Indian educators and schools bag top honours at Microsoft’s Education Exchange 2021
New Delhi: Microsoft announced the winners of the global ‘Tech for Good Challenge’ at the annual Microsoft Education Exchange forum. Microsoft Education Exchange is a global platform for educators and school leaders to virtually connect with other changemakers, collaborate on education solutions, and celebrate their collective successes.
The 2021 edition of Education Exchange (E2) saw over 16K registrants from all over the world, celebrating the achievements of educators who combine content, pedagogy and technology in exemplary ways to prepare students for success. This year’s E2 was a three-day event with daily keynotes, inspirational speakers and curated sessions for professional development, that focused on everything from social-emotional learning to STEM education.
Microsoft organized the global Tech for Good challenge in partnership with WE.org, as part of E2 to inspire educators to use technology for solving local and global challenges. Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts (MIE) and Showcase Schools worked to find innovative solutions for global issues like climate change, gender inequality, food and security etc. The Tech for Good Challenge saw over 440 projects submitted by schools across the globe, with educators and schools from India winning several awards across three of the four categories-Innovative Designer, Digital Citizenship, Global Collaborator and Creative Communicator.
Announcing the winners, Anthony Salcito, Vice President of Microsoft Education said, “Today, technology is enabling schools and teachers around the world to do more than ever before. At Microsoft, we’re focused on creating immersive and inclusive experiences that inspire learning and support educators in guiding and nurturing student passions. Microsoft Education Exchange is one such platform that brings educators and school leaders around the world to inspire, share and learn from each other. My warmest congratulations to our Tech for Good winners from India whose passion and spirit of participation is an inspiration for all.”
While DPS International School, Gurugram, emerged as the overall winner, educators from schools such as Bal Bharati Public School, Dwarka, Delhi; DAV Public School, Sreshtha Vihar, Delhi; Delhi Public School, Sector 84, Gurugram, Udgam School for Children, Ahmedabad, Gujarat; Vikas Bharati Public School, Delhi; The Sanskaar Valley School, Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal and Waghire High School, Maharashtra, bagged awards across different categories.
More information about the Tech for Good challenge winners, India:
| Award Category | Project |
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Category: Overall Winner
Winner: DPS International School, Gurugram
Rima Singh | Gunjan Tomar |
Students from DPS International focussed on using technology to address the planet’s health and encourage sustainable practices. Students from grades 3 to 12 participated in the Climate Action Plan, interacting with fellow students across the globe to share solutions for the planet’s health using several tools like Padlet, Trello, PowerPoint presentations and other tools. This global interaction helped them establish how local environmental issues add up to affect climate concerns on a global scale. Students voiced their concerns through a variety of mediums-images, videos, presentations, surveys and discussions.
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Category: Global Collaborator, Showcase school
Winner: Bal Bharati Public School, Dwarka
Suruchi Gandhi | Sandhya | Bhavna Mittal | Sony Devatwal | Aishwarya Taneja | Meena Rana | Rohini Gautam | Neha Budhiraja | Rajesh Dabas |
Bal Bharti school’s project focused on raising awareness about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, to encourage social responsibility and creative thinking towards social issues. Students participated in several activities to raise awareness about the importance of SDGs in the community emphasizing the role of each citizen in leading change.
Students explored the problems faced by their community and developed plans to take action through social media campaigns, international video conferences, cross-cultural dialogues, team blogging etc. |
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Category: Digital Citizenship Award, 1st Runner Up
Winners: Neha Budhiraja-Bal Bharati Public School, Dwarka Rohini Gautam-Bal Bharati Public School, Dwarka
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This team of educators leveraged Teams, SWAY, Microsoft Forms and OneNote to facilitate learning amongst students globally on various social Issues such as human trafficking, rights of girls and women, hate speech and faith, people, communities and festivals etc. |
| Category: Digital Citizenship Award, 2nd Runner Up
Winners: Ranjana Varma, DAV Public School, Sreshtha Vihar, Delhi
Suman Chawla-Education Evangelist Kusum Turan, Delhi Public School, Gurugram
Gladys Valdez Concepcion, Chung Hwa Middle School, Brunei Darussalam
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This group of educators unpacked the issue of cyberbullying through a survey where students analysed the findings and discussed solutions using technology such as Office 365. |
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Category: Innovative Designer Award, 2nd Runner Up
Winners: Krupali Sanghvi-Udgam School for Children, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Anni Kumar-Vikas Bharati Public School, Delhi
Sonia Wadhwa, The Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Pramod Thube, Waghire High School, Saswad, Maharashtra |
This group initiated a movement, EASE4Peace to instill socio-cultural values and academic excellence in students. The initiative focused on holistic child development, encouraging young adults to take ownership for their actions, by focusing on responsible leadership.
The educators integrated more than 25 technology tools like Microsoft Teams, Streams, Photos App, Windows 10 Accessibility features, Forms, Minecraft in education, Visual Studio, WordPress, Azure, Power Apps etc to spread the message among students.
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Microsoft in Education: Microsoft has been consistently making efforts for the digital transformation of education in India through the integration of technology. The company has been working across the board to transform the education ecosystem-empowering policy makers with analytics to make sustainable education investments, preparing teachers to transform learning by using technology to collaborate, and helping students innovate and become life-long learners.