CRAFTING A NETWORK OF SUPPORT APPROACH

Mario A. Deriquito

Mr. Mario A. Deriquito works for the Ayala Foundation. The Ayala Foundation is the social
development and corporate social responsibility arm of the Ayala Group of Companies, one of the
oldest and largest business conglomerates in the Philippines. The Ayala group’s business interests
cover areas such as banking and finance, real estate development and management,
telecommunications, microelectronics, business process outsourcing, utilities, and automotive
dealership.

The Center for Social Development (CSD) of the Ayala Foundation oversees the foundation’s
programs on education, youth leadership development, community development, and philanthropy.
Ayala Foundation’s projects in education and leadership development are committed to helping
bridge the gap between privileged and underserved students. By taking an active role in organizing
and nurturing partnerships and consortiums, the foundation pursues various initiatives that seek
to address perennial problems in education, particularly in the public sector. As head of CSD, Mario
Deriquito serves as concurrent Project Director of two information technology-enabled programs:
the Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students or GILAS (www.gilas.org) which has
brought computers and Internet connectivity to more than 3,300 public high schools; and the
text2teach program, the Philippine version of Nokia’s BridgeIT program which provides Philippine
public elementary schools mobile technology enabled tools to deliver educational resources on
English, math, and science.

A. Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students or GILAS

The project “Gearing Up Internet Literacy Access for Students” (GILAS) was started in January
2005, aiming to provide Internet connectivity to all public high schools by the year 2010.

 The Philippines’ first and biggest multi-sectoral initiative geared towards connecting all of the
Philippines’ 5,940 public schools to the Internet.
 A partnership among government agencies such as the Department of Education, the
Department of Trade and Industry; the country’s leading telecommunication firms such as
Smart Communications, Globe Communications, Bayantel, PLDT, and Digitel; computer
companies Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Intel; Corporate organizations such as the Makati Business
Club, the American Chamber of Commerce, Philippine Business for Social Progress; and non-
profit foundation Ayala Foundation acting as its coordinating secretariat. Mr. Jaime Augusto
Zobel de Ayala II, Chairman and CEO of the Ayala Corporation, and Senator Manuel Roxas II,
the original architect of the PCs for Public Schools program, are providing leadership for the
consortium as Working Co-Chairs of the Steering Committee for GILAS.

The GILAS Package

GILAS will provide Internet connection to public high schools and computer training to teachers
to schools with existing computer laboratories. If a target high school does not yet have a computer
laboratory, the project also facilitates the funding and procurement of at least ten computers for the
school. Since its predecessor project Youth Tech was launched in the year 2000, a total of 875
public high schools have been connected to the Internet1. Of this number, Youth Tech-GILAS has
been responsible for connecting 650 schools, benefiting roughly 780,462 public high school
students, concentrating on those in their senior year, and 17,460 teachers.
Students are able to receive instructed access to the computer laboratories on an average of 23
hours per week, depending on the population of the school. Computer lessons are usually
integrated with a current topic from other major subjects such as Physics, History, Mathematics,
etc., serving as supplementary learning tools. The Internet is also able to provide an alternative
learning environment for the students, focusing more on student-driven and independent learning.
Furthermore, the project also benefits teachers from public high schools, who are now also able to
access educational resources and materials to enrich their lessons.
 The standard connectivity package consists of the following:

Hardware & Software Internet Connectivity Training and other support

Installation services
• Servers Provision of Phone Lines to • Training for teachers and
• LAN cards schools without phone lines. administrators
• Cables • Training for principals on
networking and resource
• Other components Unlimited free Internet usage mobilization
for the one year • Formulation of a basic
curriculum and a year-long
lesson plan to ensure the
optimal use of the facility

Public high schools are chosen to be beneficiaries of GILAS based on a set of criterion that we
believe will ensure sustainability of the project. Among the more important qualifying parameters
are:
1. The presence of infrastructure (telephones, computers, Internet Service Providers),
2. Support from the local government and the local community,
3. The presence of private sector donors
4. The recipient school’s capability to sustain the project

