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Volume 1 Issue 1, July 2007
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Welcome
Well
after all that has been achieved through Partners in Learning over the
past three years, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this, our first
Partners in Learning e-newsletter. It is becoming nearly
impossible to fairly list all the extraordinary PiL programs that have
been successfully deployed during that time, and the sheer scale of
touching the hundreds of thousands of teachers, and millions of
students that PiL has reached in many ways belies the impact at the
local community level. There seems to be a continuous stream of stories
each week from school communities across the globe detailing how PiL is
making a difference and across 101 countries that amounts to something
we all should celebrate.
But before we get too carried away, can I challenge you to take this
opportunity to look for ways to do even better. What we have so
successfully done over this initial period of Partners in Learning is
but laid a foundation on which we can now build initiatives that will
truly change the chances for young people everywhere. Despite all that
we have invested, not only through PiL, but in education technology
across the past twenty years, we still have so much more that can be
done.
So much of our work has been working within what we know, but what can
technology make possible? Indeed if we think for some time about what
some refer to as the "Art of the Possible", we can start re-imagining
our schools, and the boundaries of learning as something quite
different from what is offered today. Never before have we had the
leverage that technology offers us to re-imagine what school could be;
never before have we seen the changes that technology has brought about
our lives in banking, travel, services, almost every dimension, and
yet, to date so many realms of education remain untouched. What an
opportunity for all of us at the "frontline" and through PiL we've seen
the extraordinary growth of the Innovative Teachers program over the
past three years, and now the launch of the world-wide Innovative
Schools program will be an exciting step towards creating new learning
opportunities for students.
What will be achieved over the next three, even ten years is not
limited by technology, not by buildings, but by our imagination. Never
before in history have we had so much scope to impact on the lives of
young people by the ways in which we recreate their learning
environments; but too date, we have been possibly only chipping at the
edges.
So as we move forward with new ideas and expand on our initial PiL
programs, let's be sure we challenge ourselves to do better; to think
beyond what we have and what we currently do, to what might be possible
and then to use investments, like the one Microsoft has so generously
made through Partners in Learning to create new and exciting learning
environments for young people in the future. 
Bruce Dixon
Chair, International Advisory
Partners in Learning
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The Practice of Peer Coaching in Taiwan
Faculty
at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan have collaborated with the
government and Microsoft to produce a Peer Coaching program to meet
local needs. While the "localized" program still focuses on strong
coaching skills and improving teachers' lesson design skills, it has a
strong emphasis on establishing a Net-based learning community for
Taiwan's elementary and junior high school teachers. Professor
Ya-Ting Carolyn Yang notes that the faculty team that adapted Peer
Coaching to meet Taiwan's needs, aligned government policies designed
to establish digital learning environments with industries' experiences
and resources to train coaches and teachers. This online learning
environment features Peer Coaching resources and access to best
practices created by coaches or teachers who collaborated with coaches.
In the program's first year, more than 9,800 teachers from schools
across Taiwan participated in Peer Coaching. In addition, the online
learning community offers teachers a "Professional Lounge" that is a
"communications medium" educators can use to collaborate on their
professional learning or to create strong learning activities for
students.
Evaluation of the program demonstrates this approach to Peer Coaching
works. At the end of their first year in the coaching program, both
teachers and coaches report that they were frequently using Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) in their classroom and integrating
ICT into standards-based activities. In its second year, five new
training initiatives are underway. As Professor Yang notes, with the
cooperation of industry, government and academic institutions, Peer
Coaching "is a great model to improve the quality of the national
teaching and learning environment effectively and efficiently."
Thailand Ready to Reform?
Changes
exist in all aspects of life-every society is encountering the
challenges of transformation. How will the Thai educational system
address these challenges? "In Thailand, education at every level is
still unsatisfactory-improving quality is our highest priority," said
Dr.Wachitr Srisa-arn, Thailand's Minister of Education (MoE). "Since
learning ultimately takes place in the schools, we must strengthen our
schools if we want to provide a better education for our children."
Thailand is meeting the needs of students by decentralizing education,
changing the learning environment by integrating ICT to digitize
learning, and partnering with local governments and businesses to help
educators become innovative.
Microsoft's Partners in Learning (PiL) program is a key partner for
Thai educators. In March 2007, educational leaders participated in
Learning to Lead Change: Building System Capacity, a PiL program
designed and presented by Dr. Michael Fullan. The goal was to build
leaders capacity for innovation.
The spirit of "reform" doesn't stop with traditional school leaders. In
collaboration with the MoE, Microsoft also conducts the Innovative
Teacher Leadership Award every year. Ajarn Disapong Wong-Aram,
Microsoft Innovative Teacher 2006, was selected for his "Clay
Animation" project. This method teaches students how to make Claymation
videos, while inspiring kids' imagination and creativity. Some of the
students' videos have been shown in commercial ads and films.
