BROADENING THE REACH. With positive response, the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Bugallon and Aguilar wholeheartedly accepted the brainchild project of Pangasinan State University Lingayen Campus named as ICT Konek Project.
In the conversation with LGU Bugallon Administrator Amado Aquino, he said that the municipality is ready to set up learning spaces to accommodate PSU students on their online learning platform in identified clusters of barangay.
As of now, the LGU which caters 426 PSU students, have existing linkages with some internet service providers which will greatly help in the implementation of the project, in addition with their E-center Building, an ICT space provided to accommodate online learners of the town.
Aquino commended the efforts of the institution to reach out students with no multimedia devices and internet connectivity to ease problems on online classes.
From the survey conducted by the university, there are still around 3957 students or 16% of the student population who have no gadgets suitable for flexible learning.
In addition, most of the students encounter problems on internet connectivity or are using mobile data connection in attending synchronous learning classes on Microsoft Teams (MS Teams), the online platform used by the university.
The MS Teams has lower bandwidth capacity as compare to other learning platforms which is helpful when working remotely. The term bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be transferred over an Internet connection per second.
In Aguilar town, Municipal Engineer Angelina de Vera was also very welcoming to the project in setting up a learning hub to cater 323 PSU Aguilarians as per Registrarโs record.
She added that they are currently looking at the possibility to consider the municipal gymnasium as center of the project which will also accommodate not just online classes, but also other services for students.
โWe are very happy that we have committed LGUs to serve as our partners in this project. Without their support and assistance, this will not be possible,โ Dr. Christian Thom Tabisola, Planning Coordinator of Lingayen Campus, said.
Along with Dr. Tabisola in the project presentation were Dr. Philip Queroda, ETEEAP Director; Engr. Juanito Maneclang, Dean of College of Technology; and Mr. Mark Marlon de Vera, PRPIO Coordinator. The team is looking forward to forge a Memorandum of Agreement to strengthen the partnership between the LGUs and the State University and broaden the reach of the ICT Konek Project. /mmpd