Innovation in Education

Innovation in Education

“Digital Kids” on the Role of ICT “Today’s digital kids think of information and communications technology (ICT) as something akin to oxygen: they expect it, it’s what they breathe, and it’s how they live. They use ICT to meet, play, date and learn. It’s an integral part of their social life; it’s how they acknowledge each other and form their personal identities”. Seeley-Brown, 2004 ©2005 Microsoft

Today’s Students • Themes • Community • Always on • Multimedia literate • Experiential • Millennials • Born in or after 1982 • Gravitate toward group activity • Identify with parents’ values; feel close to parents • Spend more time on homework and housework; less on TV • 8 out of 10 say “it’s cool to be smart” • Fascination for new technologies • Racially and ethnically diverse - Strauss, 2000 ©2005 Microsoft

Teamwork Technology Structure Engagement & excitement Experiential activities Positive Respectful Motivational Electronic Goal-focused Millennials’ Preferences Learning Preferences Communication Preferences ―Raines, 2002 ©2005 Microsoft

Student Access to Technology • All students had a computer at home • A growing number had more than one computer at home • All have internet access, with about 50% access via broadband • All students over 16 have a mobile phone and use SMS daily • Most use Internet Messaging or presence awareness • All play MP3 and WMA music • 99% use the Internet for research • 80% say they know more about computers than parents • 60% say they know more about computers than teachers • Most students use a CD burner • Most students have no use for a VCR • 90% of students would like to see, complete & submit assignments online • Source: John XXIII College (WA) Survey of Students, 2004 ©2005 Microsoft

Technological Progress Interconnection Hardware • Increased bandwidth • Collaborative tools • Wireless on campus • Connected devices • Smaller & Faster • Cheaper • New form factors Experiences • Anywhere access • Merger of learning, work and play ©2005 Microsoft

Processors Networking Storage Peripherals Devices Wi-Fi adoption Digital cameras Broadband RFID Mobility Hardware Advances

Exciting Research Directions • TeraScale computing • Terabytes of data • Teraflops of computation power • Large-scale distributed systems • Wireless and mesh networks • New form-factors • Human-Computer Interfaces • Search • Social computing • Personal databases and cataloging • Software development • Machine learning ©2005 Microsoft

2000-2009: Digital Decade • Digital innovations become an integral part of life • Education:Guided and individualised learning; new devices for learning; deeper engagement; technology moves from a focus to being just a tool. • Knowledge Workers: Will achieve twice the productivity improvement of the last decade. • Enterprises:Real B2B commerce using Web Services; mobility transforms how and where work is done. • Homes:Entertainment revolution; bringing together all media experiences. ©2005 Microsoft

Wi-FiBroadband Mobility At The Edge • Early Public Trials: • 13,707 unique nodes in Manhattan, NYC (2002) • University Campuses: • University of Wollongong campus WiFI network • Wireless packages to students (PDA’s, Notebook) • Schools: • Victorian Department of Education & Training Wireless Networks for Schools project: • 1,600 schools, 9,000 wireless nodes • Smithfield State High School Student Attendance Project • No opportunistic truancy, 100% roll recording in real-time • Estimated to save the school up to $35,000 per annum Source: http://publicinternetproject.org ©2005 Microsoft

Educational Games Games include elements of • Urgency • Complexity • Learning by trial-and-error • Scoring points Games support • Active learning • Experiential learning • Problem-based learning • Immediate feedback • Student-centered --Moschini, 2002 ©2005 Microsoft

Microsoft’s Role in Education Microsoft’s Role Scenarios • Personalised learning, • 1:1 Computing • Digital textbooks, • Virtual labs Empower partners & educators to create forward-looking solutions Transform Re-cast schools, teaching, & learning • Make Learning Contextual • Make Learning Personal • Targeted, Relevant (just-in-time) • Learning Marketplace • Collaboration Make core products relevant for Education, support Education “objects”, drive standards Grass Roots Usage Productivity & collaboration solutions Infrastructure Needs • Shared & Legacy PCs • Managed PCs via Servers • Web Services • Data interoperability • Identity Management Key role as a platforms company – make it easy, reliable, secure Keep PCs Running, Extend hardware life,Manage diverse PCs, Network & Interop, Simplify Administration of users & groups ©2005 Microsoft

