Problem solving, collaboration and digital literacy among top skills required by students to adapt to future workplace
Hong Kong, 9 December 2016 – Digital transformation in education is critical in preparing students with skills for the future workplace, as revealed in the latest education survey Microsoft conducted with nearly 1,000 schools across Asia Pacific. Educators in Hong Kong consider the 3 most important skills required for students to adapt to future workplace as problem solving (82%), knowledge construction (72%), and cross cultural competency (64%). Digital media literacy (46%), Collaboration with others (60%) and data analytics and visualization (58%) are also among the top skills. In general, 91% of Asia’s respondents believe that students who are not equipped for the changing workforce requirements and skills will not be able to adapt to the future workplace with low digital literacy.
Digital transformation in education
“Microsoft sees the obstacles teenagers are facing when they transit from graduation to employment. The circumstances continue in the Asia Pacific region in particular. It is important for us to equip educators with the right tools, enable access to training, and bridge the technological challenges which they are facing to drive transformation and learning efficiencies for impactful outcomes.” said Sean Tierney, Director, Teaching & Learning Strategy, Worldwide Education, Microsoft Corporation.
Technology cannot replace great teaching but it can make greater teachers even better. Microsoft is inspired to work with educators, with students, with school leaders, on their journey to redefine learning in and out of the classroom. The company has great source of products, services and programs to help school leaders set a transformative vision for their schools. For instance:
- Minecraft: Education Edition
Earlier in November, Microsoft announced the general availability of Minecraft: Education Edition, an open world game specifically designed for the classroom to promote creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving. The full-release of the Education Edition includes a companion application called Classroom Mode enabling educators to manage world settings, communicate with students, give items, and teleport students in the Minecraft world. It also offers a range of new, built-in lesson plans for educators to use across subjects and age levels and easy collaboration with up to 30 students to work together to build projects and solve problems.
- Skype-a-thon
Microsoft’s annual two-day Skype-a-Thon was held on November 29-30 this year, with Microsoft Worldwide Vice President of Education, Anthony Salcito, staying awake for over 24 hours non-stop calling 40 classrooms around the world to interact with students. This event connects classrooms in over 47 countries to showcase how technology can be used to enhance the learning experience and promote global citizenship.
Educators can choose from thousands of activities including speaking with an expert guest speaker on a topic their class is studying, and taking their class on a virtual field trip that spark imagination, from learning about sea turtles to exploring cultural perspectives in Western American art. Educators can also connect with classrooms in other countries with #Mystery Skype, a global guessing game that teaches kids geography, promotes cultural understanding and broadens perspectives.
- Hour of Code Week
With the goal of inspiring millions more to try coding for the first time, and to keep going on their journey of learning computer science, the Hour of Code week is back this December during Computer Science Education Week from December 5-11. This annual, global campaign offers students a fun and easy-to-learn one-hour experience with coding.
This year in Hong Kong, close to 7,300 students from nearly 70 schools tried an hour of coding during the week. Building on the success of last year’s record-breaking “Minecraft” tutorial, which reached more than 30 million students worldwide, Microsoft Corp. partnered with Code.org again this year to create a new web-based coding tutorial called the “Minecraft Hour of Code Designer” to enable beginner coders to create and share their own simple “Minecraft” game. It is designed to empower anyone to begin learning the problem-solving and critical thinking skills required in today’s tech-fueled world.
Empowerment begins with inclusion
Microsoft strives to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and this empowerment begins with inclusion. Delivering on the mission of inclusion starts with great technology, but great technology alone is not enough. Too many of technology’s benefits have yet to reach the people who need them, including the limited abilities of people to participate in the opportunities created by the global economy’s growth due to a lack of education, especially in STEM disciplines. To bridge these gaps, Microsoft Philanthropies is committed to investing in digital inclusion programs and partnerships.
A key example is the company’s collaboration with Hong Kong Education City since April this year to organize the “Master Code on Innovation and Inclusion” Campaign. Spanning 8 months, students from over 80 schools joined the campaign and took part in a series of 14 training workshops and summer camps which help over 230 teachers, students and even parents to learn coding through various Microsoft software and tools, including Minecraft and Visual Studio, as well as inclusion.
As they became more familiar, they designed games or learning tools for those with special educational needs (SEN), with the aim to raise and promote awareness of students with SEN and help them enhance their understanding and application of knowledge in creative ways. 3 winning teams each from the primary school and secondary school categories were announced and showcased at the Learning and Teaching Expo (LTE) 2016 in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center on December 10, 2016. These winning projects will become available on HKEdCity’s website as teaching materials for educators in Hong Kong.
“In addition to promoting computer literacy, this campaign also aims to make classrooms more diverse by leveraging the power of technology to promote inclusion, particularly for students with special educational needs,” said Dr Daiana Beitler, Regional Director, Philanthropies, Greater Asia Microsoft, who presented prizes to the winning students at LTE. “We’re investing Microsoft’s strongest assets to drive greater inclusion and the empowerment of people who do not have access to technology and the opportunities it offers and enables. As we do so, we build on Microsoft’s foundation of 30-plus years of giving, seeking new ways to achieve greater outcomes for a broader segment of the world’s population.”
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
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