Innovative Teachers Forum

The Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum was held in Paris, 28 – 30 March 2007. I was privileged to be one of three teachers chosen to represent Scotland with my Aberdeen City Council / University of Edinburgh project on supporting children that have literacy difficulties using WordTalk and other software within Microsoft Word.

I left Aberdeen for Paris early on Wednesday morning 28/3/07. The journey was reasonably hitch - free and I arrived at the hotel around mid day.

After lunch I went to the UNESCO building to register and set up my stand. Andrea Kay and Steven McCrossan, the other Scottish teachers were already there. I also met up with other “Innovative Teachers”, from various countries.

We went, as a large group, to a restaurant in the evening. Apart from other teachers, it was nice to meet some of the Microsoft people. Good food and wine were a bonus.

Thursday morning (29/3/07) was UNESCO for the opening ceremony. We were addressed by Dr Abdul Waheed Khan ADG of the Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO, followed by Eric Boustouller, General Manager, Microsoft France. Finally we were addressed by Alan Yates, WW Education Director, Microsoft.

The opening ceremony was followed by a round table discussion with Lucio Sia Education Sector UNESCO, Alan Yates, WW Education Director, Microsoft, Daniel Andler, Professor University of La Sorbonne, Alain Bertoz, Professor at the College of  France, Daniel Vitry, a Director at the French Ministry of Education and Kim Pham, Assistant Director - General France 5 TV.

Some of this was relevant and interesting, although parts were rather theoretical. The general point was that ICT was creating a new type of pedagogy. As ICT rolls out across countries, peoples and cultures, the new pedagogy goes with it, enhancing learning and understanding at a local and global level.

After coffee, it was Teacher Exhibition time. I was pleased that quite a number of educationalists from different countries came to ask about my Project (I will be checking to see if there are fresh downloads of WordTalk from the Edinburgh University Call Centre web site as a result of this).  There was also a visit from one of the judges who was particularly interested in the option of using languages other than English with WordTalk. I took part of the time in this session to visit other displays. What was most fascinating here was the variety of curriculum areas that ICT appears to be supporting.

 After lunch we went on a visit to the Louvre. My Workgroup had the theme “the body”. Our leader was a French teacher, Fabien Cregut, who made up for his lack of knowledge of the geography of the Louvre (we got lost) with his humour and friendliness. We were to study various artefacts and think of their significance. This was a rare treat for me as one of the sculptures was by my favourite sculptor – Michelangelo.

That evening was the Gala dinner which took place on a boat sailing down the Seine. This was a marvellous experience. Good French food, nice wine, convivial company and Paris rolling by – what a hard life!

On Friday morning (30/3/07) it was back to UNESCO. Our task for the morning was to use ICT to create a project linking the artefacts recorded at the Louvre to show what they represented as a whole. We used photographs, animation and text in Windows Movie Maker to create our presentation. This cooperative activity with its stress on international collaboration on universal themes was both fun and rewarding. A shortened version of our presentation can be seen at -

http://stat.splio.com/l/1176394719999782/1176394799866249

After Lunch we returned to the plenary grouping. The Louvre resources created by us were discussed and presented. This was followed by the closing ceremony which included the Innovative Teachers 2007 Awards Ceremony.

Uncharacteristically, I was sitting near the front waiting for the moment when my name would be called out and I would bounce up for my award! I was even wearing my tartan tie.

It was not to be.

First up was a lady in traditional dress from Jordan. I continued to await the words Scotland UK…. but no - Lithuania, Sweden, Serbia yes - but no UK. A bad result for (old) Europe!

Never mind - I have taken with me from the Paris Microsoft Innovative Teachers 2007 experience, indelible impressions and memories of the delightful people that I met from many countries and cultures and of the creativity, fresh outlooks, zest and openness for the future of education through ICT that typified this event. I was very lucky to be part of it.

Rod Macaulay Co-ordinator TASSCC