Meeting (July 4, 2015)

6:18 PM manongfatu 0 Comments



Which part of the sharing you liked the most and liked least?

            July 4 was a blast of practicality. It was not the same as other meetings like what we usually have. Our facilitator, Mr. Randy Gamboa work out the essentials of the topic, organize them according to priorities and logical connections, and establish relationships between the various items. When we, the students already have some knowledge or experience, discussion may be used to develop the main points to be covered in a lesson and to help students apply what they have learned. Our facilitator asks questions, that help students to relate concepts and principles to contexts that are familiar to the them or in which they will ultimately be needed.

            First thing that happened in the meeting was a huge surprise. It started with a quiz. Mr. Randy Gamboa, said that the quiz would be the first and the last of his subject. And this is where I remembered that he hates quizzes, assignments and exams that requires him to check our papers manually, even using the virtual learning environment checking our quizzes, assignments and exams is a thing he does not like. And so I thought, “This is something much related to Technopreneurship”. So instead of reviewing what I have learned in the past discussions, I changed in to focusing myself on what our facilitator would say. However, our facilitator expected the things he knew would come. He told us to get a whole yellow. I ran out of extra papers that time unfortunately and in some way I panicked inside, but bought a paper instead. Most of us were asking for yellow papers from our fellow classmates, even to the ones that we are not close with, since most of us did not have yellow papers. Most of us in IT-3 were having problems about the yellow paper. This is where I realized that our classmate who usually provides us yellow papers in times like this is not yet present. It means that she is late. Good thing is that my seatmate, George, have yellow paper sleeping in his bag, so I bought 1 piece worth 20 pesos.

            This is where things about entrepreneurship comes. Mr. Gamboa said that not everything is free. We are required to pay 20 pesos for each of the yellow paper “sold” to us.The quiz will never be recorded, and I am really, really sure that those yellow papers would go in the trash can soon, leaving us a lesson that we may never forget and can be used in the future. By that, whether it’s for real or not, I will never be hurt in paying because I learned a great lesson.

            Mr. Gamboa then asked those who earned to stand up. Those who sell stood up while taking the payments of those who bought and looked to our facilitator. He then asked them how many papers did they sold and they answered it quickly. They raised their hands showing some paper bills as a proof that they have received payments. Mr. Gamboa then continued the activity.

            Next he told us to right our names in a corresponding manner and I somehow did it well. He then told us to look at the current slide being projected to the screen, and it showed us nine pieces of dots arranged in a three by three manner. At first I was very confused by what it actually was but kind of anticipated what Mr. Gamboa will tell us to do next. Sir said “I want you to trace all the dots using only four lines in which you can’t pass the same dot twice and also not raising your pens.”, or something like that. So I was very composed since I already know how to solve it. I was very assertive about that I got nervous slightly because I might somehow got it wrong. Sir then asked for some students to try and solve the exercise in front and show us how they think they got it. But after a few attempts, more like 2 attempts specifically, there were no right answers. Sir then asked for another volunteer and with all the courage and mightof my classmate sitting in beside Malaya, he raised his right hand and did the activity in front. Sir told the class that he did it correctly and asked him what the activity meant. He responded, “to think out of the box sir.”It’s the time when our facilitator started his discussion about Technopreneurship. And then I thought, what a costly start.

            Back then, I thank Mr. Gamboa to that priceless experience, I now know how to answer these dots. But some of my classmates did not know the answer about this activity. That time also, I learned that I must be always ready anytime. One thing, if I am not ready in the classroom how can I be supposed to excel in the outside world? Almost of the elders that I know always said that we must be ready always because we don’t know what will happen to us, anytime and anywhere. And if we are not ready we will be freaking out on how we will act upon any situation.

            For me we can’t solve the problem as long as we are thinking ‘inside the box’. Once we start to think ‘outside the box’ we open up many more possibilities and it becomes easy to solve the problem. This is true in so many areas of life. Our education, past experiences and habitual thinking patterns keeps us trapped in limiting our ideas. It takes a real effort to think outside the box. This somehow portrays on how people think creatively in solving problems. We have different ways in solving our problems. To be creative we don’t always need to look for an unbelievable or out of the corner ideas.

