| Education Opportunities |
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Page 1 of 2 Those whom are impoverished often lack access to education, adding to a continuing vicious generational cycle of poverty.  But we can do something, many are already acting to expand access to online education and higher quality content; ManyOne Foundation, One Laptop per Child , Inveneo and Room to Read among others are bridging the digital education divide. The reason we can accomplish what could not be accomplished in the past, technology, the dawning of the Information Age. Access to free education over the Internet can provide equal access both to education, and global marketplaces, thereby addressing economic poverty and education simultaneously. Many more impoverished areas of the world are now coming online due to advances in wireless technology. If the trend in online users continues to grow as it has, in five years there will be approximately three billion Internet users globally. Add in cell phone access and the number most likely grows. So the question is how do we bring them access to the Internet? And then education at no cost? Well there are many good charitable, corporate, and faith-based associations working to address this challenge. FDU "Hosts" work with the Peace Portal Humanitarian Trust, Peace Portal Partners (Soule Families,) and the Free Digital University to provide a free open educational platform in multiple languages. We have to start addressing poverty, and education is a big part of the long term battle; the Information Age allows us a chance, just look at what is happening in the Philippines. Online gaming has boomed tremendously in the Southeast Asian region. It has changed the gaming habits of the youth and the way they view the World Wide Web. According to the Philippine Internet Review Blog by Janette Toral, there are nearly 5.6 million online gamers in the Philippines alone. With its unquestionable appeal to the youth, online gaming has transcended from a form of entertainment into a way of life. That is why governmental educational institutions have begun to see online games in a whole new light: as a tool for education. For instance, the National ICT Learning Center in Bangkok, Thailand has made efforts to transform Internet cafes into "lifelong learning centers" where "the Internet user is immersed in an environment that encourages the development of practical IT skills as well as general self-study." The Bangkok Post explained in its article that these learning centers were made to be open and well-lit compared to the dark and dingy online gaming spaces. In addition to computer set-ups, a library with more than 2,000 books was also made available. This particular environment serves as a model for what Internet cafes across Thailand can offer in the future as the government makes an effort to shift perspectives from entertainment to education. E-learning through games in Philippine schoolsJoel Yuvienco, a blogger and Technology, Economics and Society mentor at De La Salle-Canlubang School, sees the potential of these games to enhance the learning experience, given the fact that there is already a huge number of student-gamers. This is supported by a 2007 study of the International Data Corp. on the Philippines' online gaming user preference, saying, "The majority of the online gamers are male, under 23 years old, and students." In his blog, Yuvienco posed a challenge to educators: "There's got to be a way to harness the power of this wave to enhance formal learning. Now thinking aloud: Perhaps schools can enter into arrangements with Internet cafes for collaborative education? Could become win-win."
The technologies used in online gaming are not new to Philippine schools. In fact, some schools use virtual classrooms and e-learning techniques to teach students. |
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