Smart's contribution to inclusive growth

Stephanie Orlino, the Senior Manager for Public Affairs and Education Program Head of Smart Communications, Inc., has been in the field of community development with Smart for 14 years now. She has been focusing on crafting and implementing sustainable, community-based education programs.

With her efforts to elevate education in our country with the aid of technology, she brought Smart to Fortune magazine with her SWEEP (Smart Wireless Engineering Program). It was cited magazine as one of the companies that makes a social and environmental impact through business strategy and operations.

As an advocate for education, she firmly believes that education is not the just the responsibility of the teachers and the parents, but everyone. Also, she encourages people to take part in supporting and developing education in the country because it is our best root towards development, in all aspects.  


What are the education programs of Smart?

• Tertiary Level

Smart has a roster of programs from basic education all the way to tertiary. But ironically, back in 2003, they started with tertiary level.  

Stephanie Orlino together with her team wanted to aid schools with new technological advancements to enable communities. Thus, SWEEP (Smart Wireless Engineering Program) was organized and it has been running for 13 years now. The program aims to improve the level of technology and engineering education in the Philippines, particularly in the field of Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE). They partner with different colleges and universities all over the country that offer engineering and information technology programs.

SWEEP supports the partner schools by producing up-to-date content and equipment, as well as hands-on trainings, seminars and internships. Smart is aware that theories are strong and sufficient in schools; however, the application of what students learn are lacking. In most cases, what students study in books to what is happening in the industry is way different. Especially, nowadays, the industry of technology is fast-paced and change happens constantly. A lot of schools can’t keep up with these changes in technology. As a result, SWEEP embeds the same training in information and technology that their employees get to the students and teachers.

Smart’s own engineers and personnel train the students and teachers to give the students not just theories but also first-hand experience. The topics that are included in SWEEP are very unique and practical compared to ones in the academe like 3G and LTE.

Yearly, Smart holds awarding ceremonies to encourage innovation and excellence in wireless application development among the partner schools of SWEEP. This serves as a litmus test to gauge the acquired knowledge of the students and teachers. In like manner, it gives opportunity for the scholars to apply what they have learned to develop a wireless application. School teams and applications that have potential are turned into startup companies.  And as of now, there are already four startups developed by SWEEP’s scholars.

• Basic Education

Technocart

It is a 2ft x 2ft cart digital laboratory that contains tablets, laptop, projector, and pocket Wifi. It also comes with content; child and curriculum development, training, and monitoring. The cart costs 200,00 php.

The project was inspired by the famous local education TV show “Batibot”. Their goal is to develop and enhance kindergarten literacy, ranging from alphabet to basic math, in public schools.


School-in-a-Bag

Talking about technology for all and inclusive growth, urban areas should not only be the one who are prioritized. And because of “electricity barrier” in more than 300 remote areas in the country, Smart has come up with a project similar to Technocart. This project is called “School-in-a-Bag”.

School-in-a-Bag is a learning tool package donated to public schools without electricity. It is literal backpack that has solar panel, battery, LED TV, laptop, tablet, pocket wife and learning modules.


Smart helps bring digital learning to remote communities by giving relevant content and engaging both teachers and students to updated innovations even they are far from civilization.


Technology bridges the digital divide

Smart don’t claim to be experts in the field of academe. But they practice inclusivity and partnership and work with the experts, teachers, scientists and non-government officials.

The programs of Smart don’t just aid schools to upgrade their technology because gadgets are very much accessible to everyone and primarily, technology is not their end goal. They aim to cater technology for all; to be a delivery mechanism that teaches students and teachers to use technology to enable individual growth, resulting to a larger scale development.

The heart of their programs is putting together all the possible resources to deliver the right content, and capacitate the teachers to hand over sufficient and correct knowledge to students.

Democratizing access to better education: Zookal, a free reviewer mobile app now available in the Philippines

A mobile application that digitizes reviewer and learning materials for students is finally available in the Philippines.

Developed by Singapore-based education company Zookal, the app intends to equalize opportunities for Filipino students to pass entrance examinations to universities, and other achievement tests with review materials that can be easily accessed via the mobile phone.

Founded by students in Australia in 2011, Zookal is utilizing mobile technology to help make learning more affordable and accessible to Filipinos, particularly for those without access to resources like review centers, as well as expensive reviewer materials.

The app helps increase the chances of underprivileged members of the society to pass entrance exams by allowing them to review for free just by using their smartphones.

