Microsoft Partners in Learning, the Smithsonian Institution and TakingITGlobal have rolled out a global initiative for teachers and students to leverage IT to create awareness around environmental issues.
Shout is a three-year programme designed to mobilise teachers to use technology to help students explore, connect and act to address some of the world's most pressing environmental challenges, such as deforestation.
The announcement was made at the sixth annual Microsoft Worldwide Education Innovation Forum, where over 500 educators from around the world descended on Cape Town to learn how technology can improve education.
The event is being held for the first time in Africa. The forum is a platform for educators to share their knowledge about ways in which technology can be innovatively used to facilitate online collaboration and 21st Century learning.
Anthony Salcito, Microsoft VP of worldwide education, said: “When we encourage students to solve the world's biggest challenges, we look to empower them with technology to consider opportunities that they never thought possible.”
Mobilising change
According to Microsoft, one of the major outcomes expected from the introduction of the Shout partnership is to teach students critical thinking skills and social responsibility.
Salcito told journalists at a press briefing that Microsoft and its partners would invest more than $1 million to empower a global network of teachers and students coming together to address environmental issues.
Beginning in November, the first Shout challenge will encourage teachers to address the problem of deforestation. Each challenge will kick off with an online event featuring Smithsonian scientists using video conferencing tools to communicate online with teachers and students.
Save our trees
Shout initially grew out of a pilot programme driven by Microsoft and TakingITGlobal at the Partners in Learning regional Innovative Education Forum, in Singapore, earlier this year.
The pilot programme, DeforestAction, connected students across the Philippines, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Australia via a Web portal to share videos, blogs and photographs of their experiences of deforestation.
Michael Furdyk, co-founder of TakingITGlobal, said during the event: “DeforestAction exemplifies the power of student-centred learning, demonstrating that students can be leaders in driving positive change and learn the skills they need to shape a better world.”
The students were encouraged to combine fundraising efforts and online projects to build viable social action campaigns to support forests in the Asia Pacific region. Over $10 million in funding from DeforestAction is expected to go towards the cause.
Over the next year, a documentary called An Action Movie 3D is being produced, which aims to increase awareness of the deforestation crisis in Borneo.
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