transformation
2011 WISE Awards: Six High-Impact Projects Now Selected
The Jury reviewed a pool of applicants from all regions of the world and all fields of education. The Winners were selected for their innovative approaches and positive impact upon societies and education, within the perennial theme of Transforming Education: Investment, Innovation and Inclusion.
Joining the ensemble of winning projects from 2009 and 2010, this year’s Winners once again highlight the growing significance of sharing knowledge through new information and communication technologies. Three of the WISE winning projects indeed provide wide access to materials and tools for teaching and learning through open source platforms. Dynamic inter-sectoral partnerships and innovative approaches to teaching through problem-solving and creative thinking are also well represented in the Jury’s choices.
WISE is delighted to welcome the first project from the MENA region to the Awards community of innovators, driven by the Al Jisr organization in Morocco. For the first time also, an initiative dedicated to children with disabilities is among the winning projects, highlighting the value of inclusiveness towards communities of learners with special needs.
Transformation of education occurs as educators and other stakeholders are able to share good ideas, effective practices and lessons learned. By joining the WISE Awards community, these winning projects can reach an even broader global audience. These Winners will be celebrated at the next WISE Summit to be held in Doha, Qatar on November 1-3, 2011.
Find out more about the Winners and their remarkable impact:
Project: Al Jisr School-Business Partnerships (Morocco)
Reach: Morocco
Project holder: Mhammed Abbad Andaloussi
Organisation: Al Jisr
Project: BBC Janala (UK)
Reach: Bangladesh
Project holder: Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman
Organisation: BBC World Service Trust
Project: Connexions (USA)
Reach: Global
Project holder: Richard Baraniuk
Organisation: Rice University
P
roject: Creative Partnerships (UK)
Reach: UK
Project holder: Paul Collard
Organisation: Creativity Culture and Education (CCE)
Project: SueñaLetras (Chile)
Reach: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Spain
Project holder: Ricardo Rene Rosas Diaz
Organisation: Center for the Development of Inclusion Technologies - CEDETI
Project: Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa (TESSA) (UK)
Reach: Sub-Saharan Africa
Project holder: Freda Wolfenden
Organisation: The Open University
To view the list of the 20 Finalists selected in June by the Pre-Jury click on the link below.
> Learn More about the Criteria Used to Select WISE Awards Winners
Learning School Initiative launched
The Learning School Initiative, calling for a worldwide federation of efforts to make schools fit for the future, was officially launched at the EFQUEL Forum on September 16, 2011. It will be presented and discussed at the Open Classroom Conference taking place in Athens on October 27-29, 2011 and at the World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha (November 2011).
If you share the belief that school transformation is key in enabling a better future for our children, you can join it!. The invitation is open to:
- Individuals (teachers, parents, students, citizens) willing to contribute with their views, experience and ideas on how to improve and transform schools to make them fit to the future.
- Funding agencies interested in sponsoring the initiative.
- International networks involved in education interested in contributing to the promotion and international coordination of the initiative.
- Public institutions and organisations (Ministries of Education, Universities, Research centres) interested in supporting the federated initiative through promotion at national level, sharing of knowledge, research findings and expertise, identification of test beds for school transformation pilots.
- Research/implementation projects active at local, national, regional, international level throughout the world sharing the aim of school transformation and willing to share knowledge, experience and results achieved as well as to discuss jointly with all other actors on how to face encountered challenges.
- Schools of all grades (ages 3-18) in all countries of the world willing to share their experience, to act as test beds, discuss their daily problems and challenges and to be grassroots innovators.
Want to know more about the initiative?
Read the Learning School Manifesto and watch the PPT presentation about the Initiative.
Click here to contribute to the Initiative!
- Help building the map of school transformation
- Endorse the initiative
- Send your comments and suggestions
- Suggest an event where the initiative could be presented and discussed
- Vote the name of the Initiative
Note: the map of school transformation is under construction. Here is a preview of the map; if you wish to contribute you may contact
Contact - The Teachers’ Digest: How Information & Communications Technology has transformed our schools
Whether in Science, Art, Geography, Music, Math or any other subject, ICT has revolutionised teaching and learning. There are many examples of how schools have taken advantage of technology to enhance the teaching-learning process and we wish we could feature them all. We hope that the few examples featured in this issue of Contac - The Teachers’ Digest wil l spark off ideas for yo u so that you, too, can harness technology to let your students’ interests and talents shine brightly.
Atelier-D - Achieving Transformation, Enhanced Learning and Innovation through Educational Resources in Design
The project will look at the development of a virtual design studio space to support student learning throughout the design programme