Program Cost
There are two types of public high schools that need help:
1. Public high schools that already have at least 10 computers each fall under this first
category. These schools will need an amount of PhP 100,000 (US$ 2,000) each to network the
computers, and link them to an Internet service provider.
2. Other schools are of the second type, and currently have no digital facilities whatsoever. In
addition to the amount above, these schools will need PhP 200,000 (US$ 4,000) to cover the
cost of purchasing 10 units of PCs. This will mean a total cost per school of PhP 400,000
(US$ 6,000).
Given these figures, US$ 12,000 for example will be enough to connect 6 schools of the first type
(roughly 1-2 municipalities) or 2 schools of the 2nd type.

Sustainability of the Program

While beneficiary schools are guaranteed one year of free access to high-speed Internet, after
the year is over, the schools themselves have to take over the maintenance of the Internet
subscription for the students in the years to come. Thus, just as much as GILAS has partners from
government agencies, private corporations and organizations, beneficiary public schools themselves
are active partners in the ongoing campaign for Internet literacy. Many schools come up with the
funding to keep up their connection with the help of their local mayor or provincial governors,
supportive alumni, and parents. Other schools are able to turn their computer laboratories into
Internet cafés over the weekends and charge an hourly fee to their computer users. The
independence of these schools to sustain their Internet connection thus allows GILAS to focus on
providing funding for the schools that remain without Internet or computer laboratories.

B. Text2Teach Program
Text2Teach is an initiative created in 2003 by an alliance of telecommunications and education
organizations, including Globe Telecom, the Department of Education, Nokia, the Ayala Foundation,
Toshiba and the Pearson Foundation, to supply schools in hard-to-reach communities with high
quality education audio and video materials and integrated teacher training. It is making a
significant contribution towards the objectives of the Philippine ‘Education for All’ strategy,
particularly:
  Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable
access to appropriate learning and life skills programs
 Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring the excellence of all so that
recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy,
numeracy and essential life skills.

The services
Text2Teach is designed to reach underfunded and neglected state primary schools and their
communities in the Philippines, especially those in remote areas such as Roxas, Palawan; Albay,
Bicol and soon Patikul in Sulu.
Using mobile phones donated by Nokia and an internet connection provided by Globe,
teachers can download and play any of the 400 Text2Teach educational audio and video materials
designed specifically for the program. The videos are designed to act as a supplement to lessons
rather than a replacement – the average length of a video tutorial is only 4–6 minutes and they tend
to focus on the more difficult concepts and overlooked skills.

How does it work?

The core technologies and key processes of the Text2Teach program are as follows.

 Nokia Education Delivery (NED) Developed by Nokia, uses mobile technology to deliver
educational videos via phone to remote, hard-to-reach areas, and stores the data on the
phone for future use. NED also has a statistics feature for monitoring usage and a search
feature. Downloaded videos are automatically catalogued for ease of access and retrieval.
Teachers access and download videos from a constantly updated catalogue over Globe
Telecom’s network. The phone can be connected to a normal TV or a video projector to play
the videos to a class.
 Nokia Data Gathering (NDG) is a mobile-based data collection software that enables fast,
accurate and cost-effective data collection even from remote locations. Data collection
happens in real time, and gathered data can be filtered and exported to MS Office software,
such as Excel, for report generation. In phase 4, NDG software is being introduced and
implemented as a means of providing an efficient and cost-effective way to monitor the use
and effects of Text2Teach in schools.
 Ayala Foundation, Inc. (AFI) creates and sends surveys to the Text2Teach schools’ mobile
phones, collates the results, generates reports on key performance indicators and returns
them via Globe’s network. These include average grades per subject area, dropout rates,
Text2Teach use and maxisation, project sustainability and project delivery and monitoring.

