Month-long hands-on activities to inspire STEM talents and foster computational thinking
November 29, 2018, Hong Kong –– Come join one of Hong Kong’s largest STEM education initiatives – “#FutureReady Month” this December! Starting next week, Microsoft Hong Kong will launch a series of hands-on activities for Hong Kong students, as part of a significant step in inspiring students to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. The month-long initiative gamifies STEM learning and provides real-life challenges to strengthen students and teachers’ problem-solving abilities, as well as cultivating stronger computational thinking and coding skills.
“#FutureReady Month” will reach over 15,000 students and teachers through partnering with various educational institutions and organizations in Hong Kong, such as Association of I.T. Leaders in Education (AiTLE), Joint Universities Computer Centre Ltd. (JUCC), The Hong Kong Association for Computer Education (HKACE), Young Women’s Christian Association (HKYWCA) and many more.
Particularly, from December 12 to 14, Microsoft will participate in Learning & Teaching Expo 2018, Asia’s leading education expo and Hong Kong’s annual signature education event organized by Hong Kong Education City (HKEdCity). Throughout this three-day event, Microsoft and HKEdCity will jointly host the Minecraft Arena, where over 15 teams from various primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong will compete on site to code strategically and complete designated tasks in the World of Minecraft.
“At Microsoft, we believe in empowering students of today to create the world of tomorrow. We are proud to receive enthusiastic responses from many schools and organizations in Hong Kong to launch ‘#FutureReady Month’, making STEM education fun by gamifying the students’ learning journey. Complemented with year-round workshops and tools such as Windows and Office 365, we will continue to equip every student and teacher with future ready skillset – from Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data to Cloud, unleashing the potential of our next generation,” said Cally Chan, General Manager, Microsoft Hong Kong.
Other activities during “#FutureReady Month” include:
- Microsoft Education Technology Day 2018
- Co-organising a training programme with the Education Bureau to introduce to principals and teachers of primary and secondary schools on the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud and Big Data in the classroom to enhance learning and teaching effectiveness
- #FutureMaker Computer Science Fun Day
- Together with AiTLE and HKYWCA, over 120 K12 students from all walks of life will indulge in a fun day with Microsoft volunteers and Microsoft Innovative Educators, to build different creations through coding and getting inspired by real-life AI case studies.
- Joint University Computer Conference
- Microsoft partners with JUCC to enable over 250 IT professionals to learn the latest trends and best practices in AI, Big Data and Cloud, discussing how technology can help them to strategize project planning and development in higher education institutes.
- Hour of Code School & NGO Challenge
- Be one of the 12,000 students at Hour of Code, a global movement by Microsoft and Code.org, to complete an hour of coding missions in the newly launched Minecraft: Aquatic Voyage game! Students who complete the challenge will get the digital certificates and also win big prizes!
- The Hong Kong Special Schools Professional Development Symposium 2018
- Jointly organized by Education Bureau, the Education University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Special School Council, Microsoft will share with over 2,500 educators from 60 special education schools in Hong Kong how AI tools could empower a #FutureReady Campus for special education, advancing both learning and teaching for students with special educational needs.
- Youth IT Ambassador Award x Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) Certification
- Microsoft and HKACE joint hands to provide free training and examinations for select modules from the world recognized MTA certifications, which match with the electives in Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) curriculum. Each participating school will nominate their attendees to equip them with IT skills and gain confidence to pursue their dreams in the technology industry.
In addition, in November, Microsoft Hong Kong collaborated with The University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and City University of Hong Kong and arranged a number of AI certification workshops to train up over 600 universities students on their AI capabilities.
Students and teachers who are interested in Hour of Code School & NGO Challenge can register at [email protected]. For Microsoft Education Technology Day 2018, please visit this link. Other events are by invitation only.
###
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
