We’re writing this from CapeTown, South Africa, from the 6th Annual Microsoft Innovative Education Forum. It’s the first day of the event, and we’re here with our Innovative Teachers Simon Horleston and Jan Webb, as well as Innovative Schools Calderglen High School (Scotland) and Huyton Arts and Sports Centre for Learning (England). If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ve heard us talk about this event and these fantastic educators many, many times.
This morning we listened to perhaps the two most inspirational Microsoft presenters I’ve heard in my many years at the company. Mteto Nyati, managing director of our South African subsidiary of Microsoft welcomed us to this spectacular country, and spoke from the heart about his upbringing “on the wrong side of the line” and how education has gotten him to where he is today.
Next, our worldwide vice president of education, Anthony Salcito, provided the opening keynote. He announced a new global collaboration between Microsoft Partners in Learning, the Smithsonian Institute in the United States, and Taking IT Global. (If you’ve been reading the blog, you’ll remember that the founder of Taking IT Global is speaking at our Innovative Education Forum in Manchester on 29-30 November.)
The partnership is called Shout and was inspired by one of our keynotes from last year’s Innovative Education Forum in Brazil. Last year we heard from Jean-Francois Rischard, author of the book High Noon: 20 Global Problems and 20 Years to Solve them. In his keynote, Rischard spoke about the 20 problems facing the world and how no one country can solve them alone.
Teachers and schools in Australia were inspired by this, and began working with Microsoft and Taking IT Global on a project around deforestation. That project has turned into the Shout network (www.shoutlearning.org), where teachers and students from around the world can collaborate on environmental problems - and impact real research being conducted by Smithsonian scientists.
Every month there will be webcasts, curriculum materials and a new challenge on the Shout community. The first challenge is around deforestation, and students in South African schools are already measuring the circumference of trees near them and adding data to a global repository accessible by researchers at the Smithsonian institute.
One of the head teachers from Australia who began this project speaks about it as “connecting peers with a purpose” around an activity and then watching the work and collaboration take on a life of its own.
I’m not doing this exciting project justice, so I recommend that you go to the Shout website www.shoutlearning.org and check it out for yourself. You can also follow Shout on Twitter @shoutlearning.org
If you like what you see and want to learn more, come to our Innovative Education Forum on the 30th November in Manchester, where Michael Furdyk and Mandeep Atwal of Taking IT Global will be giving a keynote and interactive workshop on Taking IT Global and Shout. (For more information or to register for the forum, go to the Partners in Learning Network at http://uk.partnersinlearningnetwork.com)
We’ll have more from South Africa as the week continues. Stay tuned!
This is the first time we have hosted such an informal, free event for Teachers, and we are hoping that this something we will do more often in the future.
Please Join us for drinks and canapés (which I think this is a posh word for crisps) and hot topical debate, with a bit of fun thrown in, at the Hilton’s vibrant Cloud 23 bar, that provides 360-degree views of Manchester.
If you have been to a Teachmeet or an unconference like event before, you will have a good idea of what to expect at this event. If you haven’t, then you will enjoy the informal nature of this event.
We are looking for volunteers to speak in the following:-
We will also have some Microsoft minute presentations, from our Innovative Teachers highlighting the great free stuff we have to offer.
What to discuss and present
We are not looking for product demos or examples of work, unless they illustrate your issue or theme. We would like presentations on issues that are relevant to teachers and learners. For example:-
Through such topics we hope to spark debate, conversation and inspire some ideas on how to meet such issues.
How do I sign up for a presentation?
That’s easy, just add your name and presentation topic/theme and presentation type (Mini or Nano) as a comment to this post or email me at itnukteam@hotmail.co.uk . Internet access can be intermittent at such venues so be prepared with an alternative, this just adds to the fun. There is no guarantee you will present as presentations will selected at random.
How do I sign up to attend?
If you are looking to attend add your name as a comment or email me at itnukteam@hotmail.co.uk
If you are attending our UK Innovative Education Forum at the same venue, and staying in Manchester then you are probably already attending, but it wouldn’t hurt to sign up here as well.
You can follow twitter hash tag for this event at #itmeet
We will end the evening with the presentation of awards to this year’s Innovative Teachers, we hope you will join us to celebrate their achievements. There is still time to enter our awards, more details here.
See you there….
Mini Presenters - 10 mins
Nano Presenters - 3 mins
Attendees
Benson
Peter RichardsonThomas SaleJo NessKat HowardKarl GoddardHelen MorganKatie HaugeCatherine ElliotWalter PattersonEmily NisbetCeri Williams
Described by it’s founders Michael Furdyk and Jennifer Corriero, Taking IT Global is a virtual hub that aims to get ‘youth everywhere actively engaged and connected in shaping a more inclusive, peaceful and sustainable world’ ,this it has done for the past decade, through the use of information technology and the internet to promote and facilitate global citizenship via its online community, www.tigweb.org .
Mandeep Atwal, a former Microsoft Worldwide Education Award winner, now works promoting and supporting schools in using Taking IT Global. Her presentation and workshop will explore and outline what being part of Taking IT Global can offer.
This includes:-
Interested? Then sign up for Mandeep’s workshop (Workshop 3) – Take your classroom global, at our Innovative Education Forum. Where Michael Furdyk, Taking IT Global’s co-founder will also be a keynote speaker.
