I salute everyone present in this gathering of educators, policymakers, and members of private and public institutions who painstakingly work to strengthen ICT in basic education!

Technology is the way forward, and the most economical means of reforming the education system. Indeed, what better way to democratize access to education – and reach 45,000 public schools – than through learning enhanced and transformed with ICT?

Our vision for ICT for Education (ICT4E) in the Philippines is “21st Century Education for All Filipinos, Anytime, Anywhere.”

It encapsulates our desire to bring about the transformation required to make our country more competitive in this day of technology. For us at the Department of Education, digital literacy remains crucial to our daunting objective of making the same quality education accessible to all learners at the soonest time possible.

May this ICT in Basic Education Congress generate more admirable practices among our participants, and align our policies based on our shared goal of harnessing technology to transform basic education.

With our concerted efforts to integrate ICT in Basic Education, let us deliver on our commitments to achieve universal access to and quality education that will lead to improved learning outcomes.

Congratulations and Mabuhay!

JESLI A. LAPUS
Secretary

I am delighted to welcome all of you to the 3rd National ICTs in Basic Education Congress!

FIT-ED is proud to once again collaborate with the Department of Education and the UP Open University in offering this venue for education leaders and practitioners to engage with one another on the issues surrounding the use of ICTs in our schools and learning communities.

At this 3rd Congress, with the theme “Teaching the Net Generation: Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning”, we look at new developments and emerging trends across the country in the use of ICTs as teaching and learning tools, what methods and models have worked and why, and the extent to which we have been able to use ICTs to help our students master core content, communicate effectively, think critically, collaborate with one another, and create their own knowledge products.

As educators the world over call for a shift to more student-centered pedagogies at a time when the ubiquity of new technologies is changing the way a generation of students think and learn, I hope that this Congress affords you some insight into this change process and the role that ICTs can play in transforming our teaching and learning practices.

Thank you and Mabuhay!

ROBERTO R. ROMULO
Chairman

The University of the Philippines Open University is very pleased to be co-organizing this 3rd National ICTs in Basic Education Congress with the theme “Teaching the Net Generation: Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning”.

We educators at all levels of the education system are faced with the challenge of building national and global knowledge communities. To meet this challenge, we will have to do more than acquire the latest and most advanced information and communication technologies. The greater task is redefining our curricula and adopting appropriate pedagogies in order to develop knowledge workers and lifelong learners who will drive national development and make the nation proud.

A key aspect of the task confronting educational institutions is the paradigm shift in teaching and learning where the teacher and learner are co-creators of “text”, or collaborators in the construction of knowledge of various forms, including hypertext and hypermedia. This synergy between teachers and learners is both the product and producer of the immense digital knowledge libraries of the world that are now transforming the way we live and learn. And this is the synergy that I hope will animate our discussions in this two-day Congress, and inspire our continuing efforts in teaching and learning with the Net Generation.

Mabuhay tayong lahat!

GRACE JAVIER ALFONSO
Chancellor