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2016.06.23

「Research Theme (2016)」 Specificity in Ambiguity

Theme: Meso-level Support for ICT for Education (ITC4Ed) in Rural Southern Philippines

Hola, chicos y chicas!

Is hasn't been long since I last wrote about my research theme. Back then, it had also been my first blog post. I had yet to read about related literature, and had little knowledge on the topic at hand. Wide-eyed and optimistic, I tried to fit a topic relevant to current events and the global trend. Although I am still quite far from a concrete and perfect research plan, I believe output has sharpened a bit to something more tangible, plausible, and empirical. From national level to a rather more specific level: I attempt to cover a large scope in terms of universality so it is not only exclusive to the case study, but can be applied to similar schools in dire need of similar reforms.

At the moment, we are looking at working with a school from a partially urban area in rural Philippines. This encompasses a case where a rather sub-urban school is transitioning from traditional to mixed methods pedagogy. Moreover, I would like to provide assistance and support for school administrators of similar backgrounds to help themselves in raising their game, especially when they already have a fair amount of resources. Fair in this case would probably be less than what is recommended, but nonetheless, we would like to acknowledge that the first step would probably take the most amounts of push and initiative. Displeasing learning curve would likely influence teacher motivation, especially to those of ripe age.

Admittedly, it might be difficult to assess the situation especially because of the difference in background between (1.1) private, (1.2) special public institutions (from whence I had grown up in), and (2) the reasonably rural arena. The most challenging to append to the vast list of considerations in a heterogeneous population, is the individual circumstances of which school is merely a mid-level priority. A country whose populace would be deemed lucky just to even finish [primary schooling], regardless of ICT integration, would be extremely hard to coerce in utilization of new technology. That being said, should the school/s have menial problems such as power saving and budget constraints, understandably the use of personal computers would instead be looked down upon as troublesome.

In a consecutive turn of events, I will be in pursuit of evaluating the situation in various gazes, ideally based off learnings and work ethics I have picked up while dabbling with the social sciences. I do believe that by majoring in interdisciplinary studies, there is inclination that acquired knowledge is rather shallow compared to focused, compartmentalized studies. However, what really helped me over anything else is the outlook I honed in gaining appreciation for all disciplines and being flexible enough to be open-minded with both arts and sciences. Globalization intertwined with diversity is a beautiful phenomenon, and ultimately the successful proliferation of ICT use even in the most perverse areas is my goal.

Until next time,

Lian Sabella Castillo