MUNTINLUPA CITY, Philippines--Following last year’s successful implementation of its “Multipoint” project, Microsoft Philippines is planning to expand this project to other schools this year and until 2010.
Multipoint is a set up composed of one computer attached to up to two dozen mouse pointing devices. This system allows teachers with a roomful of students to collaborate on class lessons using a single computer.
The Multipoint project is one of the latest additions to the renewed five-year Unlimited Potential program, aimed at improving the quality of teaching in underserved primary schools, officials said.
Currently, the project is being implemented in five elementary schools; three in Naga City, one in Digos City and another in Muntinlupa City.
About 70 teachers and 500 students are participating in the pilot program. The current Multipoint curriculum covers basic subjects including English, Science, and Mathematics.
Microsoft Asia Pacific General Manager for Unlimited Potential Faycal Boughlaghem said they would be identifying the next batch of schools that would become recipients of the project.
Microsoft Philippines also intends to improve the quality of the program as they gather more data from the new recipients, the official said.
"Multipoint plays an important role as it puts ‘fun’ back into learning. There's a higher degree of interest among students to learn and teachers become better in delivering lessons. It also saves schools from spending on new equipment because only one computer is needed per classroom," Boughlaghem said.
Meanwhile, Luchi Flores, executive director of Microsoft's implementation partner Coalition for Better Education, said they would be improving the curriculum with the help of some local universities and colleges.
The new curriculum would also be submitted for validation to the Department of Education before it is implemented in other recipient schools.
"We're also partnering with independent software vendors to create new applications based on Multipoint's infrastructure. We would like the new software to be fun, interactive and effective for teaching subjects," Flores said.
