By Anna Valmero
QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA—Around 18,000 e-textbooks were recently deployed by Vibal Publishing House on tablet devices of 7,000 students across the Philippines, paving the way for students to get in touch with the future of education.
For its tablet education campaign, Vibal partnered with different major schools such as La Salle Green Hills, De La Salle Zobel Santiago Alabang, Miriam College, and St. Paul Surigao.
Vibal “e-textbooks” follow the international standard ePub 3.0, which allows e-books to embed audio and video clips for user interactivity, said Julius Rolando G. Corotan III, head of the digital division and corporate communications at Vibal.
E-books are digital counterparts of printed textbooks and add feature innovations such as rich multimedia content and embedded knowledge base that enhance the reading and learning experience of students, added Corotan.
With the e-books, students enjoy an immersive reading experience and answer quizzes using a multi-touch interface. Teachers also benefit from the multitude of advanced features for a more effective teaching.
Over two months, the software programmers and tech experts of Vibaltravelled around the country to identify partner schools for the tablet installations.
Other participating schools are Adamson University in Manila and Creative Learning School, Inc. in Pasig; St. Dominic Academy in Pulilan, Bulacan; Los Banos National High School in Laguna, Cavite School of St. Mark in Bacoor, Cavite; St. Roberts International School in Iloilo City, and at least three schools in Cebu City: Childlink Learning Center, Marianne Childhood Education Center, and Livingstone Christian Academy.
Aside from Apple iPads, e-books can also be installed on mobile devices that run the Android operating system such as Samsung Galaxy, Acer Iconia, and Asus Transformer.
Vibal also launched its own customizable reading application called the Vibe Reader, which allows students as young as Grade 3 to download the e-books themselves.
(Photo by Vibal Publishing)
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