The idea for a website for HEdCen was hatched during a casual conversation between two parents (and batchmates at the U.P. College of Law) who believe that :

1) a school is a community and every sector — administration, faculty, non-academic personnel, students and parents — is an integral force that makes it what it is;

2) a school’s web site can go beyond static pages and formal narratives;

3) technology is a powerful tool for practical education; and

4) the world wide web can be both a training ground and a fun playground for students, teachers and parents alike.

Hence, over e-mails, pasta and Benguet coffee, these two visionaries (oh, right, sounds self-serving but this web site will break new grounds so be generous and allow them the self-serving label, please) embarked on a journey that will re-define what a school web site can and ought to be.

Will the cost of the web site become an added expense to our children’s education?

The web site itself will not cost HEdCen, students and parents a centavo. It is hosted on a parent’s web account (she’s a blogger and print media writer — oh, she’s a lawyer too although she seems to forget that often these days) and she has more web space and bandwidth transfer allocation than she can use at the moment. She’s not charging anything for the development of the site (she thrives on geeky challenges) and she does not intend to charge anything for the maintenance either (she likes to play on the net). Besides, the web and the internet have been very good to her and this is her way of paying it forward. She’s a sucker for pioneer projects as well.

If, however, you’re strangers with the internet (i.e., you don’t have internet connectivity at home), there might be some added expense. But try to look at it this way: instead of treating it as an expense, why not consider it as an investment? We’re already investing a lot in our children’s education, so why not give them the extra edge to make them even more competitive? Computers and the internet are the future. Virtual offices are becoming common. Why not allow them the chance to explore this new medium?

Sounds exciting?

This is just the beginning. The best is yet to come.