When I was still a school girl, I hated the fact that most of the brightest students in our class, or the entire campus are kabisote (you know, the one who memorizes every word, period and comma from the textbook!) They get the top honors in class because they are good at memorizing. On the other hand, I, I have a bad memory, and always have even up to now. I know the essence of the lesson but have a hard time remembering how the textbook wrote it word-for-word including where the comma, parenthesis, exclamation point and period begins and ends. I just can’t.
So while I have this indifference with memorization, I still manage to be one of the honor rolls but never the top, until one day, we had the NSAT/NCEE (the national achievement test every graduating high school student have to take to see if he/she is ready for college/university tertiary), I was the NSAT Topnotcher, I even toppled our Valedictorian! Huh!
Yeah, I am proud of that moment. Because it proved my theory that not all kabisote are the best or the geniuses or the smartest. It just happens they are good at memorization.
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Fast track to college, I took up Mass Communications Major in Broadcast and Radio Communications (Broadcasting for short), but now they lumped this course as Comm Arts (both Broadcasting and Journalism together). I am glad they did because during my time (like a long time ago!) I hated the fact that we have more electives and academic subjects that the ones we needed to learn about the course we took for our future career, in my case probably a TV or Radio News Anchor. (But I end up appearing on TV as a dakilang extra ok ok now they call it bit roles (hehe) and then landed a Journalism job after graduating and now writing!)
Take for example the academic subject such as Trigonometry, Algebra or even The Works of Rizal. Albeit super important academic courses, I don’t see it taking too much of our first to 3rd years in college before filling-up our 4th year with the subject that mattered to our course. Like we have TV and Radio Production in 3rd year 2nd semester and Advertising and Marketing on the same year. Internship is on our senior year same time as we have to do our Thesis! WTF! Isn’t that way too much!
Plus the fact that one of the reason I took up Communications and not Engineering or Business or anything else is that I suck at Math. Seeing that I have to solve what the square root of X to the nth power to Y cube of whatever just boggles me!
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One of the most important thing a parent wants for their children is that they finish a course that will be relevant to their future work/career. Another important factor parents mind is that the kind of school their children will be studying has a good reputation and standing in terms of future companies their kids would want to work for.
While UP, La Salle, Ateneo are the Top 3 choices or on the Wish List University List of most parents to enroll in for their children, we know the fact that not everyone can get in.
Last week, we were invited by some friends from iAcademy in Makati to take a look at their school and see what their school can offer to the new breed of students and how their school can be the better if not the best choice for the learning behaviors of kids these days and the lifestyle of the parents, especially now that the years in Primary and Secondary school have increased.
1-2. Facilities and Subjects at iAcademy
As I complained earlier about having the important subjects for the course we enrolled all lumped in the last two years of college, iAcademy made their school curriculum more relevant and keep the interest of the student about the course they took from first year and spread all-throughout the entire 4 years of their school life.
Meaning if they enrolled in Animation, they will have basic drawing subjects on their first year using basic tools for the course. Just like this class room we visited in the iAcademy campus where students use these light boxes tp trace and then the tools to make a their 30 second animation come alive!
As the year in the campus goes and as they acquire more skill from previous subjects they can use the other techy rooms for their school projects or just to practice
I was so impressed with the facilities alone as not all students in most universities gets their hands on these until they are taking internship!
iACADEMY uses an industry-aligned curriculum in its degree programs that is focused in Computing, Business, and Design. The four-year programs culminate in a six-month, 960-hour internship program that the students have to go through before graduating.
3. iAcademy Professors are Practitioners Themselves
When I was in college, we have this professor, whom, I dunno how it happened suddenly became a substitute teacher for a subject he does not know nothing of. I was really upset to the point that I dropped off the subject and took it for another semester instead.
In iAcademy, you don’t have to worry about inexperienced professors teaching you something they have no idea of. Take for example the Creative Director of the School of Animation of iAcademy Mr. Dane Romley who is the character layout artist and designer of The Simpsons television show and movie! Dane is a graduate of Animation from Woodbury University in Burbank, CA, Dane held his position as the digital rough pose and supervisor of Topdraw Animation Studios before being appointed as Creative Director of iACADEMY’s School of Design in 2014.