            According to Drew Boyd, the nine-dot puzzle and the phrase “thinking outside the box” became metaphors for creativity and spread like wildfire in marketing,management, psychology, the creative arts, engineering, and personal improvement circles. There seemed to be no end to the insights that could be offered under the banner of thinking outside the box. Speakers, trainers, training program developers, organizational consultants, and university professors all had much to say about the vast benefits of outside-the-box thinking. It was an appealing and apparently convincing message. That there are things that is waiting to be seen, human do see them but they don’t give them importance. We should see other possible option in life. The world is so wide that our mind cannot reach. Thus, we must think of the other possibilities in doing something.  

            Among the topics that Mr. Randy Gamboa opened up and has shared to us, the one I liked the most was his discussion of how technopreneurship made it here in Davao City. He started it out as when the Australian people invited him to go to their country and talk about the idea of technopreneurship. During that time, obviously hearing that term before does not ring a bell and was still at the brink of becoming popular. Sir continued on and told us that he declined their invitation because it was turning into a hassle and sir had his own reasons and motives to let them down. He explained to us that if the Australians want to show and teach him something, they should be the one who will go to Philippines, in Davao, to be specific. Instead sir invited them and somehow made a reverse psychology to the Australians who invited him. They accepted it and that was the start of history, of how technopreneurship came into Davao City.

            He also have introduce to us what is an incubation hub. The time that I have heard the incubation hub I got really excited because the time that it will be implemented I will be one of the gates of the success, and so Filipinos will have the opportunity to work for their ideas. We all know that our country Philippines is far away to other countries in terms of innovation and technology. And here in Mindanao, we all know that it is far away from the Manila. And hearing about the incubation hub it gives hope so that Davao will grow. He also discuss to us the components of the incubation hub, He told us that the incubation hub is a place that where the people who have an idea to develop. The incubation hub is a container of the ship transportation but despite of that it has all the facilities that the person may need in developing the project that he/she want to achieve. This incubation hub has air-conditioned rooms; they also have computer set, internet and everything needed for a start-up. With this all things the incubation hub helps them to gain more knowledge. And also with this the talented person who have a nice idea, they will grow and learn more in the time they stay in the program. This is also a great opportunities to the young ones so that they have the place with facilities to develop something creative that can help to themselves in achieving their goals. For me I like the idea of the incubation hub, because most of the people nowadays don’t have the fund to develop a project. Money is what you need to develop something nowadays. And in our situation here in the Philippines it is difficult to find money, especially when that somebody don’t have job. We have fewer opportunities to develop the knowledge that we are so post to be developed. I believed that the young ones in our country have the guts to compete to the other countries. But our government don’t have seen it, they don’t give funds to the youths with talents so that they can be successful. Mostly of the Filipino nowadays is poor. And I know that the young ones that are not rich have the best ideas that they can offer to our society. And with the incubation hub, I know that they can develop it in free. For example the person who have the idea don’t have job, they have the opportunity to make that idea possible. And we all know that nothing is impossible only human being make it impossible. If we do our work with happiness and dedication I know that we can make impossible possible. 

            Mr. Gamboa taught us what is the real meaning and the significance of technopreneurship. Though the word “technopreneurship” is not officially recognized by mainstream dictionaries, it generates more than 65 thousand hits on Google and nearly 250 on Google Scholar. This disconnect between linguistic officialdom and the vernacular mirrors the rift between mainstream society and emerging culture. A “technopreneur”, according to internet parlance and renegade virtual publishers, is an entrepreneur who extensively uses or develops information and communications technologies.

