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Running head: MAJOR TECHNOLOGY ISSUES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Country Case Study: Philippines

Major Technology Issues in the Philippines

Patrice Bacote

EDTC 645

June 18, 2018

Dr. Joseph Wieczorek


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MAJOR TECHNOLOGY ISSUES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Introduction

Today’s learners have a major challenge ahead of them. Not only are they expected to

master core subjects, but they must also learn to use technology to execute 21​st​ century skills (i.e.

collaboration, teamwork, and problem solving). This expectation is not unique to the United

States. Instead, it is a global requirement. Many countries across the globe are working

feverishly to ensure that their students have access to the latest educational technologies. For

some countries, this task is seemingly effortless; for others, much more laborious. The

Philippines, located off the coast of Southeast Asia, is a chain of tiny islands and is known for its

rainforest-covered mountains and volcanic activity. The country is also located close to the

equator, making typhoons and earthquakes a frequent occurrence. The geographical features of

the Philippines are a major, underlying cause of the Philippines’ slow trudge towards becoming a

technologically advanced country.

Balmeo et al. (2014) states “for the acquisition of meaningful learning experiences to

develop problem solving and higher order thinking skills and to function in the world beyond the

classroom, access to technology is an essential element and its appropriate and successful

integration into learning environments has the potential to benefit all students” (p.159). It is

crucial for the Filipino government to address its technological disadvantages and challenges in

an effort to integrate technology into student learning and advance its country.

This synthesis report will explore three major issues faced by the Philippines when it

comes to fully integrating educational technology into every classroom. 1) infrastructure, 2)

limited resources, and 3) need for professional development. Two main articles, ​Integrating
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Technology in Teaching Students with Special Learning Needs in the SPED Schools in Baguio

City​ (2014) and ​Teaching and Learning with Mobile Technology: A Qualitative Explorative

Study about the Introduction of Tablet Devices in Secondary Education​ (2015) were used as a

research foundation in analyzing these three major issues. The first article, published in the

IAFOR Journal of Education​, is a study in which 53 SPED teachers from Baguio City responded

to a 43-question survey in an effort to determine “perceived problems in the integration of

technology in teaching students with special learning needs” (Balmeo, 2014, p. 158). The authors

of the second peer-reviewed article, published on the ​PLOS​ website (an online journal),

conducted an “explorative focus group study” to “investigate teachers’ and students’ perceptions

concerning the impact of using tablet devices for teaching and learning purposes” (Montreuix,

Vanderline, Schellens, & Marez, 2015). These two articles, as well as other sources, helped to

develop a well-rounded synthesis report that outlines the major issues centered around the

integration of technology in the Philippines.

Issue 1: Infrastructure

As previously mentioned, the geographical features of the Philippines play a major role in

the slow integration of technology into Filipino schools. The Filipino government faces a major

challenge when it comes to building up the infrastructure. When asked about the infrastructure of

the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, Philippine President responded “the city is really suffering now

from lack of mobility, not only in terms of mobility, it’s really the total absence of

infrastructure…” (France-Presse, 2017). Perhaps, this lack of mobility is caused by the fact that

the Philippines is a mountainous archipelago.


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MAJOR TECHNOLOGY ISSUES IN THE PHILIPPINES
Due to this lack of infrastructure, students who live in the more rural areas of the

Philippines have a notably different experience with using technology in school than those who

live in the city. A report published by Intel Education (2014) shares, “while the small agricultural

town of Marilog is only 50km from the country’s third-largest city, Davao, it was only partially

electrified and its major primary school, Marilog Central Elementary School (MCES), had no

electricity, so the students had no access to modern learning technology” (p. 1). In addition to

this, integrating technology into MCES has been a major challenge “because conventional urban

education technology relies heavily on live Internet access… however, at MCES the lack of

reliable Internet connectivity prevented students from getting access to Internet content during

lessons” (p. 3). The absence of electricity and reliable Internet connectivity makes the integration

of technology in rural Filipino schools a great struggle.

Amidst the reports of struggle with building infrastructure, live some stories of hope and

success. Intel Education (2014) found a way to provide MCES, the aforementioned school, with

tablets run off of a wireless connection:

To work around the school’s limited connectivity, Intel engaged with Critical Links, whose

cloud-managed C3 micro server appliance stores a range of educational content for

delivery to teachers and students via a built-in wireless access point… because the

micro-server and the tablets have no moving parts, they are very power efficient and offer

high reliability. They are powered by a cost-effective solar power system that keeps the

entire ICT environment running and available throughout the school day (pp. 3-4)

The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) also has a success story. At

first, the university used strictly textbooks, pens and paper as the main tools for learning.
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However, due to the determination of the government and community to build up infrastructure

and wireless connectivity, “in 2000 it introduced online tutorials using an open source learning

management system (LMS) initially for students who were unable to attend the monthly

face-to-face tutorial sessions… the Internet became more accessible to teachers and students

alike, online tutorials became the default tutorial mode for all courses, and in 2007 UPOU shifted

to a Moodle-based online learning platform” (Arinto, 2016, p. 164).

Issue 2: Limited Resources

Another issue slowing the complete integration of technology into education in the

Philippines is limited resources. To help gain a better perspective of the word ​limited,​ consider

this- “the survey made in 2002 by the Philippine Senate Committee on Education, Arts and

Culture to the South-East Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for

Educational Innovation and Technology (SEAMEO INNOTECH), reveals that there are only

about 5,217 (14.28 percent) schools who have computers in the Philippines” (Balmeo et al.,

2014, p.162). Even more concerning is that many of the 14.28 percent of schools with access to

computers, may not be using the computers effectively. Ayao-ao (2014) suggests “while there

are provisions for computers and Internet in schools, these may not really accommodate all the

students’ needs… [and students] only get to use [them] when they are enrolled in computer

subjects” (pp. 196-197).