In 2009, iACADEMY became an Authorized Training Partner of WACOM, a Japanese company that produces graphics tablets and related products.
OMG I was Simpsonized by Dane Romley himself! OMG! Hahaha!
4. Industry Relevant
- In May 2010, iACADEMY partnered with TV5 during the first automated elections in the Philippines. Together with DZRH Manila Broadcasting Radio, Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC), Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), Stratbase, Inc. Public Affairs and Research Consultancy Group, ePLDT, Inc., and Social Weather Stations (SWS), they worked to bring up-to-date election coverage.
- In 2010, it was appointed the first IBM Software Center of Excellence in the ASEAN Region and the first Lotus Academic Institute.
- By 2014, iACADEMY moved to a new and bigger campus to house its growing student population.
- On the same year, iACADEMY signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aboitiz Weather Philippines to develop a website and application for a faster and more user-friendly experience on weather reports.
- iACADEMY, together with the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI) also hosted the Animahenasyon 2014, the biggest Animation Festival in the Philippines, drawing thousands of students and professionals to the event. (info via: wiki/IACADEMY)
- iACADEMY was also able to lock down a study tour partnership with Polimoda, Italy’s leading school of Fashion and Marketing, as well a transfer program with De Paul University in Chicago, USA.
- In 2011, iACADEMY was chosen by Solar Entertainment Corporation to be the official partner-school and workspace of the third season of Project Runway Philippines
5. iAcademy has Limited number of students per class to be able to teach students better and work on each students strength and weaknesses. Parents can actually ask the professor and even admin people if their son or daughter went to school or did have a school project because they know each other by face and name and not just a student ID.
I used to study in a public school when I was in grade school and whoa I think if I remember right we were 40 in a class. Good thing I was in Section 1 so the teachers focuses on us more than the ones in the lower section. Having my last name at almost the end of the line most of the time I end up at the back row sometimes unless the teacher enforces a by height positioning of seats to my advantage. But when I’m at the back of the classroom I am chaos! If you look at my class card the teacher remarks would be “very playful” “wanders a lot” hahaha!
In high school I was in a private school with just 30 students each class so we were more focused and we know each other well as well as our teachers.
5. A school that provides and helps their graduates in looking for a job. This is important for the parents as much as the students. iAcademy partnered with top companies related to the courses offered to train their soon to be graduates, aside from Internship it’s real OJT it is up to the student if he/she wants to take the job as soon as he/she graduates especially if he/she is doing well in the job to actually get a job offer.
7. Most important of all is that the school is free of Bullying, Hazing and Abuse. Everyone knows each other by name. Everyone has the freedom to express their own personal style without being bullied. Everyone can talk to their Dean if they have problems or just want to consult on a project. They can hang-out in the classrooms that aren’t used if they need to do a project and use the facilities. They can stay at the faculty room if they want to study or just pass time before classes.
8. Location. iAcademy is located at the Makati Central Business District. which is a safe place for students to go to school and get exposed in the “real” world. Since most of the companies hold offices in Makati, so they are ver close to the offices where they can do their internship and OJT.
If what I said is convincing enough then take a look at the courses offered at iAcademy. All of them are 4 year courses but more specialized .
School of Computing
- Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with Specialization in Software Engineering
- Bachelor of Science in Information Technology with Specialization in Web Development
- Bachelor of Science in Game Development with Specialization in Game Programming and Design
School of Business
- Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Specialization in Marketing and Advertising
- Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Specialization in Financial Management
School of Design
- Bachelor of Science in Animation
- Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Arts and Design
- Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Design and Technology
They also offer short courses for those who want to increase their skills and marketability:
Stay gorgeous everyone!
1 Comment
I actually enrolled my children in a very similar program (called Kumon here in Canada) and I saw great results in their education. I would highly recommend.