            It was inspiring as to how Mr.Gamboa put all of his efforts to make technopreneurship recognized in our region, here in Davao City. He continued telling us about it’s importance and how it could help each and every citizen who make use of it, and us students who get to know how it works at an early age. Coming up with ideas concerning technologies, be it software or hardware, could help us progress ourselves not only by intellect, but also financially and at the same time the ideas that we make could improve our city if we implement it , thus, boosting our economy. Sir further educated us about federalism, that there should be equal sharing of resources in our country, and not only focus in our country’s capital city, which is Manila. Technopreneurship is not just a part of our curriculum; it is more than that, not just an elective and a course. It is a venture. Like the sound of it, it is more of a business course, not a subject where we are forced to learn stuff. This is a course wherein we can learn things that we could make use of when we become professionals or engage ourselves into business, specifically concerning about technological kind of business. Being at a young age, we are very much lucky that we get to do this kind of work to rear and hone our skills more. For me I enjoy this sort of challenge where we show our ideas and plans regarding something that I think would be of great help for the people, it is pretty much a nice way to encourage me to be creative and be aware of my surroundings. I like how the tone of Mr.Gamboa’s voice seem to dare us to be better as a person and as a business person. He does it in a way that he inspires us and give us hope to what we are able to do. I also learned other things as well like what it takes to be an effective technopreneur. First is to come up with a scheme or an idea to change the current norm, specifically, destroy an economic order, this refers to a creative destruction. This could be possibly done by introducing products and services by creating new forms of organization and by exploiting new materials. As a business minded being, you should be able to come up with an innovation or material that could change the way how people live or think of. Innovations that make life more convenient and can make things faster is always better. We should not stick to what we have learned during the past years, instead we should use these past knowledge and experience to further what we currently have right now. Technology is serves a door to opportunities, and us human are the key to opening those door of opportunities and grant ourselves and everyone the advancement of life and things. Generic minds only generate generic things. Thus, all of us should change our outlook in life and be imaginative and be industrious and help each other achieve the things that we want. Limiting ourselves and looking down to everyone will definitely not help us progress. Instead we should take care about each other, share our ideas and start making a change for a better future.

            Another thing that I learned from what Mr. Gamboa taught us is that we should always look-up for an opportunity and make an organization to chase it. 
"Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem a turned it into an opportunity." Joseph Sugarman

            Being enthusiastic to our environment is needed if you plan to start something new. You should be observant in many ways as possible to come up with an idea that will be practical and functional that could make a person’s life easier. Landing such an idea is hard in my opinion. As time passes by and new forms of technological advancements arise, it seems that the people inhabiting this world are being distracted by them, making people already lazy and unproductive. I am guilty of this too since I really rely on devices to help me do stuff and entertain me and I think my day won’t be complete if I don’t ever get to use them. But we should be determined and make effort twice as hard to become better. By the help pushing ourselves to learn, and also by our eagerness to learn, we can see and grab opportunities in our life. All of us should strive twice as much to help ourselves be better than we were before, and by doing such, we know we are on a step closer to success.

            Another thing on my list is that we should take risks and do not be afraid of what the possible outcomes will be. As I can observed, most of people avoid taking risks and they just try doing things which they already know how to do well. On the other hand, as far as I am concerned, the successful people are quite different with ordinary people, they take risks and try new things in order to gain profit and achieve their goals. This mentality is not applicable to only people who engage themselves to business and marketing stuff, but also to regular people like us who face bid and small decisions every single day of our lives. I, still studying and stressing out in my journey to graduating in college already takes a lot of effort, what more in finding myself a job to land? It will be whole lot of hassle and will be a competition even, because we all know Philippines, there’s nothing much that it could give us as of now, but I don’t know in the future though. My colleagues have already graduated just recently and now they are all whining about how hard it is find work, let alone a decent one with the good benefits and all. I should take courage as early as now to prepare myself for the worst that are yet to come, and also prepare myself not just mentally, but also physically and spiritually to bear all the difficulties that the world has in store for me. With the help of the people around me and the love that I get from them, I know I will be able to face the challenges and trials and overcome all of them, well, hopefully. We should not dwell in the decisions and choose over what option will lead us to the better, instead we choose quick and if ever we fail, the sense of learning is still there and we could always make an improvement to ourselves.

            I have learned that Technopreneurs distinguish themselves through their ability to accumulate and manage knowledge as well as their ability to mobilize resources to achieve a specified business or social goal. As persons who will be in the venture of business, mostly about technological ideas, we should be smart in managing everything around us. We should maximize our abilities and capabilities and put all of them into good use. Being able to come up with super great ideas is not enough, we should be able to organize our resources as well and be careful on how to handle the things that we do. We should build up our plans carefully and efficiently in a way that it will make the most of what we have. Effectiveness in our plans should always be taken concerned of and be prioritized so everything will follow and be satisfactory. Technopreneurs are bold, imaginative, deviator from established business method and practices who constantly seek the opportunity to commercialize new products, technologies, processes and arrangements. Just like what I have mentioned above, we should defy the norms and be inventive and be original instead. We should gather enough resources to successfully build up new forms of practices that will lead the betterment of all our people. The technologies, processes and arrangements should be unique and useful at the same time, what would its’ point be if it were not right? We should also be open for improvements and not cling to the current ideas, as settling will not help us progress. Technopreneurs distinguishes logic from tradition, tradition from prejudice, prejudice from common sense and common sense from non sense while integrating a variety of ideas from diverse groups and disciplines. Technopreneurs are skilled in applied creativity, thrive in response to challenges and looks for unconventional solutions. They experience challenges, creative visions and then act to be part of the solution. They forge new paths and risk failures, but persistently seeks success.