The app, which was launched to the Philippine market recently, already registered over 20,000 downloads in the first two weeks following its release.  At one point, it currently ranks 2nd in the education app rankings in the App Store for iOS devices.  It is also among the most downloaded apps in the Google Play store for devices running on the Android operating system.

“We are very proud to have made an impact in the first two weeks of launch. We have been overwhelmed with positive feedback from our users and we are working very diligently to make improvements to the product. Buying books and going to reviewer centers are not feasible for every single family, so if we can help some families access resources that were previously unavailable to them, then we will strive to do so on as big a scale as possible,” said Jon Tse, Co-Founder, Zookal.

"With the app, we hope to contribute towards attaining the global development goals in education particularly in the Philippines, and increase the chances of Filipinos who cannot afford reviewer services to pass entrance exams and other tests that would help improve their lives for the long term," added Tse.

The app contains a database of over 20,000 practice multiple-choice questions designed for various entrance tests for schools, colleges, and universities like the UPCAT; the National Achievement Test, as well as licensure examinations for professionals, and those wanting to work in government.

To ensure the app has more impact on the user, the developers are working on future updates including explaining to the users why certain answers are correct and others are wrong.  

Zookal is also looking at expanding the content to cover other tests including the NCLEX, IELTS, GMAT, to name a few.

The app simulates the nature of multiple-choice entrance tests, allowing users to swipe through questions and complete quizzes. Upon completing the quizzes, users then earn bonus study tips, which have been compiled by students from the University of the Philippines, as well as teachers from Teach for the Philippines. 

These tips are aimed at instilling effective and healthy study habits to Filipino students so they can improve their study outcomes and enhance their learning experience. 

Examples of practical tips are the following: Take note of the scoring schemes for the tests e.g. UP may deduct for wrong answers; ACET may be time-pressured, so if you do not know the answer skip the item and go back to it if you have extra time; Book a hotel nearby to avoid stress relating to traffic and delays on the day of the exams; Wear comfortable clothes on the day of the exams, among others.

The app also helps make the student psychologically ready for the exams.  Most often, jitters and nerves can also distract the student from answering the test questions correctly. Some testimonials from first users include:

1. ”You can't find an app that can compare to Zookal. Effective, absolutely helpful, and best of all, it's FREE.” - Alexa Doverte

2. “This APP is priceless. Both figuratively and literally. Comprehensive and easy to use!” - Monching Aguinaldo

3. “Zookal App doesn't only help me prepare for a test but also gives useful study tips that find my weak points and gives advice as to where I should improve” - Vana Raye Sabanal

4. “Thumbs up to this super helpful app! Now, I don't have to worry about buying costly reviewers cause it's all here and it's free!” - Faith Fredeluces

5. "This is basically an ALL IN ONE app. Easy to access and you don’t have to download each app, each test. It's all in Zookal app!" - Lia Martinez

The app can be downloaded for free at the Google Play store: (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zookal.zookalsg&hl=en)

It is also available in the App Store: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/zookal-philippines-school/id1140369065?mt=8).

For devices not compatible with the iOS and Android operating systems, the app may be directly downloaded at www.zookal.com.ph.

Filipino Education Supported by NBA Stores Philippines

The Philippines is now home to three NBA Stores located at Glorietta 3, Mega Fashion Hall and TriNoma which are managed by the International Athletic Trading Company, Inc. (IATC). A wide selection of authentic NBA merchandise includes official jerseys, footwear, toys and other collectibles. The NBA Stores carry products from all the 30 NBA teams. They also feature renowned brands such as 2K Sports, Adidas, Spalding, and many more.

Recently, the abovementioned NBA Stores, announced the launch of a retail promotion to support Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) in providing quality education to more Filipinos.

Celebrating its 10th year anniversary, NBA Cares, the league’s global social responsibility program, have decided to donate a portion of the NBA Name & Number T-shirt sale proceeds from August 10 to September 13 of this year to KCFI. The proceeds will aid the foundation’s education program which is focused on providing multimedia learning resources for students in grades K-12 and training teachers from public schools in the National Capital Region of Luzon.

KCFI is a non-profit organization that helps empower Filipinos through educational media and is now on its 17th year of establishment. They have been successful in their attempt to provide access to multimedia learning resources to more than 5 million learners in about 6, 000 schools and learning centers all over the Philippines.

