Microsoft Rewards Technologically-Innovative Teachers

Microsoft believes that every child deserves a great education. For ten years running, the company has led the way in helping 8 million educators use technology to educate and inspire more than 190 million students globally through Partners in Learning, a series of professional development programs hosted by Microsoft, aimed at improving teaching and learning worldwide, including in Thailand.

Under the Partners in Learning program, Microsoft gives credence to teachers who use technology in their teaching methods, and rewards the most innovative educators with the Innovative Teacher Leadership Award. The Thailand version of the awards ceremony took place from 3-5 February and involved as many as 113 eligible teachers in the selection process. The event was jointly organized by Microsoft Thailand and the Ministry of Education, and comprised a panel of respectable judges specially appointed by the Secretary General from the Office of Basic Education Commission. Ten winners were chosen and given the rare chance to accept trophies from Her Royal Highness Princess Sirindhon. The winners were also given the honor to represent Thailand at the March 2012 Asia and Pacific Partners in Learning Forum, to meet and greet and share best practices with other national winners.

All the participants of Innovative Teachers

One of the finalists impressed the judges with a project that inculcated more than just technology skills in children as young as in the first grade. The teacher incorporated Microsoft® PowerPoint® and Paint into exercises, such as creating .jpg files, to train their problem solving, critical thinking and creative skills. Another finalist project that impressed the judges involved the use of SkyDrive®, a cloud storage product that allows users to store and access files through any web browser. For this project, the teacher took a three-prong approach by encouraging all three parties, the teachers, students and parents, to create and share knowledge with each other via one common platform. This makes learning easy for all.

By recognizing these teachers’ innovative efforts, and giving them opportunities to grow on an international stage, Microsoft hopes to show that technology, when combined with education, has the potential to inspire and make positive change in youths around the world.

For more information, please visit www.pil.in.th/DocLib12/a20111130.aspx