            I like these kinds of idea acquiring technopreneurship last meeting in our subject because IT Enterprises nowadays take part in the international current market and impel the particular progress involving economic climate in the local area. It can be consequently wonderful to find out our local IT market roses also it grabs a person's eye involving far more locators and shareholders. Having these kinds of advocacy, our personal graduates can decide to construct and create their particular vocation and occupation within Davao Area. Furthermore, there'll be an opportunity our graduates which eventually left Davao Area will happen again and settle on to start yet again. When our graduates will not migrate to other places and pursue their particular vocation within Davao, there exists an opportunity of which by means of Technopreneurship, Davao Area will become the particular IT center involving Mindanao and perhaps in the Philippines, BIMP-EAGA along with the Asian countries. Furthermore, Davao Area will become the muse and property involving highly skilled and useful IT specialized with noise sociable and honest criteria. As well as producing such graduates, the particular Davao Area can come to be famous around the world. That thinks good any time those activities stated previously can happen. We're not just aiding yourself to get prosperous but in addition, we are aiding our land, the place many of us fit in with become famous throughout the world.

            I was also inspired to do good when our instructor told to us that there are different companies that held a competition that is free. We all know nowadays not all of the technoprenuer wannabe have the opportunity to show their knowledge and skills. Because here in our country there are only several opportunities that are given to the young ones, and also here in the Philippines the competition is not free. And I am very lucky to hear that our instructor told us that there company that the competition is free. And with this, I am honoured that our young ones can show their ideas regarding to help them achieved the success. This competition is such a great opportunity because with this we can discover new talents. And with this I can say that with the good ideas that the contestant might present in the said activity, it may help the society to achieve something. It can help the Philippines to grow in terms of technoprenuer. And also the competition will be a great help so that the mindset of the young ones will change. This may help the youths of my generation to be more knowledgeable regarding to our emerging technology. Instead of doing drugs it will help them to change for a better. I think one of the reasons why youth nowadays try drugs because they don’t have the change to excel in something they want. They think that using drugs, they can be powerful. The companies that are holding the said activity open a new path to the youth to take on. With the guidance of the elders the people that are in the bad side will have the change to change. And I think that this will be a great opportunity to them to start a new life.

            Mr. Gamboa also introduces to us the concept of SEED. The SEED curriculum were based on its four main idea that were classify to give growth and advancement on every person that were brought in and acquainted with this course model. I found interested in the SEED curriculum that our instructor have introduce. Because it is the first time that I have heard about the SEED. The SEED stands for Self Mastery, Environment Mastery, Enterprise Mastery and Development Business Plan. Self Mastery is being knowledgeable about ourselves, our attitude towards work and how we confront our own-selves. We should know our strengths and weaknesses. We should master ourselves in different aspects. Environment Mastery is how we react on things around us, we should know to identify and be fully-aware to what is happening around the society and to what is needed to enhance more and its demand. We should know what opportunities awaits us. The Enterprise Mastery is a mastery that deals on how educated we are when starting a new and innovative business, including the discipline and its principles. And lastly, the Development of a Business Plan, represents how capable we are in planning a business. We should know how to present our ideas and how to implement it. 

            Mr. Gamboa focused more on the incubation hub that were planned. He said that Ateneo first planned to have an incubation hub 10 years ago but know, it has yet to be made, and it is still not available. The Brokenshire College was the first school to create an incubation house in Davao City. It was made of a Container that was used for ship transportation. These are the ones you usually see near at the sea ports that are usually delivered using big trucks that causes traffic when they start to deliver it on a group. They made it as an incubation hub equipped with an air-conditioner since the metal would probably absorb the outside temperature quickly, and computer sets that helps them work and build their dreams. This incubation hub has a goal to make people become successful in the future. It’s just that the dream ended when the President of the school who was there when the incubation hub was created retired and the incubation hub was gone, ended.

