João Carlos Ramalheiro was the winning Portuguese teacher in the “Teachers' Choice” category, with the project “Oratio Classroom & the World of Music” at the “Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum 2012”, which took place in Prague from November 28th to 2nd from December.
The Portuguese project “Oratio Classroom & the World of Music” was ranked first in the category of Teachers' Choice (“Educators' Choice”) of the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum 2012, an event that took place in Prague from November 28th to 2nd December.
João Carlos Ramalheiro, music teacher at Lousã Schools Group, was thus distinguished by his peers as the mentor of the best project in the competition, as the category in which he won first place results from the vote of all teachers present in the competition .
The 2012 edition of the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum – World Innovative Teachers Contest – was attended by nearly 200 educators, selected from over 250 thousand candidates, in different national and regional events. The winners were selected by an international panel composed of experts in the field of education, and the selection made through virtual 'tours' in the classrooms, and interviews carried out by the juries, in which the educators gave evidence of how their teaching practices innovative technologies enable students to be equipped with crucial skills for the XNUMXst century.
The winning Portuguese project “Oratio Classroom & the World of Music”, which was selected at the European Forum held in Lisbon last March, revolutionizes the teaching of music in the 1st cycle of basic education, starting from the imagination of children and taking it to learn the course contents in an intuitive way using the resources and technologies of the XNUMXst century.
The implementation of the Oratio Classroom project revealed significant improvements in music learning, involving students throughout the process, stimulating children's creativity, enriching new teaching methodologies and creating a higher need to transcribe this concept to a future professional educational platform with multi-application for Windows 8 and exclusive KINECT technology. The integration of technology has thus allowed to improve students' learning and foster their greater interest and motivation, while making classes into spaces where learning can be more fun.
“I am very proud that our project was chosen in such a demanding competition as the PiL Forum in Prague, even more for having had the honor of winning 1st place in the Educators' Choice category, which rewards the choice of Teachers . It's a big motivation for me, for the school and for my students. It was also a fantastic experience to be able to share experiences with other teachers from around the world, brilliant minds, with brilliant projects, with a strong desire to change teaching and fight the resistance installed in school systems since the industrial revolution. I thank from the bottom of my heart to all who worked for this moment: my students, the Oratio Classroom team, the Microsoft Education team, my dear family and, above all, my colleagues and innovative PiL Forum teachers who voted and believed In this project. Now we are going to continue working to show and share this project.”, said João Carlos Ramalheiro after the victory.
According to Vânia Neto, Partners in Learning Program Manager at Microsoft Portugal, “Winning first place in this competition is a source of enormous pride and an example of how technology can contribute to innovation in teaching, making pedagogical practices more interactive and stimulating students' creativity. This is a sign that, even in difficult times, teachers are the real heroes and can make a difference in the future of Education and in the success of students. This award is a great motivation for Microsoft to continue its commitment and investment in training innovative schools and teachers in Portugal, as a partner in Education.”
During Microsoft Partners in Global Learningl Forum, 18 projects were distinguished in six different categories. Winners will be included in the new Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert program, an initiative that aims to recognize teachers worldwide who use technology to transform education. These “experts” will become Microsoft partners in all initiatives to disseminate and share innovative teaching practices for learning outcomes, among teachers and policy makers.
The projects were evaluated by an international panel composed of experts and education professionals from several countries. In this prestigious jury, Portugal was also represented by Fernando Campos, from the Educational Resources and Technologies Team, from the Directorate-General for Education – Ministry of Education and Science.
According to the Director-General for Education Fernando Egídio Reis, “This initiative, which the Directorate-General for Education has supported since its inception, reveals, once again, the value and quality of Portuguese teachers, as well as the work that it takes place in Portuguese schools towards the curricular integration of Information and Communication Technologies and the improvement of the quality of teaching”.
The Microsoft Partners in Learning World Forum was also attended by two Portuguese schools recognized as Microsoft Innovative Schools, whose directors had the opportunity to share experiences and good innovation and leadership practices with other innovative schools from around the world. The Lagoa Secondary School (Azores) is one of the 32 Microsoft Mentoring Schools and the Freixo School Group (Ponte de Lima) is one of the 62 Innovative Schools that this year were distinguished by Microsoft worldwide.
This event was also marked by the announcement of the renewal of investment in Education by Microsoft, through the Program Partners in Learning, having announced an investment of 250 million dollars worldwide over the next five years.
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