If that’s not enough, all delegates will receive a Taking IT Global Individual Educator License, so you will be able to try out this great resource for yourselves
Spaces are filling up fast, so…
Don’t miss out, register today http://uk.partnersinlearningnetwork.com
Ok , I know this is an exaggerated statement, but it does apply to the ones I know. It has struck me that many teachers I meet or find in forums and on twitter are geography teachers, doing great stuff with technology. Has any one else discovered this phenomenon? Or do I need to broaden the range of places I hang out on–line?
But why in geography rather than other subjects? Understanding this could help in meeting the professional development needs of teachers in other subjects and their use of technology.
So here are my thoughts, based on on nothing more than casual observation and anecdotal evidence.
Could it be that Geography teachers are more inclined to use technology, as their subject has traditionally used it ranging from the compass to GPS systems, paper maps to digital imaging? Creating a culture that is comfortable and actively seeks to use technology, not only as part of being a geographer, but also in teaching the subject. I think the applications and technology tools available to Geography teachers are easily identifiable. For example, activities to teach mapping skills can easily be transferred to using the various online maps. The great tools we have at Microsoft, such as Bing Maps, with built in ordinance survey maps and Photosynth, to build 3D views of places. Once seen, their place in the geography curriculum is easily identified. If it were only that simple as just having easily identifiable technology tools that would engage students in their learning. But, plotting points on a paper map can be just as non-engaging when done on a digital map. Real thought needs to be given to the learning activity and learning outcomes that take full advantage of the digital tools, if there is to be any real value in their use. This is not an easy task and requires skill and understanding on the part of the teacher. But, is made easier with identifiable tools. I would like to suggest that perhaps Geography teachers have very little excuse not engage their students with technology. Which is why so many are doing great things. Wouldn’t it be great if other subjects had the same easily recognisable tools as geography? It’s not as easy to identify the maths applications or those suitable for religious studies. Which is why in the Partners in Learning Network we focus on strategies to explore different applications and how they can be used to support learning, even when the connection might not be obvious, such as using Word to explore maths equations . So my questions to you are:-
Could it be that Geography teachers are more inclined to use technology, as their subject has traditionally used it ranging from the compass to GPS systems, paper maps to digital imaging? Creating a culture that is comfortable and actively seeks to use technology, not only as part of being a geographer, but also in teaching the subject.
I think the applications and technology tools available to Geography teachers are easily identifiable. For example, activities to teach mapping skills can easily be transferred to using the various online maps. The great tools we have at Microsoft, such as Bing Maps, with built in ordinance survey maps and Photosynth, to build 3D views of places. Once seen, their place in the geography curriculum is easily identified.
If it were only that simple as just having easily identifiable technology tools that would engage students in their learning. But, plotting points on a paper map can be just as non-engaging when done on a digital map. Real thought needs to be given to the learning activity and learning outcomes that take full advantage of the digital tools, if there is to be any real value in their use. This is not an easy task and requires skill and understanding on the part of the teacher. But, is made easier with identifiable tools.
I would like to suggest that perhaps Geography teachers have very little excuse not engage their students with technology. Which is why so many are doing great things.
Wouldn’t it be great if other subjects had the same easily recognisable tools as geography? It’s not as easy to identify the maths applications or those suitable for religious studies. Which is why in the Partners in Learning Network we focus on strategies to explore different applications and how they can be used to support learning, even when the connection might not be obvious, such as using Word to explore maths equations .
So my questions to you are:-
I look forward to your comments.
Nicki Maddams is an ICT teacher and SSAT Lead Practitioner at Hartsdown Technology College in Margate, Kent. She describes herself on her blog as ‘slightly geeky’. You can find out if this true by attending her workshop (workshop 6 on the registration form) at the UK Innovative Education Forum in Manchester.
This workshop will look at Kodu, a free, programming environment from Microsoft which is colourful and engaging for learners of all ages.
This session explores the Kodu game development environment, and how to make a simple game, starting with creating a new world, adding objects and characters and programming them to respond in different ways. This will be illustrated through some great example games and resources for teaching game design
In addition this workshop is an opportunity to discuss how programming can be used as an enrichment activity both as a club and as extension tasks in lessons.
You will find these links useful if you are thinking of attending this workshop.
Ø http://community.research.microsoft.com/blogs/kodu
Ø http://www.planetkodu.com/
Ø http://koduclub.org
Kodu can be downloaded from http://fuse.microsoft.com/project/kodu.aspx
At a time of enormous change in the UK’s education systems, Microsoft is launching the first ever UK Innovative Schools Programme, bringing together a community of schools to work together and learn from each other and from education experts around the world for one year.
Through this programme, we’ll provide 10 schools in the UK** with the following benefits:
Microsoft first started our global Innovative Schools Programme in 2007, and we have had one English school and 2 Scottish schools take part in this programme thus far. We’re thrilled that schools in the first-ever UK programme will be able to take advantage of the experts, learnings and resources provided to the global programme – as well as being able to connect with the schools themselves. For more information on this programme, and its success thus far, check out this video.
If you think your school would benefit from this exciting experience, follow these steps to apply for the programme:
We will be reviewing all applications with a panel of experts internal and external to Microsoft, and will notify schools of their inclusion in the programme by 3 December, 2010.
If you have any questions about the programme or the application, please email me (Kristen Weatherby) at kriwea@microsoft.com.
**NOTE: This programme is only open to schools in the United Kingdom**