No Summer Holiday for Partners in Learning!

On the Unlimited Potential team we work with the common understanding that education is the cornerstone of economic opportunity and I am always amazed at how far my team will go to make sure that the benefits of technology are extended to communities worldwide, year-round. One of our global initiatives for education is called Partners in Learning (PiL). We’ve talked about PiL on World Updates before, but just a reminder that the goal with this initiative is threefold:

1. Help schools gain better access to technology.

2. Foster innovative approaches to pedagogy and teacher professional development.

3. Provide education leaders with the tools to envision, implement and manage change.

Much of this work continues in the summer when teachers have a little more time on their hands. For example, as the school year came to a close in Armenia we welcomed more than 150 Armenian teachers, school principals and education officials to an interactive conference to discuss the use of technology in education. See a couple pictures from the event below:

At the conference we celebrated the launch of the the new Armenian Innovative Teachers Network, a virtual community for teachers who want to transform their classrooms into technology-rich learning environments. In addition to active discussion forums where teachers can connect directly with each other, the network includes a wealth of information, content, tools, and resources that can help educators use technology more effectively in the classroom.

Many thanks to all of the attendees at the event for sharing their experiences. Looking forward to hearing more about how some of the ideas are implemented when the school year starts!

-- Kristine Gyonjyan, Partners in Learning Manager for Microsoft Armenia