The STARBOOKS or Science and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly-Operated KioskS units of the Ambulong Elementary School in Brgy. Ambulong, Batangas City was upgraded to provide its students with updated S&T information and resources, facilitated by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Batangas in partnership with the Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Sept. 22.
STARBOOKS is the country’s first digital library, designed to house thousands of digitized science and technology resources in different formats (text, video, and audio) placed inside specially created “pods” set in a user-friendly interface. The technology was created by the Science and Technology Information Institute (DOST-STII). As a standalone information kiosk, information access through STARBOOKS is possible even without internet connection. Because it provides a compendium of S&T information gathered from all over the world, it is regarded as a one-stop S&T information source. It is also fitted with the latest K to 12 learning materials as well as interactive activities to engage students with learning.
STARBOOKS was first introduced to Ambulong Elem. School in 2019. Since its deployment, the units have been extensively used to strengthen academic infrastructure and boost the academic performance of the school. However, due to the shift on the learning modality at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the units have not been fully used. To provide the students with expanded contents and a new user interface, DOST-Batangas upgraded the units and conducted a deployment orientation-training.
Grade 6 students and faculty members of Ambulong Elementary School partook in the orientation-training activity. The activity covered the discussion on the background and contents of the STARBOOKS. A hands-on training on the use of the STARBOOKS units was also conducted. The students had the chance to enjoy the friendly interface, as well as the newly-added interactive activities for STARBOOKS. A separate training for the admin module and the networked capabilities of STARBOOKS was likewise provided to the faculty members. Mr. Cedric L. Rodriguez, DOST-Batangas STARBOOKS Coordinator, facilitated the activity.
The faculty members of Ambulong Elementary School thanked DOST for this assistance and stressed that the new interactive nature of the units will be more enticing for their students and useful for the learning experience at the school. The Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. also thanked DOST for its continuous support for its BOOKS (Building, Organizing and Operating Libraries and Knowledge-Based System) Program.#