            The last thing that I liked was the possibility of USeP building an incubation hub in the future as well as UIC starting to build their own incubation house. It is because our facilitator would like to help us in becoming someone in the future, not an employee, but an employer, not to follow the common mind-set that we Filipinos are following which I will discuss on the things that I disliked when this class happened. He emphasized that the books getting dust and are still clean and straight in the inside are just sitting at the front left side of the room, they were dreams supposed to be real, and they were placed there because they are something good if they got implemented, but no, they were just sitting there like forever. And then our facilitator wanted us that someday, we would use these books to make new ideas and to make them real, and to stop adding the books sitting at that book shelf inside the IC-Lab 2. I clearly understood what he wants us to do and I do believe that incubation houses would be helpful to make jobs here, right here in Davao City. 

            The most important thing that I learned in this session is that I or we should become employers of our fellow Filipinos, give those jobs to earn money, help Davao City and help our own country, Philippines. 

            In other hand, although there were no topics that I actually hated, we were obliged to share which one we liked the least, and for all readers, for your information, it is really hard to pinpoint which one and explain it not less than 2,500 words. I will do my best though. The topic that Mr. Gamboa told us was about the mindset about our education and work, which I can say I least liked.

           Having a mindset what we do first when we have something to achieve. It affects us and the people around us greatly. The kind of mindset that what we have now may also affect our children because it is what we will teach them. First let us talk about the usual mindset. The usual, generic, mindset which the first topic discussed by Mr. Gamboa in the slides that he had shown to us. This kind of mindset is still being practiced up to these days. It actually became our way of life. First is we have to earn money, and then go to school, then get a job to earn money. This cycle never ends. Some people even discriminate others that have not gone or finished school. When you haven’t finished college, it is more likely you will not get a good job even if you got the abilities compared of those who finished college. This example of common mindset is actually adopted in our education and even by our parents as well. Mostly the reason why our parents send us to school is because they want us to learn significant things to be able to get good grades and to have a good job that has a high salary. Implying about whether we will be an employee or an employer. And this kind of mindset is adapted by most student, as far as I can member, was the mindset was the way of thinking of most people. It is not that even to have that old, usual mindset and besides it is not always about getting high salary for being an employee. But we all know that building up our own company and be the CEO of it is always better than settling to be an employee who, most usually, gets a minimum wage and enjoys the least benefits. We should not be satisfied being a employee, if we are. We should now settle for less and do the most of our efforts to be on a higher rank. Being ambitious and inspired will help us get there, but not without work and effort. Majority of the schools today embrace a default mindset which is the employment mindset. I just realized that since we are young, we must put in our mind to aim high, shoot the moon, because when we have that kind of outlook in our life, we are not afraid to try anything just to attain our goals.

            The old thinking was kind of related to the activity Mr. Gamboa had us do beforehand, prior to discussion proper in which I already explained in second paragraph. Another mindset that sir enlightened us with is the Alternative Mindset. This mindset has an outlook of “Go to school, get good grades, create and own a company”. School is said to be our second home where we could enhance our physical and mental abilities. In school, everything that you do will be observed, recorded, graded and appreciated. Students must bear in mind to always be excellent in everything they do while in school because the more they strive hard and work hard to be on top, the more chances they could have to get good grades, get on top of the class and have awards and medals. It is always a fulfillment to the parents if they see their children graduated, be professionals and be able to raise money for living. For those students who have high ambitions, they will not be contented on just becoming employees or workers. They will have the vision to have their own company, have their own workers and employees and be known on their expertise. Alternative Mindset is not just focusing on getting good grades and earning a high salary but it is beyond of the boundaries. I said “beyond the boundaries” because we are not sure if we will achieve to create and to own a company. But what matter most is that we have a perspective to reach this kind of goal. Before aiming this kind of objective we should use our knowledge wisely and effectively, as well as our skills, core values, our creativity and passion in order for us to create and innovate technology. This kind of mindset is called as Technopreneurship mindset. Why it is called Technopreneurship mindset? Since it is identified as a technopreneurship mindset, it deals primarily with entrepreneurship implicated in the field of high technology. It is the well relationship of realistic and reasonable technology ideas and skills, as well as entrepreneurial mindset. The things we made will always start with an idea in which if we then pursued, it would change into a feasible technology-based enterprise. Our schools are the bridge to develop and foster this alternative mindset. Having technopreneurship subject in every IT syllabus can develop and educate the students to be potential and promising technopreneurs someday.

