Cebu Educators Introduced to Social Media World

Forty-eight teachers discovered the exciting wide world of social media during a workshop conducted by the CFA “flying team” at the University of San Carlos Girls’ South Campus, Cebu City, on January 23-24, 2010.

Facilitating the Social Media Workshop for Educators was Fr. Stephen Cuyos, MSC, who is the Training and Production Specialist of the Communication Foundation for Asia. He guided the participants in navigating through various online programs and applications that could be used for values instruction and learning. At the onset of the seminar, participants were introduced to the concept of social media, its use in evangelization and catechetical instruction, and how the Church maximizes its potential to further the faith. The participating teachers then had hands-on training in various online applications such as video sharing, audio sharing, slide sharing. There were sites that allowed them to create their own cartoons (www.pimpampum.net/bubblr and www.toondoo.com) and their own books (www.pimpampum.net/bookr). Participants were also encouraged to get into collaborative work using applications in Google.

The teachers appreciated the relevance of the workshop to their role in reaching young students and requested that CFA provide more training to further enhance their teaching styles. According to Sr. Maria Helen, DC, “the workshop is needed urgently to make our teaching interesting to students.”

Similar workshops will be held in Manila on Feb. 3-5, 2010 and in other provinces in the coming months as part of the media training project sponsored by the Aid to the Church in Need. The project aims to equip Christian Living teachers and catechists with the media skills needed to enhance their work in the values education and formation of the youth. The “Flying Team” component of this project is CFA’s training outreach in the provinces.