161 teachers and administrators from the Department of Education (DepEd) attended the two-day seminar workshop entitled “SparkEd Summer 2017: Transforming Education Through Technology and Next Generation Blended Learning” held on April 25-26, 2017 at De La Salle Santiago Zobel School (DLSZ) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.
37 educators from DepEd Batac, 24 educators from DepEd Bayawan, Negros Oriental and 100 educators from DepEd Ilocos Norte signed up in the four sessions offered: Grade School and High School Information and Communications Technology, Robotics and Autodesk Fusion 360. All sessions were given by teachers of DLSZ except for the Autodesk Fusion 360 session which was given by the MechaniWeb company.
The event also served as the launching of the “SparkEd Center for 21st Century Learning” which shall be the training unit of DLSZ and will be headed by Dr. Miguel Rapatan. The center shall offer seminars, workshops and trainings to educators, administrators and personnel in the public and private schools on various topics related to next generation blended learning such as how to make a blended learning lesson and module, how to use and manage learning and content management systems, how to use learning apps, how to teach and start a Robotics program, how to teach the autodesk and graphic design program and how to do classroom-based action research.
The center will have a partnership with the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) in providing trainings that can be credited to the Continuing Education Program (CPD) credits of professional teachers. The center aims to offer these trainings on Saturdays at the DLSZ Alabang campus.
Under Republic Act No. 10912, otherwise known as the “Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Act of 2016”, an act which requires CPD as the mandatory requirement for the renewal of Professional Identification Card, which includes professional teachers.