Since the number of computers available in Filipino schools is limited, the most ideal

setup for the computers is to place them in a computer lab for all students to share. However, “in

cases where no classroom is available at all to be turned into the school’s computer room,
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computers are housed in the principal’s office or other administrative rooms” Balmeo et al.,

2014, p. 162).

Issue 3: Need for Professional Development

A third issue surrounding the integration of technology into Filipino schools is the need

for professional development. In an effort to transform education practices in the rural parts of

the Philippines, Intel Education provided teachers of MCES with professional development. The

need was discovered when they learned that “the teachers of MCES did the best they could with

available resources but often found that the traditional lecture style of teaching and the lack of

access to technology left them struggling” Intel Education, 2014, p. 1). Intel Education then

“provided professional development, which was delivered by accredited trainers from the nearby

Ateneo de Davao University… [to help] teachers learn how to use Project Based Approaches to

engage students and help them develop critical thinking and collaboration skills” (p. 2).

Montreuix, Vanderline, Schellens, & Marez (2015) state “…learning with technology

needs more than making learning activities digital, it is also about creating contexts for authentic

learning that use new technologies in integrated and meaningful ways to enhance the production

of knowledge and the communication and dissemination of ideas”. Montreuix, Vanderline,

Schellens, & Marez (2015) also suggest the Philippines’ need for innovative teachers, those

believe in “​higher-order thinking and reasoning, and [believe] that realistic lessons can be

offered in order for students to learn in an active manner”​. Edgar Manaran, a fifth-grade English

teacher in the Philippines, is an exemplar of an innovative teacher. According to Santaro (2017):

Mr. Manaran values hybrid learning and has completed five Massive Open Online

Courses (MOOCs): Shaping the Way We Teach English 1 and 2, and three courses
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related to English writing. Because of his leadership skills and superior performance in

MOOCs, he was chosen as team leader for one of the ten towns in the Davao del Norte

region of Mindanao to facilitate teacher meet-ups to mentor colleagues taking a MOOC

for the first time (pp. 41-42).

Conclusion

In order to develop a complete understanding about how the technology use of the

Philippines compares to technology use in the United States, there is a need for further research.

The articles used for this synthesis report are more centered around education in the rural parts of

the Philippines. It is possible that schools in the major cities of the Philippines have been more

successful with the integration of technology.

To review, the purpose of this synthesis report was to explore how the lack of

infrastructure, limited availability of technological devices, and need for professional

development all play a major role in why the Philippines struggles with fully integrating

educational technology into every classroom. In order for the Philippines to catch up to some of

their global peers who have been more successful with technology integration in education, the

building up of infrastructure in rural areas must continue, schools must find more ways to bring

technology into their buildings and use it effectively once it arrives, and teachers must partake in

a series of professional development trainings to help them to understand their role in using

technology to advance their students. Balmeo et al. (2014) profoundly state that “the

administration, teachers and the students are considered to be the main proponents in the

integration of technology for teaching-learning process to take place effectively” (p. 171). All

stakeholders in education are responsible for making student learning a priority.


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References

Arinto, P. B. (2016). Issues and challenges in open and distance e-learning: Perspectives from

the Philippines. ​International Review of Research in Open And Distributed Learning,

17​(2), 162-180. Retrieved from

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=5a70

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Ayao-ao, S. (2014). Emerging issues in the utilization of weblogs in higher education

classrooms. ​International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 26​(2),

193-204. Retrieved from ​https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1060862.pdf

Balmeo, M. L., Nimo, E. A., Pagal, A. M., Puga, S. C., ArisDafQuiño, & Sanwen, J. L. (2014).

Integrating technology in teaching students with special learning needs in the SPED

schools in Baguio City. ​IAFOR Journal of Education,​ ​2(​ 2), 149-178. Retrieved from

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1080370.pdf
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MAJOR TECHNOLOGY ISSUES IN THE PHILIPPINES
Flor, A. G. (2013). Exploring the downside of open knowledge resources: The case of

indigenous knowledge systems and practices in the Philippines. ​Open Praxis, 5(​ 1), 75-80.

Retrieved from ​https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1077630.pdf

France-Presse, A. (2017). Philippines “aims for golden age of infrastructure”. Retrieved from

http://business.inquirer.net/225770/philippines-aims-golden-age-infrastructure

Intel Education. (2014). Transforming education in rural Philippines. Retrieved from

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/case-studies/transform-

education-philippines-case-study.pdf

Marquez, R. (2017). Making “build, build, build” work in the Philippines. Retrieved from

https://www.adb.org/news/features/making-build-build-build-work-philippines

Montrieux, H., Vanderlinde, R., Schellens, T., De Marez, L. (2015) Teaching and learning with

mobile technology: A qualitative explorative study about the introduction of tablet

devices in secondary education. ​PLoS ONE 10​(12): e0144008.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144008

Santoro, C. (2017). My classroom: Philippines. ​English Teaching Forum, 55​(2), 38-42.

Retrieved from ​https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1147280.pdf

Sumande, C. T., Castolo, C. L., & Comendador, B. V. (2016). The ICT level of confidence of

course specialists in distance education: The Polytechnic University of the Philippines

experience. ​Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE), 17(​ 4), 175.

Retrieved from

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