Microsoft in Education Hong Kong Forum 2017 shares the vision of E-Learning Beyond Digitization
Hong Kong, February 21, 2017 – According to a recent education survey conducted with nearly 1,000 schools across Asia Pacific by Microsoft, educators in Hong Kong consider problem solving (82%), knowledge construction (72%), collaboration (60%) and digital literacy (46%) to be some of the top skills required by students to adapt to future workplace. Digital transformation in education is critical in preparing students for the rapid economic growth and ever more digital society.
E-Learning Beyond Digitization
“E-learning should go beyond teaching students how to use a tool, it is more important than ever to empower educators to create environments in and out of the classroom that guide and nurture student passions, and enable them to achieve more beyond their greatest imaginations,” said Angus Wong, Education Lead of Microsoft Hong Kong.
Microsoft in Education Forum is a major annual event to celebrate the achievements of innovative educators and school leaders and the company has been organizing the event for over 10 years. This year, the forum was held at the HKCCCU Logos Academy on 18 February with the theme “E-Learning beyond Digitization”.
Over 200 educators from different school sectors attended to learn and share the trending technology in e-learning. The forum was kicked off with an opening keynote by Mr. LAU Yuen Tan, Chief Curriculum Development Officer, IT in Education, Education Bureau. A series of keynote sessions followed, with topics covering “Preparing Schools for Innovative Learning and Teaching”, “Make Every Kid a Problem Solver” and “E-Learning Beyond Digitization” etc. Panel discussions on “Hack the Classroom” and “STEM Education” were also organized. To build on the success of last year’s Forum, 12 “Lesson Demonstration” sessions were added in this year’s agenda. Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts from different schools demonstrated their innovative pedagogies and skills in e-Learning and STEM development.
Partnering with the Government to promote STEM education
The Hong Kong Government has been promoting STEM education since 2015 and hoping to equip students in fostering their innovation and entrepreneurial spirit in the 21st century. The government ultimately aims to nurture a versatile pool of talents who can enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong. Enriching learning activities for students and providing learning and teaching resources are two of the key approaches proposed in a report on “Promotion of STEM Education” published by the Education Bureau in December 2016.
As a key partner of the Education Bureau’s e-learning scheme, Microsoft believes students can do remarkable things when technology is within their reach. Microsoft also knows that the right technology can literally become the engine for creating, sharing, exploring, individualizing teaching, and much more. Tools like OneNote Class Notebook, Office 365, Minecraft: Education Edition and Skype provide the resources and experiences students need to create, build, collaborate, research and analyze.
At Microsoft in Education Forum 2017, the Educators Expo attracted 14 local schools to participate and showcase their latest e-Learning projects with the use of Microsoft technology and solutions. Some of the E-Learning showcases are:
- Salesian School
Office 365, Microsoft Classroom, OneNote – conduct e-learning activities and allow in-class interaction among students
- Pak Kau College
Minecraft, Micro:bit, Office 365 – provide students with an opportunity to grasp the use of IT and coding
- The Hong Kong Education University of Jockey Club Primary School
Office 365, Windows 10, OneNote, VR – improve students’ focus and reading speed, promote personalized learning and using VR to take student outside the classroom when learning languages
- Christian & Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Primary School
Office 365, PowerApps, Microsoft Classroom, Office Mix – conduct “Flipped Classroom” using Microsoft Office 365, to allow students’ independent learning in a mobile learning environment
- HKCCCU Logos Academy
Microsoft Classroom, Microsoft Forms, Office Mix, Kahoot, eBook – promote assessment for learning through the use of different e-Learning platforms, which help teachers to understand students’ learning difficulties and expand on their learning
- HKSKH Bishop Hall Secondary School
Microsoft PXT, Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Windows 10 – allow students to understand how sensors and computer chips are used to monitor our daily lives and experience data analysis process
- St Margaret’s Co-educational English Secondary and Primary School
Power BI, Microsoft Form – students learn how to visualize and create relationship among data for further analysis after collecting and preparing it
- Lok Sin Tong Yu Kan Hing Secondary School
Office 365, OneNote Class Notebook, SharePoint, Office Mix and Skype for Business – students analyze and discover optimal water quality for coral propagation by collecting data from water spacing electronic sensors and videos captured from webcams
“Microsoft is committed to empower educators to shape and assure the success of every student, allowing them to achieve more with computational thinking, collaboration skills and digital literacy. As we continue to deliver classroom-tailored solutions for Office 365 and Windows 10, we are excited to see even more of educators and school leaders supporting that cause seamlessly,” added Wong.
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.
For further information, press only:
Microsoft Hong Kong Limited
Alice Li
Tel: +852 2804 4130
Email: [email protected]
Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Microsoft
Fran Tam / Tracy Yiu
Tel: +852 2894 6294 / Tel: +852 2894 6295
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