            The alternative mindset, is what the 9-dot activity taught us. To think out of the box, just like what I responded to Mr. Gamboa, is the point of it. We should not limit ourselves according to what we are used to, instead we should be critical and come up with new ideas that could further our improvements, in this case, the alternative mindset. Yes we are used to the paradigm of “graduating to college and land a decent job”, which is not a bad thing but limits us to be an employee. While getting out of the box leads us to the better and which also has more sense, the alternative mindset. If I were to be asked, thinking outside of the box should be applied to the most things that we engage. It is a mentality that we should posses so we will always carry in our mind that we are the only ones who limit ourselves from getting somewhere, and we are the only ones who could break out as well and reach for a far more, greater future for ourselves. That is why sometimes, when teachers and facilitators are not so clear of their instructions to us students, I tend to do things that they did not mention that I think could make the things that I do be finished earlier and better. I cope to what I think is applicable and could help myself as well. Limitations are just choices we attach to ourselves. Personally, I can say that the former mindset, the usual mindset is very practical, besides, being an employee is not that bad either. It is pretty much the most applicable mindset for most people, including me. Yes, this is for the type of people who sees risking everything is dangerous and will only be a waste. You can blame those types anyway, instead of taking risks, just do the things as an employee and maybe spark an idea later, right? That might be the mindset I am currently thinking of since it is  very practical and I have plans for my future already, plans that I will plan to take even it does not include me creating and owning my own company. Reality as is it. Frankly, I do not see myself prosper in our own city, or in the Philippines, even. I am planning to be an employee abroad, as basic and poor as that sounds, but that is what my plan is. Saving money and to take care of my parents is what I have planted inside my head. Maybe then I can think of a business, not particularly regarding to technology and stuff, but a simple business that could help me gain more and hope to make it rain. In fact, the alternative mindset is not applicable to all of us, though it is the state of mind I want to follow by taking risks is not my thing. Maybe it is for those types of people who is willing to risk what they have, and do not have anything to lose for anyway, and again, I am not that kind of person. I am not that pure leader part, but whenever I am, I do not want people to face jeopardy because of me. I prefer being compact and sure of the outcomes of the decisions that I make. I pick the decision which I think works better for the most, and if I picked the wrong decision, that is when you can put the blame on me. But then again, I always try to pick an option which offers the safest guarantee for the many. Maybe it is for the people who have support, most especially financial support, to fill their way through the process: that if ever they fail, they could always start again and still have people and funds to support them.

            Education is a rope that can carry us to greatness. Education is very much important to the lives of all the people. As what they have said, it is a treasure that no one could ever steal. Through education, it is a means of improving start-up and technopreneurship industry in our growing country. It is impossible to achieve if we have lack of educational foundation in the sciences and technology. In order for our country to excel and to become a developing country, we need to have a new technology that can access to the global market and most importantly, to have more investments. We should embrace new thinking and a new learning paradigm for us to enhance what we currently have. If we want to improve and develop technopreneurship in our country, we should need to get better with the culture and system in our place because it is useless to deal with if we know that it is still lack of improvement. So aside from constructing infrastructure to chase for a technological education and advancement, our institutions as well as companies here in the Philippines should have to adopt and implement technology to promote and persuade less usual mode of thinking. Another thing is the educational system that is getting vague as of now, the government seemed to rush things saying that schools are ready when in fact still faces problems and in return affects the young students and hinder them from properly learning things. Students and future leaders of our country are affected by all of this, and if they can’t be properly taught and developed, then so is country, too, stuck and underdeveloped.

This part of discussion of Mr. Gamboa was the least I liked.

Source:
http://www.motivatingquotes.com/opportunity.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/inside-the-box/201402/thinking-outside-the-box-misguided-idea

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