Posted by ericsaints on June 4th, 2007 in About HEdCen.Com, Site news

1. What is HEdCen.com?

It’s a website (www.hedcen.com) created, developed and hosted by a parent who’s a professional blogger/print media writer with the talent, expertise, resources, dedication, chutzpah, and spare time to devote to the project. Another parent (and ex-schoolmate) with some bright ideas (and little else to contribute) helped her a bit.

2. What kind of website is it?

It’s an “UNOFFICIAL/OFFICIAL” school website (huh?). The school liked the idea of having a website but was clueless on how to put up one. So it just waited for the right opportunity to graciously accept an unsolicited offer by those two co-parents to do it for the school gratis. (That’s how great a visionary Teacher Emma is. In case you haven’t noticed, she really knows how to get us parents involved. She’s scary that way!)

And as you’ll see, we believe that HEdCen.com is different— revolutionary even, at least, in the Philippine experience.

3. Why should we care about HEdCen.com?

Because it’s another way to increase our contact and communicate with our kids, the teachers and the school. In this era of double income families, we’re the ones with the least face-to-face time with our children on weekdays, and we try to compensate in some manner (e.g., phone calls, texting, going out on weekends, and so on). With HEdCen.com, we’ve expanded opportunities for us to enjoy shared activities with our kids. The advantages for integrating the internet in their education are similarly obvious. With HEdCen.com, we have a launch site for learning with them the wonders and dangers of a medium that’s here to stay. The World Wide Web can be both a training ground and a fun playground for students, teachers and parents alike.

4. What if (cough) I know next to nothing about the internet? I mean, hypothetically speaking? (cough, cough)

HEdCen.com is the perfect thing for you! One goal of the site is to encourage parents who are newbies (those new to surfing or any other internet activity) to venture into cyberspace. What better way is there to start exploring a strange world than with your own HEdCen family? And for a change, this will give your son or daughter a chance to teach you what to do, and in turn, you can exasperate them when you don’t get it or when you don’t do it right. Isn’t role-reversal fantastic? (He he!)

5. And if I’m already an experienced internet user?

Then bookmark the site or include it in your faves and visit it often with your kids. You can also opt to use the e-mail, chat and instant messaging services it has and get to know the other members of the HEdCen community better. And if you feel like it, you might want to contribute to the site by writing articles, submitting photos, and the like.

6. Seriously now, what information can I find at HEdCen.com?

Apart from the usual stuff about any school, such as its History, Philosophy, Mission and Vision, Campus, Faculty, Students, etc., you can also read the Latest School News, check out the Calendar of Upcoming Events and Activities, view Photo Galleries of past events, and receive Special Announcements. There’s also a Downloadables Section where you can download and print out forms like Letters to Parents with Reply Slips your child has the annoying habit of losing.

7. I can get most of those directly from the school. So what else does HEdCen.com have to offer?

Here’s where it becomes more interesting. As an online service emulating the ideals of the school, HEdcen.com aims to help members of the HEdCen community:

• Become responsible Netizens.
• Learn the rules of internet safety.
• Develop internet skills for educational and social purposes.

You’ll find easy-to-follow step-by-step tutorials, tips and recommended links for learning what you can do online or enhancing your family’s surfing savvy. Students can have their personal sites—blogs—where they can keep journals and publish albums of photos and even their art work. Teachers and parents can opt to blog too, on school-related topics and issues (e.g., ecology, football, career prospects, etc.) or other areas of interest appropriate for the HEdCen Online Community.

8. Hmmm, tell me more. What other features does HEdCen.com have?

In addition to the e-mail service for teachers, parents and students (Grade 5 and above) with individual yourname@hedcen.com addresses, and chat (Google Talk) service courtesy of Google Apps, the site has:

• Other Google Apps Services. These include a customizable Start Page, Events Calendar, and Document and Spreadsheet Viewing and Sharing.

• A Professional Directory for Parents. You may sign up to let others know about your profession or business, and your contact details.

• A Wiki. This is a platform for collaborative authoring that can be useful to document lessons and researches. The faculty is currently planning ways of integrating use of the website in their classes, and we expect the Wiki to play a major part.

9. Sorry to ask but: How much is having this website going to cost us?

The web site itself will not cost HEdCen, students and parents a centavo. It is hosted on a parent’s web account 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 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 your kids the chance to explore this new medium?

10. Sounds great! Just one last thing. Is there anything we can do for HEdCen.com?

A lot! For starters, you can fill up the Parent’s Survey Form and, if you’re interested in being listed in the professional directory, the Parent’s Data Sheet available at the Downloadables Section and submit these to the school’s Business Office at your convenience. Also, as we said earlier, you can write articles or blogs, submit photos, etc.

But probably the most important thing you can do for the website on a regular basis is quite simple: Come over to HEdcen.com and share quality time with your children as often as you wish. Discover why we’ve christened it Our Third Home.