Faculty members and students of the Computer Science Department at CAS have consistently reaped various awards in international and national research conferences, and there’s no stopping them. Here’s another one.

Mr. Wilben Christie R. Pagtaconan, chair of the said department, was chosen as finalist for the best paper award in the International Higher Education Research Forum held Aug. 19-20 at the Century Park Hotel, Manila. The forum was organized by the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges-National Capital Region (PASUC-NCR) Research Consortium in partnership with the Commission on Higher Education.

Pagtaconan presented “SignApp: An Assistive Tool for Learners with Hearing Impairment,” a paper he co-authored with his thesis advisees Nivea Saniata Asuncion, Allan Josef Glova, Jephunneh Mae Martin and Lhea Manzan. An application designed for hearing-impaired learners. SignApp serves as a supplementary teaching tool for SPED teachers to help them easily explain and discuss their lessons. It covers sign language lessons in Basic English and Mathematics.

Pagtaconan’s paper was among the top 10 finalists in the Technology and Engineering category. Other categories were: Basic Education and Teacher Education; Science and Mathematics; and Social Science, Business and Policy Research. A total of 300 papers were presented in the two-day event.

Sirib Mobile: An Iloco Based Mobile Learning Application for Kindergarten, another paper co-autored by Pagtaconan, was presented by his advisee, Marc Kevin B. Aganus, who graduated in April this year.

Other papers by MMSU researchers were: “Development of a Technology-Enhanced Instructional Guide in Teaching Concepts on Social Institutions” by Ms. Dian Antonette N. Reantillo of CIT; “Total Quality Management (TQM) Framework for the College of Health Sciences, Mariano Marcos State University” by Dr. Federico V. Nagtalon of CHS, and; “Supply Chain Management of Dragon Fruit Industry in Ilocos Norte” by Dr. Angelina Tagay of CBEA. A poster was also presented by Prof. Jeffrey De Vera and Prof. Armie Sabugo of CBEA.