Microsoft in Education Hong Kong Forum 2016 launches new MLC platform to help educators adopt e-learning at school
Hong Kong, April 18, 2016 – Technology is everywhere in education. In the past few years, the educator sector, parents and government have been actively driving the adoption of e-learning. Microsoft recently interviewed about 200 educators in Asia Pacific (APAC) and found most of the respondents agreed that technology will continue to play an important role in enhancing education quality. However, the biggest challenge is a lack of training which holds them back from fully tapping information technology in education.
To get a better understanding of educators’ plans to invest in technology in the near future, as well as their challenges and difficulties in optimizing technology use in classrooms, Microsoft conducted the “Microsoft Asia EduTech Survey 2016” in November 2015. It interviewed educators from 18 APAC countries and cities including Hong Kong. According to the survey, most of the respondents (95%) mentioned that leveraging technology can help transform education and inspire students. In addition, the advantages of using technology in classrooms cited most often by respondents include enhancing the classroom learning experience; greater efficiency in their role; and better communications with students.
While almost all educators (96%) are already using technology in their work, nearly all of them (97%) wish to do more. However, in optimizing the use of technology at work, the survey found that the respondents face three major challenges: lack of training (53%), insufficient budgets to buy the latest technology (51%) and lack of integration of technology in the curriculum (46%). All respondents unanimously agreed that technology will play a bigger role in transforming and improving education systems in the future. They were also keen to explore new ways of using technology to enable personalized learning and individualized education; to make the classroom environment more immersive and fun; and to make possible more intelligent and automated services to assist in administration and classroom teaching duties.
“The survey highlighted the importance of integrating technology into education and brought new insights for the future development of information technology education,” said Angus Wong, Education Lead, Microsoft Hong Kong. “Microsoft Hong Kong has been active in driving the development of education technology and e-learning. Besides continuously providing innovative technologies and e-learning solutions to cater the needs of local educators, we also offer professional training to schools and teachers to equip them with the latest knowledge and skills, and to nurture their students as highly competitive talents. As one of the partners of Education Bureau’s e-learning scheme, we have been organizing the annual Microsoft in Education Forum for over 10 years. This lets us share the essence and results of technology education, to reach our goal of enhancing both the teaching and learning experience. “
Microsoft in Education Hong Kong Forum 2016
The Microsoft in Education Hong Kong Forum 2016 was successfully held on April 16, 2016 at The City University of Hong Kong. This year’s theme was “Turn the e-Learning Key with Microsoft”. The Forum gave schools a platform to showcase their best practices in e-learning. Through school-based program sharing, educators exchanged their experiences in how to implement e-learning in schools.
The Forum attracted over 200 educators from secondary and primary schools in Hong Kong to learn and share the latest technology and trends in e-learning. This included topics such as how Minecraft in Education can contribute to the development of the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects in Hong Kong, and how to promote e-learning through the newly launched My Learning Companion (MLC).
Microsoft Expert Educators who had recently attended the Microsoft Educator Exchange global conference in Hungary, Microsoft Showcase Schools representatives, Microsoft Valued Teachers and representatives from other schools participated in an exhibition expo, where they set up around 20 exhibition booths to share the latest e-Learning programs and exchange their views on e-learning. These included:
- Salesian School which developed the “Dreamworks” by using Windows 10, Minecraft, Office 365 and Arduino etc. to help students build their problem-solving skills and creativity;
- Fung Kai Liu Yun Sum Memorial School which used MLC and OneNote etc. to launch the “MLC – An Office 365 App for eLearning” self-regulated learning scheme, to equip students with problem-solving and communications skills;
- Lok Sin Tong Yu Kan Hing Secondary School which let students use various tools including Office 365, OneNote Class Notebook, SharePoint and Skye for Business etc. to manage the “Aquaponic System”. The project not only raised students’ interest in studying Science, but also problem-solving skills and creativity;
- C. & M.A. Sun Kei Primary School which made use of various software including SharePoint and Office Mix etc. to build the “Flipped Classroom”. The project facilitated regulated self-learning, minimized the “warm-up” time and increased the participation rate in classes;
- HKSKH Bishop Hall Secondary School which asked students to use Microsoft Block Editor and TouchDevelop to prepare coding for BBC micro:bit simulator. The students could then make use of microcontrollers to solve the problems in real life to enhance their self-regulated learning and problem-solving ability;
- TWGHs Ko Ho Ning Memorial Primary School which built the “Cloud Teaching System” using software including Remote Desktop, Office 365 and OneNote etc. to drive the school-based e-learning solutions, as well as harmonize teaching kits across different subjects to minimize school administration work;
To help more schools kick start e-learning more easily, Microsoft Hong Kong announced at the Forum that the MLC will be available to all secondary and primary schools in Hong Kong free of charge. MLC is an application developed by Microsoft Hong Kong, which aims to raise the quality of education and learning through a series of Microsoft Office 365 tools. It facilitates interactive communications between teachers and students in classes, to enhance teaching effectiveness. Moreover, teachers can easily manage and monitor the learning progress of students through the MLC platform, and students are also encouraged to learn proactively with the support of more interesting education tools. This will eventually enhance the effectiveness of teaching. Parents will also be able to have a better understanding of their children’s learning progress.
Microsoft x Hong Kong Education City “Master Code on Innovation and Inclusion Competition”
Microsoft Hong Kong constantly strives to exercise its corporate social responsibility by delivering the power of technology to people in need. From May to December 2016, it will co-organize the “Master Code on Innovation and Inclusion Competition” with Hong Kong Education City to nurture creativity and interest in games and software development among students. The objectives of the competition are not only to help children and youths learn coding skills through familiar e-platforms such as Minecraft game and Visual Studio, but also to help them produce games and tools to support students with special educational needs (SEN), promoting a more inclusive campus culture and a culture of caring for the society. For more information, please visit: www.hkedcity.net/coding
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