PLM gets SMART Infoboard and School SIM

When the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) had to cancel classes due to Typhoon Ondoy, school officials were able to immediately disseminate the announcement to the students. An advisory on the revised exam schedules was just as easily sent out, as well as details of the school’s relief efforts.

These were all made possible through the PLM School SIM and the PLM Infoboard service, a customized communication solution specifically designed for the PLM Community.   

The InfoBoard is a web-based group broadcast service offered by Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART), which allows schools to provide, upload and manage customized information. The platform also enables both the school and its community to send and receive information through text on their customized school SIM for only P1 per message.

Upon subscription to the Infoboard, one receives announcements on class suspensions, campus events, and other pertinent data.  Information may also be sorted by college, course or school department, and can even be extended to the alumni for updates on certain developments. With high level security features, the students may also get their grades through text.  Conversely, all may send their feedback.

At the official launch of the PLM School SIM and Infoboard recently held at the campus activity center, free SMART Buddy PLM School SIM cards with the students’ names were distributed.   Some 3,500 from PLM have registered for the school’s Infoboard service. 

“Students of PLM are mostly scholars and they will definitely benefit from Infoboard’s features that enable students to save money.  For instance, instead of spending around P15 to commute to school in order to get their grades, students may now get their grades just by texting.  It just costs P1,” says James Bernas, Wireless Consumer Solutions Head of SMART

PLM President Atty. Adel A. Tamano, who was present during the launch and MOA signing, said that by supporting projects like the Infoboard, he wants to show how scholars can also get the best facilities available.  And as their school continues to partner with “companies that care”, the students can have all these services available to them. 

“The Infoboard has been a tremendous help to the school,” adds Gary de Gracia, overall coordinator of PLM.  

Katrina Valencia, April Grace Malavi and Maria Nona Gracia, who are members of ‘The Pamantasan’, the campus newspaper, say that they have been coordinating with the Infoboard in centralizing the release of information in campus. They are all happy with the PLM SIM because it caters most especially to students who aren’t the type who would go out of their way just to get the news.  And they admit that even though their school has Wi-Fi access, a lot of students do not have laptops.  Thus, their cell phones come in more handy.

To date, there are about 100 schools nationwide who have signed up for SMART’s Infoboard service.

The official launch of the PLM Infoboard and School SIM is part of a series of projects that SMART has lined up for PLM, which is one of its new partner schools under the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program or SWEEP, a community service initiative of SMART in the field of education.

In the pipeline for PLM are the inauguration of a SWEEP Wireless Lab, signal boosting thru cell sites, and a special job placement partnership.  These projects aim to benefit the whole university, particularly the College of Engineering which account for the largest percentage of the student population.  Also inaugurated during the launch was a SMART Friendship Terminal in the university library for which SMART donated two desktop computers.

(Published 29 October 2009, Smart Communications Inc.)