Day 1 had finally arrived. It was with great excitement and wonder that I boarded the bus for my first day at the Microsoft Partners in Learning Institute, based at Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Washington. 90,000 people work for Microsoft worldwide with about 40,000 on the main campus in Redmond. While 25 million emails are sent and received each day a staggering 23 million are blocked as spam! Wow I wonder whether my school exchange servers could cope with that demand! What amazed me the most was that Microsoft employees must be thirsty people as they consume 87,000 ‘soda’ cans each day which in turn results in 90,000 recycle bins having to be emptied each week!!
I am sure that every ‘Geek’ dreams of the day when they can say they have visited the home of ‘Computer Technology’… I felt like a kid in a candy store!
Powerful words from Lauren Woodman the General Manager of Partners in Learning opened the Institute and set us on the path for a fun filled week of learning and collaborating.
Microsoft’s underlying philosophy “Every child has the right to an excellent education” and “An excellent teacher is at the heart of an excellent education” are two of the quotes that Lauren shared with us as she congratulated us on our achievements and welcomed us to the Microsoft Community.
Some of Nelson Mandela’s famous words echoed in the minds of the 31 educators who had gathered together to explore exactly how technology can help bring about change in education; “Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”.
Our first task for the day was to define 21st Century learning and state the characteristics of learners, teachers and the environment. The Partnership for 21st Century skills website - http://www.p21.org/ provided us with a starting point and the rest was left up to us!! My group made some excellent ‘wordles’ www.wordle.org to show our learning and understanding.
I am sure that every ‘Geek’ dreams of the day when they can say they have visited the home of ‘Computer Technology’… I felt like a kid in a candy store!
Powerful words from Lauren Woodman the General Manager of Partners in Learning opened the Institute and set us on the path for a fun filled week of learning and collaborating.
Microsoft’s underlying philosophy “Every child has the right to an excellent education” and “An excellent teacher is at the heart of an excellent education” are two of the quotes that Lauren shared with us as she congratulated us on our achievements and welcomed us to the Microsoft Community.
Some of Nelson Mandela’s famous words echoed in the minds of the 31 educators who had gathered together to explore exactly how technology can help bring about change in education; “Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”.
Our first task for the day was to define 21st Century learning and state the characteristics of learners, teachers and the environment. The Partnership for 21st Century skills website - http://www.p21.org/ provided us with a starting point and the rest was left up to us!! My group made some excellent ‘wordles’ www.wordle.org to show our learning and understanding.
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