Thailand's Ministry of Education is also implementing Microsoft's Peer
Coaching program nationwide. In little more than a year, Thai
facilitators led 44 Peer Coaching workshops and trained coaches in more
than 1,326 schools. These coaches are working to help other teachers
integrate ICT into daily classroom learning activities. In a nation
where less than 10% of teachers were using ICT, this program is
critical to make digital learning innovative and effective.
Reform is not only the adults' responsibilities. Educators and students
need to join hands to ensure that Thai education reform succeeds. Every
year, the MoE and Microsoft organize the Microsoft IT Youth Challenge
Camp for Grade 1-12 students nationwide. During the camp, the
six-to-sixteen-year-old kids learn basic IT skills while enjoying fun,
creative activities.
The Power to Learn from One Another: The "Entre Pares" Experience in Costa Rica
As
partners in Costa Rica's Peer Coaching program, the Ministry of
Education, the Omar Dengo Foundation and Microsoft, launched their
efforts to assist more teachers to integrate technology into their
classrooms. Over time, the goals for coaching, or "Entre Pares" as it
is known in Costa Rica, grew more expansive. "Entre Pares"
could help teachers integrate ICT and improve practices. However, the
leaders of the program realized Costa Rica's teachers needed more than
improved techniques. The country's teachers worked mainly in isolation
and the program's leadership team concluded they needed to find a way
to help teachers develop the "special disposition" to learn and reflect
continuously. Teachers working in isolation would never have this
"special disposition." Ana Virginia Quesada, the project leader for the
Dengo Foundation, noted to reach this goal we knew we needed to produce
a "deep change in the culture" of schools. The new culture was one of
close and sustained collaboration.
Quesada and her team were clear that teachers and principals needed to
reflect and rethink "our culture of working and learning." The program
leaders were certain that changing the ways schools work and learn
would "not come from the political or administrative structures," but
from the "vision and revolutionary work of the teachers."
Peer Coaching has come to play a key role in this process. The "Entre
Pares" team understood that coaching encourages teacher leadership and
provides teachers with tools that encourage educational collaboration.
Tools like dialog reflection protocols and protocols that facilitate
collaborative work by teams of teachers to design new learning
activities and continuously improve their teaching practice. Used by
teacher leaders, these tools could create the "self-confidence
environment" that is essential to produce change.
"Entre Pares" provides more than self-confidence. The leadership team
understood that the collaborative tools and skills that are part of the
coaching program also help schools to establish professional
communities and produce a "deep change in the culture of schools." This
new culture, or "ecology", is based on real collaboration.
As Quesada observed, "Peer Coaching is providing Costa Rica with a
structure and methodology to investigate how we can best support
teachers' visions and their desire for revolution of their practice."
Preparing Tomorrows Teachers Today: Peer Coaching at Hanoi University
Hanoi
University of Education (HNUE) has a long record as one of the leading
teacher training universities in Vietnam, and has worked to maintain
its leadership as learning has gone digital. The university upgraded
infrastructure, adding more than 1,000 networked PC's, and has also
added faculty specializing in ICT and applying ICT for research and
teaching. In fact, ICT has become one of the key factors for university
development, according to Dr. Nguyen Viet Thinh, President of Hanoi
University of Education.
Prospective teachers at HNUE learned basic ICT skills in their first
two years at the university, and class work and practical experience in
schools in their final years focused on integrating ICT into the
curriculum. To strengthen the quality of teacher preparation, HNUE
adopted the Peer Coaching program. Its focus on ICT skills, teaching
methods and soft skills was a perfect compliment to the ICT program at
the University. Enhancing and expanding each of these skills seemed
critical to the faculty at HNUE.
As prospective teachers enrolled in courses that helped them integrate
technology into the curriculum, they participated in Peer Coaching
activities that focused on teaching methodologies that actively engage
students in their learning. Students who were beginning to offer
micro-lessons and practice at schools were also learning more about
soft skills, like communication and collaboration, which would help
them develop powerful learning activities and prepare them to coach
other teachers at their schools.
The program has proven extremely effective. The pilot at HNUE utilized
optional courses to train 50 lecturers, who in turned helped 500
students develop coaching skills. Currently, HNUE is refreshing and
enhancing the training for the 50 lecturers and the integrated plan of
action calls for training all students as coaches.
