Capturing the Interest of Students and Motivating Them to Succeed

For many years before I joined Microsoft I taught in secondary schools in the UK. One of the most important initiatives I became involved in was to increase the relevance of education to capture the interest of our students and ultimately motivate them to succeed. I am happy to say that this challenge continues on in my work with Microsoft. Just as the school year was winding down I had a chance to visit staff and students in a primary school in Bosany, Slovakia to discuss their experiences with the ‘Notebook for Every Student' project – an initiative lead by Microsoft Unlimited Potential to provide students with one-to-one access to laptops in the classroom. More information about my visit and a short video of the project can be found here.

It is important to the education profession that we all measure the impact that this technology has in the classroom. To this end we’ve partnered with researchers from the Faculty of Education of Comenius University to conduct a study that compares students participating in the ‘Notebook for Every Student' project with students of the same age and economic background who are not using laptops in the classroom. Early findings show that the use of laptops increases student motivation and fosters a more positive attitude toward studying. The results also show that teachers who use the laptops as a teaching tool are much more open to developing new, innovative teaching strategies. Parent satisfaction with their child’s education also increases when laptops are introduced in the learning process.

Laptops will hopefully be traded in for warm weather adventures as the school year winds down for students across Central and Eastern Europe. Wishing all of the students and staff we’ve worked with throughout the year a relaxing summer break – looking forward to next year!

Jeremy Gittins – General Manager, Microsoft Unlimited Potential Central and Eastern Europe