Microsoft and European Schoolnet to Reward Outstanding Teachers With eLearning Awards

BRUSSELS, August 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- European Schoolnet and Microsoft announced a new eLearning Award to reward outstanding teachers in Europe for their work with ICT in education. As part of their work with innovative teachers, Microsoft is supporting the eLearning Awards 2010 and invites all teachers to apply to the special category for outstanding teachers. "Focusing on 21st Century skills, project based learning and interdisciplinary teaching is crucial in order to meet the demands of today's society. And ICT is an important tool in this process. In Microsoft we find it a privilege to be able to contribute to celebration of innovative teachers that are frontrunners in the new way of teaching and learning," said Kirsten Panton, regional leader for Learning in Western Europe.

The eLearning Awards, Europe's leading competition to reward excellence for the best use of technology in education, is organised for the 10th consecutive year by European Schoolnet. It aims to recognise and spread the practices of innovative teachers, and show how ICT helps improve methodology and work in the classroom and positively impacts on children's learning. "It is essential to encourage teachers to adopt 21st century teaching and learning: ICT has now as crucial role to play in all sectors of society and education should not be left apart," said Marc Durando, Executive Director of European Schoolnet.

Microsoft is supporting the competition and in particular the special category for outstanding teachers. This category rewards the most creative and innovative teachers using ICT and is open to different methods and subjects, for instance inspiring work in the art and culture, use of games in learning, and more. (Full criteria list available at: http://elearningawards.eun.org/ww/en/pub/elearningawards/rules.htm)

The winner will receive a prize for its school (cash prize and/or ICT equipment) and an invitation to the prize-giving ceremony. Winning entry will be made available for the whole of Europe via the Learning Resource Exchange.

The prize-giving ceremony, which will be followed by a gala dinner, will take place in Copenhagen on 8 November 2010, during the annual EMINENT conference. The EMINENT conference is a major European event in education, which brings together ICT policy makers from Agencies and Ministries of Education, experts, researchers and leading eLearning suppliers from the commercial sector.

This year, EMINENT is associated to the Uddanelsesforum, a national forum on education organised by UNI-C, the Danish agency for ICT in education, to held the first EMINENT for teachers. This special event aims to encourage the sharing of best practices among teachers and highlights the opportunities offered by ICT to improve pedagogy and learning.

    To register for the eLearning Awards, and submit your entry, visit:
    http://elearningawards.eun.org
    The deadline is 28 September 2010.
    About Microsoft

Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/education) believes that the evolving demands of the global economy make education vital to sustainable social and economic success. Microsoft has a long tradition for committing to and supporting education. An example of this is the investment made in the Partners in Learning program that is a global initiative designed to actively increase access to technology and improve its use in learning. The goal is to help schools gain better access to technology, foster innovative approaches to pedagogy and teacher professional development and provide education leaders with the tools to envision, implement and manage change.

About the eLearning awards

Since 2001, the eLearning Awards competition ( http://elearningawards.eun.org) has been run by European Schoolnet and supported by key industry partners. Ten years after its launch, the eLearning Awards remain Europe's leading competition to reward excellence for the best use of technology in education.

About European Schoolnet

European Schoolnet (http://www.europeanschoolnet.org) is a network of 31 Ministries of Education in Europe and beyond. EUN was created more than 10 years ago with the aim to bring about innovation in teaching and learning through the use of ICT for its key stakeholders: Ministries of Education, schools, teachers and researchers.

SOURCE European Schoolnet