Look who’s back! Digital Marketing Conference Philippines Reload 2016 happening again this July 14 & 15

The previous digital marketing conference in the country made a great impact to its attendees. In fact, many insisted for another one as they realized that the conference really gave them profound understanding and knowledge to get their businesses or companies along with today’s digital age. Because of this, many will surely be happy as the Digital Marketing Conference Philippines will happen again this year!

Digital Marketing Conference Philippines Reload 2016 is a two-day seminar which aims to help the marketers and other attendees in getting ahead with digital marketing success. The event will fast track on July 14 and 15, Thursday and Friday at SMX Convention Center, SM Aura Premier, Taguig City. 

The seminar as organized by Neo Trade, will cater on both beginners and those already knowledgeable in digital marketing. The conference topics include: strategy and planning, analytics, websites, social media, search, and mobile marketing. It targets those in the academe, agencies, entrepreneurs/SME’s, professionals, BPO sourcing & marketing personnel, government personnel, marketing specialists, brand advertisers, business leaders, website owners, and as well as students to attend and participate in the said conference.

This year’s Digital Marketing Conference Philippines Reload will give new faces to issues and trends regarding mobile and digital marketing field as it will let the attendees meet and interact with industry experts, and as well as provide an overview of the key aspects and effectively utilize them in producing marketing plan for their businesses. The YES members are encouraged to attend and are given worthy discounts for the registration fee. 

For more information about the designated seminar fees and other queries, visit their website at www.neotrade.co or their FB page at Neotrade Events. Interested attendees may also call Neotrade at 9380837 or 09167312040 for additional clarifications and details.

Caveat on So Called “Scientific Methodology” on Surveys

Surveys are not only used during elections. Surveys are used daily by most marketing and advertising departments of large corporations and conglomerates. Branding is based on preferences by customers or brands are created according to the needs of the market.

In this 2016 election season, there are surveys that tout their “methodologies”. These may sound authoritative but once dissected they cannot stand up to close scrutiny.

This observation and insight by a Statistics graduate of the University of the Philippines deserves careful perusal and analysis.

Days are numbered for the much awaited 2016 National and Local Election. Surveys are here and there saying that this are the result of the surveys they made, etc. And so, after delivering the results to the people, many were just contented with the result while there are some who reacts and disagree and point out their reasons.

This is why David Yap, a statistician, and graduate from the University of the Philippines School of Statistics, became viral after stating his points about the 'Bilang Pilipino SWS Mobile Survey'.

As per this guy,

I am a statistician. I am a graduate of the University of the Philippines School of Statistics. I do not approve of the methodology of the Bilang Pilipino SWS Mobile Survey. More importantly, I detest their use of Statistical methodologies to lend credence to their obviously flawed methodology. It obfuscates its lack of credibility by invoking Statistical methodologies that are not easily understood by many Filipinos. In my opinion, it is a blatant and deplorable misuse of the Science of Statistics.

(Hear more from him by reading his entire Facebook post below about the issue)

Few hours after he posted his message on his Facebook wall, it went viral and as of the moment, it now reached 1000 shares and still counting.

This is what David Yap posted on his Facebook wall about the 'Bilang Pilipino SWS Mobile Survey'. Kindly read.
I am a statistician. I am a graduate of the University of the Philippines School of Statistics. I do not approve of the methodology of the Bilang Pilipino SWS Mobile Survey. More importantly, I detest their use of Statistical methodologies to lend credence to their obviously flawed methodology. It obfuscates its lack of credibility by invoking Statistical methodologies that are not easily understood by many Filipinos. In my opinion, it is a blatant and deplorable misuse of the Science of Statistics.

The Bilang Pilipino SWS Mobile Survey claims that it has a margin of error of +/- 3%. The implication here is that the results of the survey are off by at most three percentage points. People are led to believe that the survey has accurately estimated the lower bound and upper bound of the vote share of each candidate. Given their latest results this would suggest that Sen. Poe has a range of 31% to 37% and Mayor Duterte has a range of 28% to 34%. Here is an explanation as to why I find it absurd.

Students of Statistics know that the margin of error in sampling is often computed as the reciprocal of the square root of the sample size. The Bilang Pilipino SWS Mobile Survey had a grand total of 1,200 possible respondents. SWS has not divulged the number of actual respondents of their latest survey so let us use the sample size in the March 22 survey - 806. If you take the reciprocal of the square root of 806 you'll get 3.52% (Right of the bat SWS rounded their margin of error down - but let us not quibble over relatively trivial details such as this). Notice that the margin of error does not use the size of the population as a variable (It does not matter if the voting population is 1 million of 50 million). It may come as a surprise to many of you that this isn't the crux of the issue.

