Twenty-five
public school teachers from the province of Batanes were certified recently as
ambassadors under the Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP), an award-winning
program by Globe Telecom, Optus, and Singtel created to turn the youth into
responsible online citizens.
As
ambassadors, the teachers are tasked with transferring the knowledge they
learned from DTP facilitators and experts to co-teachers from other schools in
the province.
“The
manner we think, say and do leave remarkable thumbprints in the lives of
others. In this digital era, everyone should be extra careful in getting along
with people through social media by adhering to moral norms of conduct and
cyber education. As teachers, we are duty-bound to teach and model cyber values
to our youth. This could be achieved via the Digital Thumbprint Program of
Globe Telecom so we want to grab this opportunity to make a difference in how
the youth interact online,” said Reynante Caliguiran, Schools Division
Superintendent of Batanes, during simple ceremonies held at the Basco Central
School in Basco, Batanes.
“About half of Internet users in our country
are adolescents aged 17 years old and below according to the Philippine
National Police, showing how vital the Internet is in molding the lives of the
Filipino youth. As a purveyor of
digital lifestyle, Globe wants the youth to not just embrace the internet to
learn, play, and socialize but also to be safe whenever they are online. Thus, we are glad that DepEd and our
teachers and the province of Batanes support us in this undertaking,” said Yoly
Crisanto, Globe SVP for Corporate Communications.
Thus,
Globe’s Digital Thumbprint program was born, with the desire to educate the
Filipino youth on responsible use of the Internet. Globe worked with Optus and
Singtel on the program, which was also co-designed by the Karrikins Group, in
order to promote responsible digital citizenship and cyberwellness. This
workshop series, which includes safety and security, responsibility and
etiquette, and leadership and empowerment when online as prime elements, was
modelled with that of the successful Optus Digital Thumbprint program in
Australia.
It
offers three learning modules that will make learning exciting for students in
private and public schools nationwide, such as “Digital Insight,” mainly
recommended for Grade 7-10 students, that features activities to help students
discern proper online behavior; “Digital Impact,” which is tailored also for
Grade 7-10 students, that will tackle issues on technology’s impact on
students’ social activities; and “Digital Ambition” for Grade 11-12 students to
equip them with skills on using technology to help achieve their lives’ goals.
Every
module was conceptualized and designed to increase students’ knowledge of
digital citizenship and cybersafety. It involved taking a careful and critical
look at kids’ online behavior and helping them develop insights as to how the
online world can influence them in making choices. It is seen as a more fun and
interactive alternative learning module to the Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao or EP
class.
At
present, the program already reached more than 10,000 public and private high
school students while over 1,000 public high school teachers were already
empowered to cascade the program to their students. DTP is also part of Globe Telecom’s #makeITsafePH campaign
which promotes cybersecurity and cyberwellness among consumers and businesses.
As
of 2016, there are already 44 million Internet users in the country based on
figures culled from www.internetlivestats.com with connectivity pegged at 43.5
percent. Filipinos also spend the most amount of hours on social media,
averaging a global-leading 4 hours and 17 minutes per day average, based on
figures in the “Digital in 2017” report of social media management platform
Hootsuite and We Are Social, Ltd. as of January this year.