Learning content
Text2Teach is tailored to students in Grades 5 and 6 (for pupils on average 10-12 years old)
and aims to make Math, Science, English and Values Education fun and exciting. All the materials
are aligned with the national education curriculum. The teachers’ guides contain prototype lesson
plans and work that students can do in class. They were written by Department of Education
specialists and senior teachers and are therefore easily integrated into lessons. Training the school
heads and teachers to use the materials ensures that they are employed to their best advantage and
that the teachers are confident and enthusiastic about the program.

Timescales
Phase 1 (2003–2005): BridgeIT, a global program aimed at improving the quality of teacher
instruction and primary school student achievement in Math, Science, and Life Skills by leveraging
the power of cell-phone technology, was launched. Nokia, the Pearson Foundation, the
International Youth Foundation (IYF) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) were
behind the program. The first pilot was Science focused and was conducted in 2003, where it came
to be known as Text2Teach. Text2Teach was first introduced to 81 schools in Quezon City, Manila,
Batangas, Laguna, Cotabato City, Oriental Mindoro, Calapan City, Antique and Cagayan de Oro.
Phase 2 (2005–2007): In 2005, SEAMEO INNOTECH, a member of the Education and Livelihood
Skills Alliance (ELSA), and Ayala Foundation, Inc. (AFI) introduced Text2Teach to 124 public
schools in Mindanao. New videos and teachers’ guides funded by USAID were developed to cover
Grades 5 and 6 English, Maths and Science. The project spread to Maguindanao and North and
South Cotabato.
Phase 3 (2008–2011): Nokia provided a grant of P27 million (around $600,000) to be matched 1:1
by the local alliance of Nokia, AFI, Globe the Department of Education and SEAMEO INNOTECH,
with the aim of extending Text2Teach to 350 new schools using Nokia Education Delivery (NED)
technology. Local project management was transferred to AFI.
Phase 4 (2011–2014): Nokia, Globe Telecom, the Pearson Foundation, the Department of
Education and AFI are working towards the sustainability of the project, each with a clearly defined
role:
■ review and enhance existing Text2Teach education materials
■ develop and produce new videos and teachers’ guides
■ train trainers and teachers
■ expand to 850 new schools
■ upgrade the satellite and media master schools to NED as needed
■ evaluate the program

Due to the success of the project, it is being replicated in 10 other countries as part of the global
BridgeIT program.

Evaluation
Text2Teach has been independently evaluated three times:
■ Phase 1 by the UP-National Institute for Science and Mathematics Educational Development to
determine the impact of Text2Teach
■ Phase 2 by the UP-Demographic Research and Development Foundation
■ Phase 3 by a team of Education consultants.

THE DELPHI TECHNIQUE

The Delphi technique also known as Estimate-Talk-Estimate (ETE) is a structured
communication technique or method, originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting
method which relies on a panel of experts.

HISTORY OF DELPHI TECHNIQUE

The Delphi Technique was originally conceived in the 1950s by Olaf Helmer and Norman
Dalkey of the Rand Corporation. The name Delphi derives from the Oracle of Delphi, a priestess at
a temple of Apollo in ancient Greece known for her prophecies. The Delphi method is based on the
assumption that group judgments are more valid than individual judgments.

DELPHI TECHNIQUE IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS

Delphi studies have been useful in educational settings in forming guidelines, standards, and
in predicting trends. The five major uses of Delphi Techniques in higher education: (a) cost-
effectiveness, (b) cost–benefit analysis, (c) curriculum and campus planning, (d) university-wide
educational goals and objectives, and (e) generalized futuristic educational goals and objectives.
 The Delphi technique works well as an initial step in defining planning and marketing
issues. Marketing has become a critical issue as more and more educational
institutions compete to obtain necessary funding and support from academic and
community sources.
 The Delphi Technique will be useful for educators in developing curricula and learning
experiences to prepare our students for future careers. These studies will be useful
 when coordinated with other grounded research in determining curricular needs,
training and staffing needs, and for recruitment purposes.
 Trend studies will be useful because they can be conducted representing a broad
international base and the results can be easily disseminated via professional
websites. Organizations using the Delphi technique in a setting where it will be
broadly distributed should take care to explain this method and to encourage libraries
to review the findings in terms of their own campus and benchmark findings.
 Studies to determine issues and to establish guidelines are useful because they can
involve an entire panel of experts on these issues. These experts volunteer to spend
the minimal amount of time that is required to complete a Delphi questionnaire. The
information that is collected from this questionnaire may be useful to more than one
university and generally may be shared in aggregate form. Most universities could not
afford to pay travel expenses and honoraria for all of these experts to come to one
campus.
 Delphi studies are extremely useful for collecting data from students and alumni
regarding the curriculum, and information science trends, and funding. Some of these
individuals may be hesitant to speak out in a focus group or other traditional forums.
The Delphi Technique may also be used to further clarify or validate findings from
surveys, focus groups, and interviews.

