SSC News and Events 2012

SSC Community Goes Techie: Embracing the Use of Social Media
By Prof. Mary Joy Rosales-Orante, College Faculty
Posted: Wednesday, July 19, 2012

"Humans like to know about the good, the bad, and the ugly side of people, places, and situations, as well as to share this information with others, often as quickly as possible." -- Lon Safko and David Brake, Authors of The Social Media Bible

Fun... informative... exciting... educational... enjoyable. These are just some of the words that may describe the seminar-workshop conducted last July 9, 2012 from 10:30Am to 4:30PM at the SSC. The workshop was attended by around thirty (30) participants from the grade school, high school, and college units which included faculty members and administrators.

The students of the 21st century are adventurous, indefatigable explorers who are also technologically advanced. They spend more time browsing in the internet than in the library because of voluminous online resources not to mention social networking sites. The present day Scholasticans belong to this generation. Therefore, educators must likewise be possessed with the same spirit and be technically equipped in order to keep the interest of the students in their classes and maintain an environment conducive to learning.

Fr. Stephen Cuyos and Ms. Bob Lopez visited SSC to facilitate the seminar/workshop on the use of social media. Fr. Stephen belongs to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart but works full-time in media ministry as a Production and Training Specialist at Communication Foundation for Asia. He was joined by his colleague, Ms. Bob Lopez. The title of the seminar was "Apps for Education (Desktop Edition)". Fr. Stephen stated that the main aim of the workshop is "to broaden the participants' understanding of social media as well as to provide hands-on experience on how they can best use social media technologies for teaching and learning."

The participants in the workshop learned much from the overview of the social media given by the speaker. A topic that proved very helpful to the faculty was the discussion on how social media can be utilized for teaching/learning. What added to the fun-learning of all the participants was the excitement brought about by the chance to have a hands-on use of the latest social media technologies as facilitated by the speaker. Fr. Stephen also introduced a variety of online resources that amazed the audience. Furthermore, the participants were very much impressed and excited in the use of photostories and animation for teaching and learning.