Bridgeit
Pearson is proud to be a partner in Bridgeit, a multi-sector partnership that brings interactive, multimedia education programs to local classrooms around the world.
The result of a partnership that includes the Pearson Foundation, Nokia, the International Youth Foundation, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bridgeit combines familiar mobile products and existing wireless technologies to deliver educational programs to teachers and students who otherwise would not have access to these materials. As a result, teachers anywhere in the world have the power to select and receive digital educational programming – videos, pictures, text, or audio files – over mobile technology already in use in their community.
Since the program’s inception, the Pearson Foundation has contributed by defining and managing the program’s general educational objectives. Specifically, in support of the Philippine-based Bridgeit program, we have managed the correlation of more than 100 math, science, and language arts videos supplied by Pearson Digital Learning’s KnowledgeBox system. In addition, we have worked closely with local Filipino educators to develop curriculum-focused lesson plans that introduce these materials in the context of the Philippine National Curriculum; and we’ve developed the model for the annual professional development that supports teachers who participate in the program.
We’re particularly pleased that because of this emphasis on local needs and competencies, the Bridgeit program in the Philippines received two awards from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in 2004. In addition, an independent study issued by the Philippines National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (NISMED) credited the Bridgeit program with improving teachers’ competence and attitudes in using technology and with spurring school officials, parents, and community leaders to support technology-enhanced lessons. The study also found that students’ performance and attitudes toward science and technology raised significantly as a result of their participation in the program.
These results have made it possible to expand the Bridgeit program every year since it was first introduced.
In the Philippines, the program currently provides engaging videos supplied by Pearson Digital Learning’s KnowledgeBox to 210 schools. As a result, teachers can now offer their students – more than 60,000 elementary school children across the Philippines – a customized library of timely educational material linked directly to the Philippine National Curriculum.
