| Volume 1 Issue 6, November 2008 | | Helping All Students Succeed (Thailand) - CARE Curriculum and MultiPoint Technology CARE Curriculum
Like all other human inventions, technology exists essentially for the purpose of facilitating and making life more convenient. In the present world, where computer and ICT technology reigns in virtually all areas, its role has expanded beyond this aspect of accommodation, to helping surmount challenges. Therefore, it is only responsible and reasonable for Microsoft to deploy its resources to ensure access to ICT benefits for those who face challenges, be it physical or resource-wise. This is especially true in education, which is undeniably the foundation for all opportunities in life.
With this mindset, a curriculum called ICT Accessibility Reach, or CARE, has been developed by Microsoft Thailand and the Ministry of Education for educators who work closely with children with disabilities. This curriculum uses assistive technology embedded into Microsoft's Operating Systems Windows XP and Windows Vista. Teachers at schools for physically challenged pupils have been trained to utilize the many applications available. Srisangwal School, an institute under the management of a charity organization for the disabled located just to the north of Bangkok, exemplifies effective employment of assistive technology in the classroom environment by a trained teacher.
The school's head of ICT operation, Waraporn Panyaprachoti, is in charge of teaching computer lessons to students ranging from K1 to K9. She shared that many functions not often utilized are in fact highly beneficial to helping her pupils operate the computer and perform better in class. On-screen Keyboard, for instance, enables children with full-body paralysis to maneuver the mouse with one hand to type documents and communicate with the instructor. Filter Key is also extremely important for those suffering with muscular impairment, as the function delays the PC's recognition of repeated key strokes made involuntarily during muscular spasms.
Waraporn added that the virtues of ICT Accessibility rest not only with the disabled. All children may be prone to misuse technology. Development of assistive technology helping all users to operate the computer more safely and effectively should continue in the spirit of equal opportunities for all.  Microsoft Accessibility Learn about accessibility features already in your Microsoft products, technology, tutorials and training to guide you, and read about how others have successfully integrated accessibility.  MultiPoint Technology - The MightyMice Project The commitment to create more relevant teaching methods for modern-day teachers has led to another project by Partners in Learning Thailand, where it partners with the Ministry of Education in arranging training workshops on MultiPoint technology. MultiPoint allows one computer to recognize up to over 200 mice simultaneously. Based on this technology is a PowerPoint add-in application called MightyMice, which enables multiple users to access the computer at the same time for PowerPoint-supported in-class activities. This makes it possible for schools with limited computer resources to optimize the available PC units, as teachers need only one PC to smoothly conduct an interactive class with up to 40 students.  Partners in Learning has succeeded in forming a partnership with the Thai Ministry of Education to organize Microsoft Windows MultiPoint workshops for educators across the country. In July, a Multipoint training workshop was set up by the collaboration between the Thai MOE's Bureau of Technology for Teaching and Learning, and Partners in Learning. Over fifty teachers from ten schools and kindergartens in Bangkok and nearby provinces participated in the two-day training. Technical specialists from Microsoft Thailand and the Innovative Teacher program shared the knowledge on media building and the control of Multipoint, as well as effective deployment and classroom integration guidelines, with financial support to the schools from the MOE. The workshop was the latest in a series of training sessions which will continue to be held in the future. Among the trained educators, many have deployed the technology in their schools earning favorable response from pupils. Microsoft believes that "education is the cornerstone of opportunity" and one vital use for technology is "to create an educational experience that removes limitations, creates opportunity, and brings students and teachers closer." The ICT curriculum and MultiPoint capture this belief in its true sense by surmounting challenges posed by both physical and economic conditions. For more information, please contact supoets@microsoft.com |
Vietnam's New Approach to Leadership Training "Partners in Learning" (PiL) is a global initiative that has been successfully deployed in many countries around the world. Starting in 2005, Vietnam began leadership training as the first step in the itinerary of Vietnam educational renovation that will pave the way for PiL development in localities, and provide an overview of what needs to be done to improve the quality of teaching and learning.  In Vietnam, most school leaders face the challenge of busy schedules during the school year and thus little time for school development. In order to help these school leaders overcome their constraints of limited time, budget, and the lack of opportuntity to learn, PiL leadership training was designed to be focused and fun. "Innovating Education in the 21st Century" focuses on three issues: | 1. | innovation demand in the 21st century, | | 2. | innovation in education and the importance of leaders and | | 3. | innovative approaches in education. | The training was organized to support teamwork and promote discussion about ideas for improvement, so that attendees can learn from each other. The training also promoted collaboration efforts among participants, in order to enable groups of schools or teams of departments to challenge and make changes for improvement of quality teaching and learning. At this time, the "Innovating Education in the 21st Century" seminar has reached nearly 4,000 officials and school leaders who provide long-term vision in education renovation and ways to approach needed education reforms. Through these leaders, Microsoft hopes that the impacts of PiL has spread to a broader teacher community in Vietnam and changes can be seen in new teaching methods and the use of ICT to support learning. Educational leaders in Ho Chi Minh City and Hue are highly appreciated as the passionate pioneers in education renovation. Under their leadership, PiL has been successfully deployed in these cities and has produced many great achievements in improving the quality of teaching and learning. Following this phase I leadership training, PiL leaders in Vietnam are implementing training designed to help school leaders win the full support of their teachers to deploy new teaching methods with ICT integration and peer coaching in schools. This first training for leaders will begin in Ho Chi Minh City in October 2008. The program designers are planning phase II of Vietnam's leadership training, "Building 21st Century Schools Model" that aims to sustain Vietnam's education renovation. This training, which will be offered beginning in 2009, is expected to provide school leaders with detailed, actionable roadmaps and a clear vision of ICT integration to their schools. Vietnam's PiL program designers believe that these leadership programs will prepare school leaders to encourage teachers to apply new teaching methods and will help them support these teachers more effectively. These programs will help school leaders to transform their schools to become 21st Century schools. Finally, they expect that their experience with these pioneering leaders will help them to find ways to train other school leaders to follow the pioneer's model and produce great change in Vietnamese education. For more information contact i-phamh@microsoft.com
Australian Council for Educational Leaders Conference 2008 - New Metaphors for Leadership in Schools This event took place between September 30 to October 3, 2008 in Melbourne, with more than 1,200 participants from Australia and many other countries around the world. This conference congregated distinguished keynote speakers from many diverse fields, injecting new perspectives that are very relevant to educational leadership.
