Project COMPETE

Background

COMPETE stands for Competency-based Continuing Education Program for Teachers Utilizing Education Technologies and Materials. Its aim was to design, develop, and try out a competency-based continuing education program for teachers in the Philippines utilizing distance learning as a mode of delivery. Specifically, it had the following objectives, which have all been achieved:

• Come up with a shared vision of what basic education will be like, given the forces of change, which have influenced the educational development in the Philippines, the other SEAMEO member countries, and the rest of the world;
• Identify the general and specific competencies, which teachers will need to realize the vision of basic education and meet the challenges of the next century;
• Develop a competency chart that established the pedagogic relationship and interrelationship of such competencies; and
• Develop the self-paced and self-instructional print modules and design the appropriate distance learning delivery system.

To achieve the first objective, a visioning workshop for Project COMPETE was conducted on April 29, 2004 to arrive at a vision of Philippine society and basic education on the 21st century and the kind of teacher that will be needed in such a society and educational system.

Twenty educators from the Department of Education (DepEd), schools and universities, government and non-government organizations, the business sector, and selected societies participated in the workshop.

The visions of Philippine society, basic education, and teacher in the 21st century together with the four pillars of learning by UNESCO became the basis for the terminal and enabling competencies that teachers will need to cope with the challenges of the century. These competencies, in turn, became the foundation of thirty (30) self-paced and self-instructional print modules, which include eight (8) instructional videos.

The COMPETE learning system was tried out in Pangasinan State University (PSU). The Research and Evaluation Program Team of SEAMEO INNOTECH was present to provide the technical assistance during the pilot and field tests in PSU.

After the tryout and field tests, the materials were revised, incorporating relevant multimedia formats. Two (2) modules on the Word Processing and the Internet were added to the list. The appropriate distance delivery system, in this instance, the Internet, via SEAMEO INNOTECH's home page, and through distance learning materials, such as the print modules and videotapes, was designed.

These Internet-enhanced COMPETE materials were again tried out in Pangasinan State University with 35 teachers as participants. The computer laboratory in PSU was set up for the tryout using the NICs or New Internet Computers donated by Oracle. The participants used the NICs in accomplishing the Internet-based requirements of the modules.

COMPETE 2 - Internet-enhanced COMPETE

Having developed the COMPETE learning materials, tried them out, and further modified them for Internet-based learning, SEAMEO INNOTECH sought to obtain the assistance from UNESCO under its Participation Program to conduct dissemination fora on the COMPETE Learning Program. This project was called COMPETE 2.

Under COMPETE 2, the COMPETE Learning Program as an Internet-based system was field-validated in selected universities in both urban and rural settings to test the workability of the Internet features of the program. Validation sites were Philippine Normal University in Manila; Benguet State University in La Trinidad, Benguet; Bicol University in Legazpi City; Mariano Marcos State University in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte; and, University of Regina Carmeli in Malolos, Bulacan.

The revised Internet-based COMPETE materials were disseminated nationwide through two (2) fora organized at SEAMEO INNOTECH. These were held on September 7 and 9, 2004. Copies of the COMPETE materials were distributed, so that the participants can use and reproduce them as inputs for their local in-service teacher training programs, or possibly for the implementation of the COMPETE Learning System in their divisions.

The fora were held with the following outcomes and objectives in mind:

• Project COMPETE 2 will help strengthen the competencies of teachers in the elementary and secondary school levels. Effectively, this will contribute to the improvement of the quality of education in the country.
• While the use of information and communication technologies may already be prevalent in many parts of the world, most teachers in the Philippines, especially those in the elementary and secondary school levels, have yet to have hands-on knowledge of these technologies. Project COMPETE 2 will provide these teachers with the opportunity to actually experience using e-mail, browsing the Internet, and conducting online discussion/chatting.
• Project COMPETE 2 will provide SEAMEO INNOTECH with the opportunity to promote to a nationwide audience the COMPETE learning materials, and possibly, other related educational materials that have been developed and tested.

The fora participants came up with action plans that will institutionalize the COMPETE system in the divisions in collaboration with the universities and colleges in the different regions.