IT teachers undergo immersion in SMART
Information Technology (IT) instructors from Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU), Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and University of Batangas are taking time off from their teaching duties to join the IT and network groups of Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) for a month-long immersion program.
The immersion is part of SMART’s commitment to give faculty of partner IT schools under the Applied Developers’ Intro School (ADIS) a better understanding and grasp of the developments and demands of the telco industry so that they can help their schools produce industry-ready graduates.
“The ADIS Faculty Immersion not only aims to bridge the IT industry-academe gap by providing IT instructors with hands-on training, but also allows them to better put their theoretical knowledge into practice and gives them advance knowledge of the fast-changing world of technology,” shared Wilma Cruz, SMART Chief Information Officer and IT Group Head.
The teacher-participants in the ADIS faculty immersion program (L-R) Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ Ferdinand Natividad, Ateneo de Davao’s Sheila Nisperos and PUP’s Remedios Ado with SMART Chief Information Officer Wilma Cruz (3rd from right) and their SMART mentors (from right) IT Senior Manager Louie Toledo, NPSD Senior Manager Allan Darang and IT Manager Renalee Samonte.
Sheila Nisperos of AdDU, Remedios Ado and Ferdinand Natividad of PUP and Elvie Pita of University of Batangas will be deployed to IT units within SMART, according to their field of expertise. Areas of work include Systems, Processes, and Quality Assurance (SPQA); Business Intelligence; and Network and Platforms Services (NPSD). The teachers will be required to present work outputs by the end of the immersion program.
“In my 25 years of teaching, all I know are theories and computations. This is my first time to work with sophisticated equipment and to experience what the IT experts experience,” said Ado, Computer Engineering Instructor at PUP.
Since immersion in the industry allows the instructors to encounter and to solve real problems themselves, “this experience will make us appreciate more the usefulness of IT as a tool in enhancing the lives of the people and will surely inspire our students as we can already share with them real industry stories,” she added.
The teacher-participants are given a tour of SMART’s facilities by (left) Engr. Orlando Rutaquio, Jr. of SMART.
“ADIS Faculty Immersion will also help us evaluate our own curriculum since we already know what programs, system designs, and programming language a leading telco uses,” said Nisperos, a Computer Science Coordinator at AdDU.
“After this immersion program, I can already give my students a better explanation of the whys and hows in the industry and enrich my lectures with practical examples based on my first-hand experiences at SMART,” shared Natividad, Computer Engineering Instructor at PUP.
He commended SMART for “not just being concerned with the latest technology and its business, but also with the future, by equipping the academic community.”
SMART first opened its doors to IT faculty from ADIS partner schools in 2008, a year after the telco sealed an agreement with Ateneo de Manila University to offer an IT elective which was initially called “Enterprise Web Application Development”.
Renamed Application Developer’s Intro School (ADIS) in 2008, the program and IT elective now benefits Centers for Excellence and Centers for Development. A total of 15 partner colleges and universities nationwide are now offering ADIS.
SMART’s efforts to bridge the industry-academe gap in IT schools is part of its education initiatives under Kabalikat, the company’s corporate social and community service program.
(Published 20 April 2010, Smart Communications Inc.)