all over the world and share activities and best practices together for learning. Truly an advanced, systematic and better learning management system! Topics for primary, secondary and higher education are all available to be uploaded, downloaded, and shared among the members in the community network.
Dreamspark is likewise a free app that supports technical education by providing access to Microsoft software for learning, teaching and research purposes. It gives students Microsoft professional-level developer and designer tools at no cost so that they can create breakthrough. ForAcademic Institutions, it reduces its lab costs and teaching budget by providing a cost-effective way to put Microsoft developer tools, platforms and servers in labs and classrooms, and on their students’ and faculty’s computers for learning and research purposes.
“ At Vibal, we highly recognize the significance of integrating modern technology in the classroom to transform learning. In line with this, we enter meaningful partnerships with technology enablers like Microsoft to bring the accessibility of advanced tools like Vsmart to make students future-ready and globally competitive,” said Julius Corotan, vice president for marketing and communications at Vibal Group.
“It is our commitment to transform Philippine education to create a lasting and meaningful impact to the country (by) providing innovative devices and services. WE constantly introduce educational programs and strategic partnerships with the government and organizations like CEAP and Vibal…we ensure that our programs and solutions do not compromise student data privacy,” quipped Karrie Ilagan, managing director of Microsoft Philippines. (With Press Release)
