Foothill College, located in the high-tech heart of California's Silicon Valley, has partnered with the Philippine government to present a custom professional development program that focuses on training educators throughout the Philippines to use today's technology to transform student learning across the country. This program focuses on student-centered learning, educational technology enrichment, and collaborative professional development experiences.

The program centers on training teachers to use today's technology to enhance the current science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum in the Philippines. "Our partnership with Foothill College will allow us to rapidly impact the adoption of technology in our classrooms, creating an immediate transformation in the way we prepare K-12 students to compete and succeed in today's workforce," says Honorable Ma. Rachel J. Arenas, Representative, 3rd District, Pangasinan Region, the Republic of the Philippines.

The program includes an intensive two-week institute, and a six-month mentorship project that will follow nearly 4,000 educators as they incorporate the proven tools, content, and techniques that will help them transform the way they teach and the way their students learn for generations to come. Throughout the 2013-2014 school year, these newly trained educators will impact more than 120,000 students across the Pangasinan region, which represents more than 65 percent of all the students in the region.

The partnership is the collaboration between Foothill College, the curriculum design and instructional team at the Krause Center for Innovation (KCI) at Foothill College, and the Philippine Department of Trade & Industry led by Marciano A. Paynor Jr., Consul General of the Philippines in San Francisco; Michael Alfred V. Ignacio, Trade Commissioner, Philippine Trade & Investment Center--Silicon Valley; and Philippine Congresswoman Rachel Arenas.

The innovation of this program lies in KCI's integrated instructional design and custom-built courseware, which has been fully customized to enhance the existing national Philippine curriculum."The future of the global economy depends upon a workforce that is proficient in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)," said Foothill College President Judy C. Miner. "Foothill College is proud to deliver this educational professional development program that is designed for rapid deployment and replication across the Philippines. We are committed to contributing to the global education of K-14 students, helping them to develop mastery in STEM-related subjects. We are passionate about helping students worldwide to develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, and encouraging communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation to enable them to fill the jobs of the future."

Managed by the Foothill College Center for Training & Professional Development, the curriculum for this program leverages the expertise, experience, and faculty of Foothill's unique education training facility, the Krause Center for Innovation (KCI).

Since 2000, the KCI has served as a regional hub for Silicon Valley educators, providing professional development for more than 15,000 educators. The KCI empowers educators to transform their teaching practice through the use of technology that engages and challenges students.

The ultimate goal is to improve student performance and learning. This global project will allow the KCI staff the extraordinary opportunity to take this proven educational training beyond Silicon Valley.

"Congresswoman Arenas and her delegation visited the KCI last spring and were impressed with how we are changing the practice of teachers through the use of today's technology," said KCI Executive Director Gay Krause. "After 13 years of training thousands of educators on campus at the KCI, this program represents KCI's global expansion and allows for an unprecedented rapid deployment in every school in the Pangasinan region. To meet demands of this project, we have assembled an outstanding global team of talented educators who are leading the training and working with the Philippine government to impact their curriculum development over the next decade. We are proud to partner with visionary Filipino leaders for this thrilling--and global--teaching and learning opportunity."

Foothill College

Founded in 1957 with the hallmark of educational opportunity for all, Foothill College is recognized internationally as one of the most innovative community colleges in the U.S. Each 12-week quarter, Foothill College offers more than 1,000 course sections and enrolls approximately 15,000 day, evening, and online students. Currently, Foothill College offers more online classes than any other San Francisco Bay Area community college. Since 1981, the Center for Training & Professional Development at Foothill has provided training, professional development, internships, and job placement with our community partners, including some of the world's leading technology companies, Fortune 100s, and government agencies. Foothill's training center has an impressive history of solving training challenges with customized professional and workforce training programs to help individuals meet the demands of a 21st century workforce.

The Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College

The Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College (KCI) has served the professional development needs of K-14 educators since 2000. The vision of the KCI is to be the premier educational technology professional development center for teachers and administrators in public and private schools throughout the United States. The mission of the KCI is to develop and provide high-quality professional development courses and programs for K-14 educators, training them to use innovative educational technology solutions that promote meaningful teaching and learning for today's students. The KCI focuses on innovation through educational technology, with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Through its professional development, the KCI provides practical experience in integrating media-rich, Web-, and computer-based technologies into the curriculum. By applying its three core values--innovate, educate, and empower--the KCI prepares educators to pass their enhanced knowledge and abilities onto their students to improve student engagement and learning outcomes.

Click here to learn more about Foothill College.

Click here to learn more about the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College.

Reginald Duhe is the director of the Center for Training and Professional Development at Foothill College.

Opinions expressed in Innovation Showcase are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.