Innovative teachers ready to broaden their horizons

The ‘Fourth Regional Innovative Teachers Conference’ held at the Sheraton Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam recently recognised the creative and innovative work of more than 150 teachers and 100 senior Government and education officials, from at least 22 countries.

Three teachers T. Nimalan, S. D. Tennakoon and Ms. Vajirani Samarakoon who won three different categories at the National Competition held in February this year, got the opportunity to attend and share in this experience of a lifetime.

All the teachers at the conference were winners at their national competitions, where selections were based on their work and efforts in the pursuit of raising the bar on education standards through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Organised by Microsoft in partnership with UNESCO, this global conference acknowledges the often challenging work conducted by teachers who strive towards taking education to a higher level, via the use of ICT, and to inspire other educators to follow suit.

The conference, in keeping with this year’s theme, ‘ICT for ESD (Education for Sustainable Development): Seeing farther, thinking deeper, created a platform for the advancement of best practices and adoption of innovation.

The ‘Innovative Teachers Program’ has two primary offerings for educators - the ‘Innovative Teachers Forums’ and the ‘Innovative Teachers Network.’

The Forums are Annual events that recognise and reward innovative teachers who practise the elements of 21st century learning in their classrooms and then incorporate these skills into the student learning environment.

The network is a worldwide network of portals, local in their implementation, but global in their reach and scope that allow educators to share successful methodology and protocols from their own learning and practice.