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Cans & Delphi Technique
Cans & Delphi Technique
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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