The crux of the issue is that the validity of the aforementioned margin of error depends on the sampling methodology. The margin of error will only hold if the survey is conducted using an unbiased methodology. Put simply, the margin of error will only hold if the survey results are generated from an unbiased sample. What exactly is an unbiased sample? An unbiased sample is one wherein every element of the population has an equal chance of being selected. I repeat: An unbiased sample is one wherein every element of the population has an equal chance of being selected.

Here's the rub: in order for the margin of error to be credible, the underlying sample has to represent the entire Philippines. How could it represent the entire Philippines when millions upon millions of validated voters were not given a chance to be selected?

Herein lies the test as to whether or not the SWS Bilang Pilipino Mobile Survey should be believed. Herein is a simple question that would tell us whether or not we should lend credence to the results being promoted by this survey: Was every validated Filipino voter given an equal chance of being selected?

According to the SWS Bilang Pilipino primer the survey uses a 'nationally representative sample of 1,200 validated voters'. The question here becomes: Did SWS draw its 1,200-strong sample from the entire roster of validated voters? After all, each and every validated voter has to be given an equal chance of selection. There is no indication, at all,that SWS sampled from the entire voter registry (As a segue ask yourselves: would COMELEC have given SWS, a private entity, free reign over the ENTIRE voter registry? Hmm.).

This suggests that SWS did NOT give all validated voters a chance to be selected. If this is indeed the case then the SWS Bilang Pilipino survey should not be trumpeted as a credible survey with a very small margin of error - because the sample was BIASED.

It gets better (worse), SWS generates its samples according to strata - or groupings. For the SWS Bilang Pilipino Mobile Survey it used four strata - NCR, Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. There is nothing wrong with using strata and employing stratified random sampling. There is, however, something very wrong about giving these strata equal weights. For its Bilang Pilipino sample, SWS gave NCR, Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao 300 samples each. This distribution means that NCR, Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao are all given equal weights. The problem here is that the distribution of the Filipino population - and consequently the Filipino voting population is not spread equally across the four strata! Here are approximate values: Balance of Luzon has 44%-45%, Visayas has 20%, Mindanao has 23%-24%, and NCR has the remainder. Putting all of these together we see that Balance of Luzon is severely under-weighted and under-represented and NCR is severely over-weighted and over-represented. BIAS.

The choice of the level of stratification is also dubious given that geography plays a key role in determining the outcome of national elections. National politicians often have home provinces and regions that would lend them tremendous amounts of support during elections. Choosing our island groups as the stratification level ignores the highly nuanced dynamics of local Philippine politics. You do not need to be a political scientist of statistician to realize that this is a poor way of distributing your sample. It is, for example, distinctly possible to generate a Balance of Luzon sample without Ilocos Norte. It is distinctly possible to generate a Balance of Luzon sample without Camarines Norte/Sur. It is distinctly possible to generate a Visayas sample without Capiz. It is distinctly possible to generate a Mindanao sample without Davao del Sur. The choice of stratification assumes that voting preferences within each island group are largely homogeneous. It assumes that there is little to no heterogeneity within each island group.

But wait, there's more!

The SWS Bilang Pilipino Mobile survey is an opt-in survey. As I indicated earlier, the actual sample could be smaller than the indicated sample. The people who were given mobile phones to respond to text prompts could choose NOT to answer the text prompts. Given the nature of the survey they cannot re-sample to fill-up the desired or indicated sample size! This is obviously another source of bias!

It is also of note that respondents can only respond from 7:00 am to 12:00 noon. If you fail to respond during that window you are excluded from the actual sample. If you forgot to charge the phone, if you could not get a signal, if you were busy at work, if you were sick, it doesn't matter - you are excluded. Bias, bias, bias!

The survey serves no discernible function. It provides no discernible benefit. One can even make a compelling argument that the SWS Bilang Pilipino Mobile survey is designed to condition the minds of voters and establish trends that would legitimize or sanitize fraudulent election outcomes. I urge you: Do not lend this survey any ounce of credibility.

Voters should not choose their candidates on the basis of who is 'winnable' and who is 'not winnable'. Your choices should not be about who can or cannot win. Elections should be about visions, platforms, and track records. Do NOT reduce the elections into a popularity contest wherein the winners are not chosen based on their capacity to govern - but rather by their perceived popularity. Do NOT cheapen our democracy.

