IMPLEMENTATION

Pre-Implementation

This section talks about how the project came to be, particularly focusing on the needs analysis of the chosen community, the Gideon Academy, and how activities were designed for their benefit.

Project Advocacy

Project Lingkod is a non-profit movement that aims to provide for the educational deficiencies of various students around the Philippines and also to increase awareness for civic engagement in the educational space for all ages.

Objectives

To initiate social and civic engagement for the students through all the activities of Project Lingkod while helping them discover their passions and interests
To promote Filipino literature and culture, particularly myths and legends, by storytelling
To encourage initiatives and participation in civic engagement, especially during the peak years of the students, and also in the context of social studies

Needs Analysis

In order to know how the project can help the community, the team conducted a needs analysis interview.

The team had consulted with Dr. Kathereen Fonte, the school's elementary supervisor, regarding the ways that the project may be able to help the students of Gideon Academy through a needs analysis interview. The interview was conducted on the 16th of December, 2021 wherein various aspects of the community were discussed, mostly regarding their current STEM and humanities curriculum.

Community Concerns

As the community itself is very tight-knit due to their shared Chinese-Filipino heritage, there exists some hesitancy in engaging with other communities outside of their own. Additionally, because of the major focus on their Chinese descent in the curriculum (presence of Chinese STEM and language subjects), the students have fewer chances to learn more about Filipino Culture—even with the institution itself being based in the Philippines. As said by Dr. Fonte, the students in general also struggle in communicating in Filipino, which is most likely due to being surrounded by others that primarily speak English or Chinese in day-to-day conversations. Moreover, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the students of Gideon Academy are required to adjust to the mostly online set-up where the need for skills in graphic design to create projects and other materials is higher.

From the consultation, the direction of the project was decided into the creation of educational/supplemental materials for elementary students concerning subjects such as civic engagement and developing useful skills outside of academics (i.e. graphic design) that may prove to be useful during the pandemic.

Relation to National Issues

A lot of the youth today have been mostly exposed to the internet and social media which may have prevented them from being able to appreciate their Filipino roots; especially due to the culture shift brought by modernization and urbanization in industrialized areas, a large number of students may experience a sort of alienation from their Filipino heritage.

With the increasing need of being able to proficiently live online and the importance of graphic design as part of the average skill set, learning how to use graphic design applications such as Canva may be able to alleviate the stress from online learning in more creative ways.

Implementation of the Project

This section expounds more on the key procedures and the project timeline implemented.

Major Activities

Project Lingkod has implemented three different activities in line with the outlined objectives.

Storytelling of a Filipino Myth

VIDEO

The students were exposed to Biag ni Lam-ang, an indigenous myth that talks about the life of a hero who, as a child, had immense power. The storytelling video created aimed to help capture the interest of the students in an entertaining and creative way while also giving some context on the national Filipino identity aside from the changes brought by historical colonialism and other recent events. Providing an additional context of the country they are currently based in may provide more incentive for civic engagement and interest in Filipino Culture in the future. The visual aid used for this project was primarily created through Canva which served as a bridge for the next activity.

[1st Activity] Ang Biag ni Lam-Ang Video.mp4

Using Canva as a Tool for Various Outputs

TUTORIAL

The majority of students in the Philippines currently study in an online set-up and educational materials are continually becoming more virtual—not just because of the pandemic but also for convenience. With this, learning how to create and use online resources such as Canva, an online web tool that can be used to create posters, presentations, and graphics among many others will certainly increase the level of experience students have with designing their own materials.

In the activity, a Canva Tutorial was implemented aiming to increase the fluency of the participating students in graphic design, as well as to provide more creative options for working in an online set-up. A culminating activity was also announced where the top three (3) students were to be awarded Certificates of Recognition.

Canva Tutorial Slides.pdf

Introduction to Civic Engagement

WEBINAR

The webinar was the most important section of the major activities as one of the main goals of the project and one of the main needs to be addressed for the community is teaching ideas for civic engagement and possible opportunities able to be implemented even in an online setup. Ma'am Bartolay was the guest speaker during the webinar and introduced many different concepts of civic engagement to the community with Gideon Academy as a possible proactive contributor. The supplemental session was aimed to be the host for these teaching opportunities and included a discussion of activities done by other PSHS-MC groups and online initiatives that the students can participate in at their level of probable involvement or in the future. The students were also introduced to the types and examples of communities to which they may reach out. The activity's important goal was to instill in the students the main idea that they may help even in small ways by creatively utilizing their hobbies and interests.

