by Rex Godinez Ortega
IN AN affirmation of the role MSU-IIT plays in the community, the Institute makes formal Tuesday morning (July 30) its commitment to help local schools by making them the beneficiaries to the output of a research project developed on campus.
By signing Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) at the Institute Boardroom with the Division of Iligan of the Department of Education (DepEd) and seven elementary and secondary schools, MSU-IIT undertakes to deploy the Information Communications Technology (ICT) Solution known as my.Eskwela in such schools.
my.Eskwela is a computer application that, among other things, provides direct, real-time access to a student’s most relevant academic information through the web and through mobile-platform.
With my.Eskwela, teachers, students, and even the parents themselves can now easily monitor a student’s grades and attendance in classes.
“I am grateful and humbled that they will apply this to help them with their work as they have always wanted to go paperless and improve their processes” says program developer Assoc. Prof. Orven E. Llantos of the Institute’s College of Computer Studies.
Llantos develops the application over the course of eight years, and pilots it on campus, as well as in a couple of elementary schools in Iligan City.
Llantos explains that the ICT Solution was originally designed to handle college classroom management.
“However, it was then tailored to fit DepEd’s K-12 curriculum because there was a need for public schools to automate their processes so they could serve the public better,” he continues.
The agreements will see MSU-IIT through its College of Computer Studies to deploy my.Eskwela to help in a school’s processes and core operations like in admission, course scheduling, registration, and enrollment.
The agreement also covers student records management that includes the following – attendance monitoring, posting of announcements, and grade monitoring.
The deployment of my.Eskwela to the DepEd is a development that is welcome to MSU-IIT, says Ma. Esperanza P. Cruz, head of the Institute’s Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office (KTTO).
Cruz, who represents Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension Jinky Bornales at the signing ceremony, tells the DepEd-Division of Iligan officials and several school principals in attendance that the deployment of the software fulfills an MSU-IIT mandate to transfer research to the public.
Institute Officer-in-Charge and Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development Feliciano Alagao echoes Cruz and adds that it was very important for MSU-IIT “to see that it is relevant to the surrounding community.”
For her part, Dr. Ma. Cecilia M. Ferolin, the Institute’s Director for Extension, observes that the implementation of the my.Eskwela solution brings to mind the extension mantra of “making ourselves responsive to the needs of the people.”
Dr. Nimfa R. Lago, the Officer-in-Charge of DepEd-Division of Iligan, thanks Llantos during the MOA signing ceremonies for developing the program and allowing the schools of Iligan to use it for free.
“We look forward to see this expanded nationwide,” Lago adds.
The seven local schools where my.Eskwela is to be deployed are the following:
- Tambo Central School
- Iligan City Central School
- Ubaldo D. Laya Memorial Central School
- Villa Verde Elementary School
- Doña Juana Actub Lluch Memorial Central School
- Iligan City East High School – Hinaplanon Annex
- Doña Josefa F. Celdran Memorial School