Conference prepares educators for global technological changes

The 16th Annual Pacific Educational Conference is aimed at preparing the region’s educators and students for global changes in technology that affect the education system, according to a conference committee officer.

“The delegates are expecting to come out of this conference with new ideas to bring into their classrooms, and into their school programs. This is not only for educators and students but for parents, as well,” said Jean Olopai, vice chairman of the 1999 Conference Committee.

The conference, with the theme Pacific Communities: Leaders of the New Millennium, offers 100 different workshops aimed at helping educators and students understand the changes in education system, advancement in technology, new teaching and learning techniques, and new ideas generated around the world.

“If we don’t keep our students up to date on what’s happening around the world, then they’d be lost when they leave our islands,” Olopai said.

Margaret Dela Cruz, the committee’s secretary, said the conference workshops offer a lot of opportunities for professional enhancement.

The workshops being conducted in the classrooms of the Marianas High School started yesterday and will continue until tomorrow.

About 800 delegates attended the conference’s official opening ceremony at the Diamond Hotel Monday night.

The delegates come from U.S. mainland, Hawaii, CNMI, American Samoa, Guam, FSM, Palau and Guam, among others.

“What’s good about this conference is that people conducting the workshops are people from our own region,” Olopai said.

The workshop conductors and the participants, she added, are exchanging methodologies, systems, and ideas that have proven to be workable in the region.

“We’re doing it the Pacific way. It’s not like taking a package program from the states and putting it in your classrooms,” said Olopai, service center coordinator of the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, the major organizer of the conference.

Dela Cruz, for her part, said cultural celebration is one of the highlights of the conference.

The conference follows the tradition of sharing songs, dances, stories and gifts. These activities, according to organizers “expand the learning into the realms of cultural understanding and provide many opportunities to create and build friendships.” (MCM)