Project Lingkod_ Civic Engagement Slides.pptx

Consultation Flow

In order to properly coordinate the creation and implementation of all three major activities within the projected timespan, multiple consultations were done between the group and Dr. Fonte, as elementary supervisor, and Ma'am Bartolay, as project supervisor and primary consultant regarding civic engagement.

The group had consulted almost every part of the project with both Ma'am Bartolay and Dr. Fonte before and during implementation to make sure that both the team and Gideon Academy were on the same page in the direction of Project Lingkod.

Project Timeline

The project was implemented over multiple weeks with the preparation period starting February 1, 2022, until March 23, 2022. The implementation of the major parts of the project ended on February 27, 2022, but Post-Implementation activities were done to conclude the project in collaboration with Gideon Academy. The implementation of all parts of the project has been expressed in the Gantt chart below:

Project Lingkod Gantt Chart w. Background.png

Results of the Project

This section talks about how the project contributed to the development of Gideon Academy, what particular objectives were achieved, and how the encountered issues in implementation were resolved.

Post-Assessment of Implementation

To gauge the effectiveness of the project, a post-assessment survey was conducted with the student participants of Gideon Academy. These questions included participant feedback about the activities and their prior knowledge of the discussed topics.

Regarding Prior Knowledge

In order to gauge the prior knowledge of the students about the activities, a question was allotted for each main topic and the responses were summarized in the graphs to the left. As seen from the graphs, the responses of the students were mostly varied in all categories of prior knowledge about the subject matter of each of the three activities.

Although the responses were almost evenly distributed regarding the subject of Filipino Mythology, it can be shown that almost half of the students (8/17, ~47%) did not have substantial prior knowledge. Even accounting for the upper half of the responses, only one (1) student was able to confidently say they have an appropriate amount of knowledge about Filipino Myths.

In the graph regarding the use of Canva, only approximately 35% or slightly above a third (6/17) of the students did not have substantial knowledge about its use. Only two (2) students would confidently say they know a lot about Canva and its use in graphic design.

Civic Involvement in Gideon Academy

Although the students do not have a large number of opportunities for Civic Engagement, a majority of the students (9/17, ~82%) are likely to help out their community if given the opportunity. From the responses to the survey, a lot of the students believe one of the ways they can help out the community is through simpler acts such as organized cleaning and promoting environmentalism. Some students have also thought of programs such as spelling bees or English-oriented activities to promote civic engagement.

Project Contribution to the Community

From the results of the survey and as observed from the supplemental webinars, the project was definitely able to increase the students' awareness of Filipino culture, develop their skills outside of academics, and start a conversation on community involvement. The main objective of introducing civic engagement and opportunities to participate has been reached as displayed by the ways the students have been able to start thinking creatively about how to help their own or other communities. This may be further observed in the future if any of the students or the institution of Gideon Academy will be able to start their own opportunities for civic engagement.

More Information

Problems in Implementation

Although the project implementation was overall well-executed, some problems arose during implementation, mostly regarding the difficulties in schedules and work times. Due to the presence of other requirements and commitments, some group members were sometimes unable to actively contribute at a certain time. Additionally, due to the schedule decided upon by the group and Gideon Academy, these pauses in workflow became more unconducive since the tight schedules did not permit for much slack time between activities. Even with readjusting the timeline and objectives of some activities, the main solution was for people to step in time-to-time to complete urgent tasks. More human resources were used in all activities instead of the initial plan of working on the preparation of each activity independently.

Financial Standing

The project had initially aimed to provide a cash prize or another reward to be awarded to the top students in the culminating activity, but it was ultimately canceled due to some logistical restraints and also to the preference of Dr. Fonte. E-certificates were given instead to all collaborators and the students that had participated in the project. The project in total had cost nothing more than the plenty of time and effort placed into its formation and implementation.

