Many teachers across the globe are using tools to enhance learning and achieve better student outcomes. However, usually these innovations in the classroom occur in isolation and the achievements go unnoticed. Therefore, E2 - Educator Exchange provides a platform for teachers and experts to share good practices and find solutions to 21st century challenges.
This year, around 300 teachers from 75 countries participated in E2, which was held in Budapest earlier this month. Says Anthony Salcito, vice president, Worldwide Education, Microsoft, that has been hosting the event for several years: “We bring together the most innovative educators from around the world to share their experiences on how to transform education. It is very inspirational.”
Eleven teachers from India qualified to participate in E2 this year and four were in the winning teams. This year’s theme was `Hack the Classroom,’ meaning innovations in the classroom. The conference highlighted innovative approaches such as using skype to engage students in lessons on climate change by connecting with scientists working in the Arctic region. Also, OneNote, a modern replacement of the paper notebook that allows teachers to collaborate with students in real time, creating, editing and grading assignments. And game-based learning like Minecraft, especially to help children with special learning needs, among other innovations.
In the group challenge --- Class Hack Competition, each group was assigned a 'hacker’ persona and teachers had to work in teams to identify a common problem that they face in the classroom and find a solution with the help of technology. The different `hacker’ personas were strategise, personalise, gamify, minimise and delocalise.
The Grand Prize Winner was the team that focussed on `The Multicultural Classroom:’ Migration is a major global challenge. Students new to a country oftentimes face inequity because of the language barrier. Teachers can use OneNote’s built-in translation tool to overcome this barrier by allowing new students to tell their story in their native language.
The new features of OneNote were launched during the conference. According to Mike Tholfsen, principal programme manager of OneNote, they gathered feedback from teachers to make the tool even more useful, and the main consideration was to save time for teachers.
On the key takeaway from the conference, Chandhirakala Venugopal from the Titan School in Hosur, says, ”It’s very useful to be introduced to new tools and also to find out how other teachers are embedding technology in their teaching methods.” Teachers from Nigeria echoed similar views, saying that though smartphones and other devices are now common in the classroom, but with erratic power supply they have to improvise. “At E2 I realised teachers from other countries face similar challenges but nevertheless implement tech tools. This is the first time we have travelled outside our country, so it’s learning beyond borders,” says Oluwakemi Olurinola, educational technologist at the Olabisi Onabanjo University.
Several teachers admitted that it’s the students who guide them about tech tools or games that can be educational. So in this tech era, both teachers and students are learning together.