Two keynote sessions delivered by Mr. Jean-Francois Rischard and Dr. Douglas B. Reeves struck me most.
Rischard is an international consultant, who formerly held the office of Vice-President in the World Bank. For the first half of the session, it was sobering for the audience as we listened to how demographic explosion and the development of the new world economy have brought about 20 urgent global issues. Rischard later lifted the audience's spirit by suggesting a methodology for global problem-solving. This methodology is featured in his book, titled "High Noon." Rischard also emphasized that it was extremely important for education to play its role in inculcating a strong sense of global citizenship in the next generation. And I guess, this is where ICT can be leveraged upon to help integrate global citizenship into various national curricula around the world.
Douglas delivered a power-packed presentation to convince the audience about why leadership matters in school and how good leadership directly correlates to higher student achievements.
How can teachers leverage on ICT to increase awareness on global citizenship among students? Post your thoughts on my blog space! | | The entire presentation was backed by empirical evidence drawn from ongoing research studies on 2,000 schools, with a total of about 1.5 millions students. Read his monograph for some thoughts on leadership, on how educational leaders can make a difference in their schools, and for some inspiring case studies. An interesting practice I observed about the organization of this conference is the use of technology. To ensure that participants had access to everything that was discussed in various sessions and to facilitate further discussion after the sessions, there were podcasts, Mind Spas, live video streaming, published papers and laptop-cum-internet access zone to allow communication with colleagues. Visit the ACEL site for more information on this conference and future ACEL conferences. For more information, please contact ngps@microsoft.com
Peer Coaching - A Key For Sustainability of Partners in Learning in Vietnam On the occasion to visit Tan Phu district, Ho Chi Minh City, one officer showed me the list of registered teachers in Peer Coaching training. The list was very long, which showed the desire of the Tan Phu teachers to learn and share. Peer Coaching, the soul of the Partners in Learning program, will help to create the long-lasting vitality of the program in Vietnam. PiL is helping to change Vietnam's education by integrating ICT into teaching and learning, and this will continue even when PiL is completed in Vietnam. The widespread influence of Peer Coaching in all teacher communities will sustain PiL programs for a long time, even from generation to generation. Peer Coaching's power rises from the sharing of knowledge between teachers, and helping teachers to reach the common successes in applying new teaching methods in schools. In Tan Phu, a district always supportive of the goal of integrating ICT into teaching and learning, Peer Coaching has been widely deployed in every school since May 2007. There were two focal points: ICT integration into teaching and learning, and Peer Coaching. After finishing their coaching training, Tan Phu teachers went back to their schools and were ready to share what they learned and what possibilities ICT can bring to education for their colleagues. Before this training that clearly linked ICT integration to coaching, Tan Phu did not have a clear image about PiL programs and their relationship to coaching. Peer Coaching was used, but only on a small scale with two or three teachers cooperating and helping each other. The coaches lacked knowledge of the way to expand coaching to affect a larger group. New PiL training shows them ways to redefine what they do as coaches and to broaden the reach of their peer coaching activities. Teachers now have logical methods that make it possible to obtain success in coaching and sharing the knowledge with their colleagues. This opens the prospect that the light of ICT will illuminate to every corner of every class. Tan Phu has set an incredibly high standard for other regions using the Peer Coaching. They have offered training or coaching support for every teacher in the district. The Peer Coaching trainers are the key to success in Tan Phu. They have completed both PiL training and Peer Coaching training, and enthusiastically share their knowledge with their colleagues. All of the teachers are working toward common success in reforming education in Tan Phu. As a result of this training, it is now easy to see the images that teachers share with each other about the power that ICT can bring to classroom lessons. Learning from Tan Phu's success, PiL is deploying Peer Coaching training for leaders in every school in Vietnam. This training rests on the idea that leaders need to have a deep and clear understanding of Peer Coaching to effectively support teachers in deploying new teaching methods. Based on experiences in Tan Phu, our PiL team believes Peer Coaching can and should be used to support reforms in classroom practices in a variety of areas, and our team strongly believes that coaching is the right way to bring the full vitality of PiL to a wider community. For more information, please contact i-phamh@microsoft.com
Events Third Asia Pacific Regional Workshop 2009
This event is tentatively set to be held between February 23 to 27, 2009. Faculty and deans from universities, master trainers selected by the respective countries', Microsoft Academic Programs Manager and school leaders will participate in this event.
There will be concurrent workshops with different themes to cater to the differentiated professional development needs of various educators. There will be up-to-date case studies to complement training materials and hands-on sessions for some workshops.
More updates will be posted via the APAC APMs. Keep a look out for the registration to this event at the end of this year!
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