Sustainability of the Project

This section describes the short-term and long-term benefits of the implementation of the project and also the future plans of implementation of Project Lingkod

Known Benefits to the Community

The Filipino culture was preserved during the implementation of the project, specifically in the storytelling of an indigenous Filipino myth, making the students appreciate the rich upbringing of their roots. Moreover, the students hopefully benefited from the introduction to graphic design using Canva for use in their academic or non-academic activities. Lastly, the Introduction to Civic Engagement webinar may open Gideon Academy and its administrators to possible opportunities for community engagement outside of their own.
As the project aimed to increase the awareness of the youth of Gideon Academy with the Filipino identity, emerging essential skills, and opportunities for civic engagement, the team believes that the project was able to create a foundation for future collaboration and later interest in the topics mentioned. Additionally, since the project was a start of a collaboration between Project Lingkod, as a representation of Philippine Science High School, and Gideon Academy, the project hopefully increased the chances of cooperation in the creation of activities that can be beneficial to students from both communities.

The Future of Project Lingkod

Documentation of the sessions may be used to guide future implementation. The resources created like the slides on the Canva tutorial, and the storytelling video may be reused for future student beneficiaries too. As the project is relatively simple to implement, younger batches in PSHS-MC will not find it hard to recreate Project Lingkod's projects in the future.
Blended educational events such as in-person supplemental seminars on different topics or the creation of online materials may be done too. The feasibility of this method is based on the safety of the students participating in the project. If the situation of the pandemic is still too risky in the Philippines, then the project may still be able to be implemented through online means like via Google Meets or Zoom.

Conclusion and Recommendations

This section summarizes the accomplishments of Project Lingkod's implementation and possible revisions for future successors or those who would use similar implementation methods.

Accomplishments

Created a storytelling video of "Biag ni Lam-Ang" to foster more appreciation of the Filipino culture among the students of Gideon Academy.
Provided a tutorial on Canva, to equip students with the growingly relevant skill of graphic design. This could help them create posters for their academic and even charitable pursuits. In connection with this;
Gave a webinar on civic engagement, with Ma'am Bartolay, to encourage the students to help their communities and give them an introduction on how they can serve.

The project enriched the teachings of Filipino culture and civic engagement in Gideon Academy. As the school consisted of Filipino-Chinese students, there was a considerable barrier to understanding the Filipino culture, as this was rarely practiced in the homes of the students. The social problem we see here is less rooted in the poor quality of the Philippine educational system, as Gideon Academy is a private institution with many resources and even a strong suit in STEM, but more in the cultural gap among the residents in the Philippines. The Filipino-Chinese families may or may not identify more with their Chinese backgrounds, but they are nonetheless still Filipinos, and understanding and appreciating the rich culture of the Philippines is something necessary for them to thrive here, so equipping the young students with a better understanding of the Filipino culture, will help solidify their Filipino identities. This complements the strong Chinese cultural teachings they receive at home and will help them empathize more with Filipinos, to further their civic engagement paths.

Points for Improvement

As mentioned earlier, there were problems experienced in terms of scheduling between the two communities. While this is a common occurrence among many collaborations, this could be mitigated in the future with a better time management system by relying more on technologies like scheduling sites. There were no problems with student engagement as the Gideon Academy kids were very enthusiastic. However, we hope that their excitement can be harnessed more in the future by having more time to interact with them, and by being able to provide more activities they'll surely participate in.

With this, additional activities that could be done in the future implementation of Project Lingkod are synchronous assessments in the form of games, posters for charity ideas the students come up with, and a culminating project in the form of a small outreach project for the surrounding community in Gideon Academy. In addition to these, more grade levels in Gideon Academy could be included in the project to benefit more students, especially since each year level at Gideon Academy is comprised of only a small number of students anyways. Finally, after a review with Ma'am Bartolay and Sir Mark Lopez, the storytelling videos could be improved vastly if more moving elements had been incorporated. The kids have very limited attention spans and would be engaged more if the storytelling video were in the form of a puppet show, skit, etc. The three lessons could be tied altogether as well by connecting the Filipino epic with the lesson of civic engagement. This way, the lessons really imprint on the students.

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