Do yourself and the Philippine democracy a favor: Do not let this survey affect your choices. Think for yourself.
Source: http://www.allthingspinoy.com/2016/04/up-graduate-statistician-shares-insights-about-bilang-pilipino-sws-mobile-survey.html

Marketing Innovation and Lessons from Vick’s Vap-O-Rub

In every industry, it is innovation and creativity that is the key to productivity, revenue generation and institutional longevity. Nobody is aware that Vick’s Vap-O-Rub was created during the Flu Pandemic of 1918 and was supposed to be a cure for the Flu and we all know that the Flu is viral and to date there is still no cure for viruses and yet Vick’s Vap-O-Rub is still on sale worldwide. There are various ways of creating innovation, the following are the 3 main types:

Product – iPod, iPhone and the iPad revolutionized the mobile phone and gadget industry

Process – Online retail and wholsale

Marketing Mix – The iPhone and iPod and IPad had iTunes and other services

As for the  Marketing Mix here are some examples:

A)    Project Pie – A mix between marketing and product by making your own pizza.
B)    Price innovation – Recession Coffee in Eastwood allow buyers to pay what they want for different types of coffee.
C)    The use of Social Media in brand or product awareness.
D)    Service Innovation – Hooters. Enough said
E)    Physical Environment – One of the oldest in the country. Barrio Fiesta wherein the mood inside and the ambience is akin to a never ending town fiesta.

Sourced and derived from readings in http://josiahgo.com/marketing-innovation-by-josiah-go/

(Attend Josiah Go’s Marketing Innovation executive workout on April 14-15, 2016. Email info@mansmith.net for details)

Digital Out-Of-Home Media : The Education Should Continue

Lloyd Tronco, Convenor of the Philippine Forum on
Digital Out Of Home Media

Despite the growing acceptance of outdoor media as a mainstream medium, OOH still has a long way to go in terms of reaching a status of reverence.

Almost everyone in the circle of advertising and media are familiar with the blatant absence of regulation in the medium brings about a Wild,Wild West mentality among vendors.  By saying so, placements are not controlled in terms of position, size, and execution.  Take that further into Digital Out-Of-Home and everything gets even more confusing.

It is not just the rates and variety of packages that clients and planners need to contend with, it is also the understanding of the nuances of the medium which practically everyone in the industry, including creatives, need to come to grips with.

It was for that reason that in the early days of digital signage, the Philippine Center for Out-Of-Home Media Research and Science spearheaded the First Philippine Forum on Digital Out-Of-Home Media.  That took place in 2010 and a clear 5 months before there was even a Digital Signage World Asia in Singapore! 

At the First Philippine Forum on Digital Out-Of-Home Media, we were greatly elated to have DOOH guru Manolo Almagro to be with us.  At that time, he was still residing in the country doing his consulting for Jollibee and Globe.  Year after that, we had DOOH 2 which again was a big hit having Ricky Baizas of Nestle and no less than Bob Michaels of the Digital Screen Media Association.

DOOH.2 with Bob Michaels, Ricky Baizas, and Christian Besler

On the third year, it just got bigger.  Thanks to Willy Soong who was the newly appointed distributor of Daktronics, the DOOH 3 took place at the Jaguar Lifestyle Center in BGC.  Ron Graham flew in to Manila, as did the folk from Christie, Julianna Tong and the gents from Daktronics.  Research guru Jay Bautista also weighed in.

From there, we somehow slid back.  There was a DOOH 4 but it was not of the scale as DOOH 1, 2, and 3.  Zeno Martinez and myself know the reasons why the momentum tapered off, but it is not for us to discuss here.  Nevertheless, young as it is, there has to be a constant stream of "Learning Series" to feed and fuel the proper use of digital signage.

As it is, all we see are display ads which hardly maximize the full potential of the LED and LCD screens.  Yes, the images are moving, but that is all there is to it.

So the education must continue.  As usual, Bing Kimpo and I by default are the voices crying out in the wilderness trying our best to advocate good use of Digital OOH.

It is my hope that this year, 2016, the stakeholders of Digital Signage and DOOH will rally behind further educational events.  After all, once the clients/advertisers see that DS/DOOH works, anything invested towards the educational events will pay off.

Then DOOH ads will no longer be the mere moving displays of re-purposed TVC edits as we are so used to seeing.