Microsoft Investing in Education Education Management Parents Students Educators Microsoft IT Academy Curriculum and Certifications MSDN-AA Awards and Competitions Research Grants (MSR) Partnerships and Grants with Government Innovative Teachers Network Professional Development Licensing Donated PC’s Thought Leadership and Contributions to Academia Education Focused Solutions ©2005 Microsoft

Programmes Learning Gateway Learning Delivery & Management Professional Dev. Alliance Education Desktop Partners in Learning Teacher/Student Technology Experience Integrated Administration Managed Operating Environment MSDN AA Innovative Teachers Integrated Administration Learning Network Manager Community Solutions for Education ©2005 Microsoft

Observations • Microsoft Office is ubiquitous and powerful • But Office is under utilised in education • Goal: Make Office more relevant to me! • Expose existing functionality in a simple, streamlined way • Don’t add complex new features • Help me with planning • Support educational content standards • Help me save time and get what I need done ©2005 Microsoft

Educators Are Expecting…. • In Schools • Reliable devices for sub $1,000 that don’t break • Collaborative learning with and from each other • Portfolios and universal digital standards • Portals that are richer, personalised and available offline • In Higher Education • Higher enrolments = time/place shifting • Emergence of two year colleges • Student PC ownership, including ubiquitous wireless • All • Structured Retrieval for better internet search, lecture review and accessing learning objects ©2005 Microsoft

What We’ve Learned . . . • Innovative Teachers are key • Effective schooling driven by creative & passionate teachers • Students rely on stimulating instructors to engage them in the learning process • -- Latest evidence from Gallup Youth Survey 2004 • But . . . Teachers feel overwhelmed • Increased expectations – pupil performance, individualisation, record keeping • Increased diversity of students – languages, abilities, learning needs • Proliferation of technology and digital resources • Need to plan and prepare efficiently Saving time and getting work done is also a top priority for teachers. ©2005 Microsoft

Encarta Academic Online includes: Complete Encarta encyclopedia content Sidebars – Historic documents, famous speeches, literary excerpts, and more Access to dictionary resources (including bilingual dictionaries) Thesaurus Interactive World Atlas Multimedia Centre Adding: Kids Language Versions Online Edition ©2005 Microsoft

Managing Campus Networks • Learning Network Manager • Supports building school networks and labs • Automated process for setting up the Server and • Workstation is setup when connected with the network • Does not use any third party products (i.e. PowerQuest) • Next version will support Multiple-School/Departmental Scenarios ©2005 Microsoft

Integrated Administration • Integrated tools and applications to manage the business of institutions and increase their business insight through easy and immediate access to data. • Track each school’s progress toward compliance with core academicstandards • Significantly decrease time spent generating reports • Lower administrative costs • Improve staff, teacher and student productivity • Streamline information sharing between disparate school systems • Ensure secure data exchange • Alignment to Industry data standardsXML, IMS, Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) ©2005 Microsoft

Learning Gateway Framework • Microsoft’s Learning Gateway is: • A rich portal experience merging administrative and academic systems to create a single, secure, personalised point of access for people to share and collaborate. • Integrated with existing or new Student. Management and Learning Management systems • Supports the improved collaboration through the richness of “presence awareness” and video conferencing. • Proven scale of the integrated Microsoft platform • Facilitated by certified Microsoft partners that share our education vision to ensure the solution builds on existing investments and is deployed in appropriate stages. ©2005 Microsoft

Integrated Hardware Unique technologies that make devices work together More supported devices than anyone else Closer, better, larger vendor community Integrated Applications Unique technologies that make applications work together Complete suite of integrated platform building blocks More tools, more support, more developers Integrated Management Integrated management layer Consistent management tools Extending management to the whole enterprise Why Microsoft? ©2005 Microsoft

Relevance to Education Partnering with other innovators in education and technology Nurturing communities that connect educators with each other Funding research and long term programmes for education Providing access to technology and training Preparing students for tomorrows careers Develop powerful technology to specifically help educators and students Commitment to Customers Ease of use Trustworthy computing Delivering value Commitment to Innovation Standards and Interoperability (.net, XML, SIF, SCORM, IMS, TCP/IP) Tablet PC and mobile devices Continuous improvement, including US$5.9B devoted to R&D Why Microsoft? ©2005 Microsoft

“Technology is only part of the solution. All the computers in the world won’t make a difference without enthusiastic students, skilled and committed teachers, involved and informed parents, and a society that underscores the value of lifelong learning.” ©2005 Microsoft

Innovation in Education