Asia Pacific Innovative Teachers Forum: 2007
If
you had only one word to describe the 2007 Asia Pacific Innovative
Teachers Forum it would be collaboration. If you could use two words,
the second would be fun. While neither collaboration nor fun is
typically part of the vocabulary of traditional learning environments,
both are keys to innovative learning. Innovative educators from around
the world insist that in order for learning to be effective, learners
should "display pleasure in learning." Fun keeps learning exciting. Fun
motivates learners, both children and adults, to learn more. These
innovative teachers are even more insistent that collaboration is key
to effective professional learning. Collaboration is critical if we
want to move beyond isolated pockets of innovation in schools and see
innovation flourish in every classroom. Innovation is crucial if we
hope to prepare today's students for their future. In late
February 2007, 230 educators from 24 countries gathered in the shadows
of the ancient temples of Angkor to celebrate their successes and
further develop innovative practices. Microsoft convened the Asia
Pacific Innovative Teachers Forum in Siem Reap, Cambodia as part of its
Partners in Learning initiative. World-wide, more than 100 countries
participate in this initiative, which brings together education and
government leaders to offer schools and administrators a spectrum of
education resources-tools, programs, and practices-that empower
students and teachers to realize their full potential.
To see the full report on the Innovative Teachers Forum, please go to the APAC ITN site at: http://apac.innovativeteachers.com. If you do not have an account on this site, please create one. Once you have an account, go to: http://portal.apac.innovativeteachers.com/
C7/Regional%20Innovative%20Teachers'/default.aspx.
Upcoming Events
Next Gen
The
Next Generation of Teachers (Next Gen), a project co-sponsored by
UNESCO, Microsoft and Cisco, is designed to prepare the next generation
of teachers in the Asia Pacific Region to utilize ICT to enhance
teaching and learning, and improve integration of ICT into education
throughout the region. Next Gen activities focus on Teacher
Education Institutions (TEIs) and are aimed at addressing the three key
factors for successful integration of ICT. The first is a Deans' Forum,
which is designed to enhance the leadership and management capacity of
TEIs. The second activity is a Curriculum Development Workshop that
will utilize the Peer Coaching program that is part of Microsoft's
Partners in Learning. This workshop will assist TEI instructors and
students to develop appropriate curriculum for integrating ICT into
teaching and learning. The final activity is a capacity building
workshop for instructors. This will help these instructors to better
provide ICT related courses and facilitate ICT enhanced learning.
The workshops will be offered by project partners, Microsoft and Cisco.
The Curriculum Development Workshop will be led by staff from the Puget
Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, and educators from
ten APAC countries will participate from October 15-19, 2007. For more
information about this program, refer to the Next Gen Web site: http://www.unescobkk.org/education/ict/teachertraining/next_gen.
APM Corner
Academic Program Managers Contact Information
If
you want to contact your country's Microsoft Partners in Learning
Academic Program Manager, their name and e-mail address follows.
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Country
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Academic Program Manager
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E-mail
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Australia
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Felicia Brown
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feliciab@microsoft.com
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Bangladesh
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Farid Ahmed
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faridahm@microsoft.com
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Brunei
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Wan Kong Chan
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WanKong.Chan@microsoft.com
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China
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Jerry Zuo
Jing Guo
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jerryzuo@microsoft.com
jingguol@microsoft.com
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Hong Kong
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Ng Mei Mei
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meing@microsoft.com
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India
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Srinivas Garimella
T.S.Y. Aravindakshan
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srinigar@microsoft.com
taravind@microsoft.com
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Indonesia
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Ananta Gondomono
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anantago@microsoft.com
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Japan
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Yuzo Takita
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yuzot@microsoft.com
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Korea
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Bum Joo Park
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bumjpark@microsoft.com
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Malaysia
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Farad Alhusaini
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farada@microsoft.com
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New Zealand
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Nils Beehre
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nzedu@microsoft.com
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Philippines
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Michelle C. Casio
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mcasio@microsoft.com
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Singapore
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Horng Shya Chua
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horngshya.chua@microsoft.com
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Sri Lanka
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Jinashri Samarakoon
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jinashs@microsoft.com
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Taiwan
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Carrie Chen
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chiche@microsoft.com
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Thailand
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Supoet Srinutapong
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supoets@microsoft.com
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Vietnam
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Huong Thanh Pham
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i-phamh@microsoft.com
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Resources
Microsoft Educational Web sites
Microsoft's Web sites offer a wide variety of educational resources. The Asia Pacific site:
. Provides teachers with tools like tutorials and templates;
. Offers model technology-rich, lesson plans;
. Gives information about the Partners in Learning programs;
. Presents white papers on topics like "Education in the Global Knowledge Economy," and;
. Provides case studies on how schools across the region have integrated tablet PC's and other ICT resources into classrooms.
You can find all of these resources and more at: http://www.microsoft.com/asia/publicsector/psprograms/shaping.mspx. APAC Innovative Teachers Network
The
APAC Innovative Teachers Network site provides a wealth of other great
resources. The "Communities" site, for example, offers access to the
best practices of the 2007 Innovative Teachers from across the Asia
Pacific region. The "Discussions" tab gives educators the chance to
share ideas or learn from others and to create online communities
focused on topics of immediate interest. "Resources" brings you to a
wealth of lesson plans, Virtual Classroom Tours (VCT's) and other quick
ideas that are relevant to you.
You can find all of these resources and others at: http://apac.innovativeteachers.com.
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