This Mozilla Clubs case study was created by Carolina Tejada in July 2016 in collaboration with community members Kristina Verbo and Ryan Jayson from Philippines.
Before we start talking about our clubs, we’d like you to learn a bit more about our country, the Philippines. It is a beautiful Southeast Asian country, comprised by more than 7,000 small islands. It is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, entirely surrounded by tropical seas and home to countless volcanoes (some still active). It has abundant natural resources and the world’s greatest concentration of unique species per unit area.1
The Philippines is an exceptional country when it comes to cultural diversity. Our ethnicity, traditions, gastronomy, language, religion, dance, art, and folklore were influenced by the colonizers through the years.
The story is way more complex and longer than this, but we made it short for you! Our country was first settled by Melanesians. After them, the Austronesians or more specifically, Malayo-Polynesians came to the islands, then the Spanish Empire stayed for more than three centuries, then it became an U.S. territory for almost 50 years, until it was recognized as an independent country.2 Fascinating, isn’t it? This is how we came to be what we are today: an exciting multicultural and diverse country that faces a lot of challenges, but also a lot of opportunities.
EDUCATION AND WEB LITERACY
In the Philippines we regard education as the path to social mobility. 90% of our population over ten years of age is literate. The Department of Education is one of the largest governmental offices.3
What’s the role of Web Literacy in our Education System?
The Government of the Philippines understands Web Literacy as the teaching of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).
In public documents, statements and plans, the Government recognizes the key role of (ICT) in education. This is why they have set a strategic plan for schools in which students will acquire the fundamental skills and knowledge across the formal years of schooling, by embedding ICT in the curriculum, both as a subject and as a new approach to teaching and learning.4
This plan focuses on these main topics:5
1. Social, ethical and human issues
2. ITC for producing
3. ITC for communicating
4. ITC for researching
5. ITC for problem solving
MOZILLA CLUBS IN THE PHILIPPINES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IxE8udUT9c
Mozilla Clubs was preceded by The Philippines Mozilla Community, which was founded in September 2009 with the aim to support, mentor and inspire the enthusiastic volunteers who contribute to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web.
Some contributors like Ryan Jayson Ermita and myself, Kristina Verbo, were Firefox Student Ambassadors, who used to lead Maker Party events in our communities. In 2015 we were invited to initiate Mozilla Clubs and we said yes!
We started to work in collaboration with universities and other institutions where we started some clubs, with the support of the Philippines Mozilla Community and it’s network of awesome volunteers.
The program has had a lot of success so far! As of July 2016, there are 20 active Mozilla Clubs in the Philippines, with a high number located in Manila.
Each club has 10 to 15 members, and sessions are supported by 4 to 5 volunteers. They welcome a diverse audience, including adults, young professionals and youth under the age of 15.
Some of our challenges…
– Long term commitment. Our work is volunteer-driven and we love it, but sometimes it is hard for people to sustain their commitment to long term projects.
– Funding and resources. These are especially needed to reach target audiences like indigenous people, and poverty-stricken schools and communities.
– Localized curriculum. We speak more than 150 dialects in the Philippines, so we need tools to localize curriculum and other learning resources.
How to get involved?
If you are excited to join us, here are three ways to do it:
– Become a volunteer and help us facilitate specific events.
– Help to create and localize curriculum.
– Become a Club Captain and create your own Mozilla Club!
Get some inspiration from these two Club Captains:
Club Captain: Angelique
Angelique D. Lacasandile, leads a club in the National University. She is the adviser of the Wizard Circle under the College of Computer Studies, a duly recognized organization of the university that promotes moral, social, economic, civic and cultural welfare in the Alma Mater.
How did your club start?
Our club started when I attended a Mozilla Club Captain event. All of the things I learned in that said event were cascaded to my officers and we had our first general assembly on July 27th, 2015.
Who are your club main audiences?
Selected students who have GWA (General Weighted Average – grading system in the Philippines ) not lower than 3.00 and talented students who are recommended by their respective professors.
What does your Mozilla Club look like?
We have a small area where we can share and learn new stuff. Microsoft is one of our major sponsors as well. We train our students to be knowledgeable in 4 areas such as: Java Programming, Web Programming, Research and Networking. These students will represent us in different competitions, related to this areas. We have weekly training and special events if we have sponsors.
How do you communicate with your main audiences?
We use email for formal announcements and Facebook for announcements of topics for the trainings. We also join different activities outside, especially competitions.
What are your plans for 2016?
We plan to provide more trainings and look for different organizations that can offer industry practices to our students.
Club Captain. Frederick
Frederick Villaluna, is also a Mozilla Representative and he has been instrumental for the growth of the local Mozilla community in his locale as part of MozillaPH’s experiment to have greater reach across the archipelago. He was Club Captain at La Consolacion College–Bacolod before moving to another job position, and passed the leadership of this club to Lenuel Betita, who is now in charge.
How did your club start?
We started two years ago as a small group in our school. Then we decided to join Mozilla Clubs.
Who are your club main audiences?
Colleagues and fellow students in our school and other schools.
What does your Mozilla Club look like?
We have a small area where we can get together to learn fun stuff. LCC Bacolod is very supportive in our endeavors. We teach them hands-on web based activities, we also teach them about the privacy and the open web. Some schools invite us to speak during conferences or events in our region. We also like to join different competitions from webpage and layout design to programming.
How do you communicate?
We hold face-to-face weekly meetings. We also use email, IMS, Facebook messenger and Hangouts with the groups while doing some fun activities.
What are your plans for 2016?
We plan to execute more events, leverage a stronger L10n program in our dialect and other fun activities about the open web for the students. On the other hand we are looking forward to partner with private organizations and government sectors in our region. We already introduced our Mozilla PH in our local community to some of these organizations and will hopefully strengthen the relationship in order to expand the program.
CREDITS AND REFERENCES
This Case Study was built based on the information provided by: Kristina Verbo and Ryan Jayson, Regional Coordinators. Mozilla Clubs Philippines.
Cover picture By Paolobon140 – File:Makati Skyline.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0,
1.Philippines Biodiversity. The Field Museum, (2016).
2.The Philippines. Wikipedia, (2016).
3.Philippines countrystudies.us
4. ICT in Education – Philippines setting. Philippines Department of Education, (2015).
5. Five-Year ICT for Education Strategic Plan. Philippines Department of Education, (2015).