Seven educators from the region were celebrated among nearly 400 educators and school leaders from around the world for being a change maker in education
Paris, 5 April 2019 – Microsoft hosted its fifth annual Education Exchange (E2) conference in Paris this week, with educators and school leaders from around the world exchanging ideas to develop innovative experiences in classrooms, as well as explore emerging trends in education that support inclusive classrooms, promote collaboration, and advance modern teaching and learning techniques.
Over the course of three days, Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts were recognised and celebrated for their achievements for combining content, pedagogy and technology in exemplary ways to prepare students for success in the digital age.
As part of the event, educators from around the world form teams and competed in the Global Educator Challenge. Participating teams were tasked with working together to develop potential classroom lessons that encompass the event’s key themes of creativity, inclusion, student voice and collaboration.
Five teams in total were named winners, and of the 70 outstanding Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts from the Middle East and Africa who attended the event, seven were recognised as members of each of the winning teams.
This includes Saudi Arabia’s Wejdan Alfaraj, who was a member of Team 45 – the overall winning team. Team 45’s submission was judged as a stand-out learning journey that incorporated Microsoft’s education tools into the classroom to create a holistic learning experience that covered the event’s key themes. In particular, the lesson was innovative in showing how trainee teachers could develop their understanding of inclusion by integrating the virtual world of Minecraft into the real world and amplify student voice through feedback in Flipgrid.
Other teachers from Middle East and Africa who were part of the winning groups recognised for outstanding work during the Global Educator Challenge are Saudi Arabia’s Ibrahim Aljabri (Team 46 – 1st place in Creativity), Kenya’s Ronald Kibet (Team 44 – 1st place in Collaboration) and Israel’s Zorit Varmaz Jassin (Team 13 – 1st place in Student Voice). South Africa’s Chanille Viviers, Turkey’s Uğur Sarıçam and Saudi Arabia’s Maha Alghamdy all competed as part of Team 14, which won 1st place in the Inclusion category.
“Every educator is a changemaker, making an imprint on the lives of the students who will be the leaders, innovators and creators of the next generation,” said Anthony Salcito, Vice President of Microsoft Education. “But some – like the outstanding educators who participated in the Global Educator Challenge – truly go above and beyond, pushing into unknown territory to bring new technology and techniques into their classroom to inspire and engage their students and prepare them with the skills they’ll need to thrive in the jobs of the future. It is a joy to host this event each year to celebrate educators who are changing education and changing lives.”
For more information on Microsoft in Education visit, https://education.microsoft.com.