THE DELPHI PROCESS

Outline of the steps in the Delphi process as follows:
1. Develop the initial Delphi probe or question;
2. Select the expert panel;
3. Distribute the first round questionnaire;
4. Distribute the first round questionnaire;
5. Provide feedback from Round 1 responses, formulate the second questionnaire based on
Round 1 responses and distribute;
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to form the questionnaire for Round 3;
7. Analyze final results;
8. Distribute results to panelists.

Typically, Delphi studies include three rounds. The purpose of the first round is to form
issues. The second round provides the panelists with feedback from the first round and
presents a questionnaire to the panelists. The panelists rate the items on the questionnaire
using a predetermined scale. The Delphi moderator uses measures of central tendency to
determine consensus from the second round. Individuals are asked to reevaluate their opinions
in the third round when they differ significantly from the other panelists. The purpose of the
third round is to provide feedback from the previous round and to reach a final consensus or to
indicate that consensus cannot be reached. Measures of central tendency are used to present
and determine the consensus. Individuals who express different views from other panelists may
be asked to provide reasons for their dissenting views to clarify their positions. Comparisons are
made between the panelists’ views and the literature. The purpose of this comparison is to
triangulate expert opinion with the literature.

ELEMENTS FOR INTERPRETING THE DELPHI IN AN EDUCATIONAL SETTING

The following elements should be used when applying the guidelines suggested by the Delphi Study
in an academic setting.
1. Campus environment. Cooperative efforts with the faculty, staff, administrators,
instructional design specialists, and students are essential when planning and implementing
guidelines and services. Cooperative efforts assure maximization of funding and greater
service efficiency.
2. Consensus. Consensus is reached after several rounds in a Delphi study using measures of
central tendency. The mode gives the most accurate picture of the views that have been
expressed by the experts. The mean can give a false consensus because it takes in the views
expressed by the extreme outliers. Delphi consensus should be weighed against existing
campus policy, instructional design principles, and the campus environment.
3. Focus groups or survey data. User services data will provide another useful check for
Delphi findings.
 4. Institutional research. Institutional research provides another check for verifying Delphi
findings. Campus demographics, statistics, user surveys, and other institutional reports
should be considered when interpreting the findings of the Delphi study.
5. Instructional design principles. Guidelines that are carefully constructed using accepted
instructional design principles help to confirm a seamless transition within an educational
setting.
6. Prior research. The Delphi findings should be checked for congruency with prior research.
The researcher should be prepared to explain discrepancies between the Delphi study and
scholarly literature.

RESULTS
The facilitator should ensure the following circumstances to derive the most reliable results from
the Delphi:
 the panel membership should remain reasonably stable;
 time lapses between questionnaires should be held to a minimum;
 questions should be unambiguous; and
 feedback should be provided that gives reasons for consensus opinions and consensus
using the mean or average values should be avoided to avoid discriminating against outliers

CONCLUSION
Use the Delphi Technique for creating Work Breakdown Structures, identifying risks and
opportunities, compiling lessons learned and anytime you would usually conduct a brainstorming
session.
Predicting the future is not an exact science, but the Delphi Technique can help you
understand the likelihood of future events and what impact they may have on your project.

Prepared by:
SUZETTE M. PIMENTEL
MAEd – Educational Management