For over two decades, Microsoft has invested in fortifying Malaysia’s education system. Teachers and students must have access to the right tools and solutions to ensure Malaysia’s continuous growth in the digital era. Microsoft’s work with Digital Classroom Malaysia exemplifies its commitment to democratizing technology in education. In the educators’ own words, they describe how the education community came together in the face of adversity to leverage Microsoft solutions, empowering each other and their students to achieve more.

A Growing Community of Passionate Educators

“In the first phase of the MCO, we conducted 14 webinars for teachers in an initiative titled ‘From Teacher to Teacher’ (FT2T) and 11 webinars in another program designed to encourage teachers to improve their professional development named “sembang santai”. Both these initiatives leveraged Digital Classroom and was focused on building familiarity with Microsoft tools such as Teams, Sway, Flipgrid, PowerPoint as well as simple coding and digital storytelling. The response from teachers in the Digital Classroom telegram group has been overwhelmingly positive and the group’s membership grew to 52,000 and increasing!

With the launch of DELIMa, Teams is truly becoming our one-stop center for knowledge sharing, teaching and learning. Together with Microsoft and the Digital Classroom team, we hope to keep educators up to date with the latest technology so we can continue to educate our nation’s children and youth, and enrich education in Malaysia.”

A Renewed Vigor to Deploy Technology for Education

“COVID-19 has impacted all of us in many ways. For educators such as myself, one of the bright spots in this unprecedented episode in our nation’s history is the appearance of a renewed vigor for us to incorporate technology into education, to  support students with remote learning in the new normal.

Digital Classroom (DC) along with companies like Microsoft, aim to support teachers in their journey towards effective remote learning. Since its inception, DC set out to achieve its goal with determination and perseverance. We took a step towards polishing teachers’ digital skills by conducting numerous webinars on Microsoft’s Teams platform, and the reception we saw was phenomenal! The enthusiasm and openness of educators, who are all as passionate about learning as they are when it comes to teaching, fueled our efforts to continue exploring the many ways in which technology can facilitate education, whilst keeping students and educators at a safe distance.”

Unity in the Face of Adversity

“When COVID-19 struck our country, the education community immediately banded together to administrate Digital Classroom (DC) Malaysia in collaboration with Microsoft and the Malaysian Ministry of Education. Through DC, we were able to swiftly implement e-class programs to help prepare students for nationwide exams, even during the Movement Control Order (MCO). We ensured no students were left behind, inviting excellent teachers from all around Malaysia to even support students with learning difficulties, leveraging platforms such as Teams and YouTube, to keep education going.

This was not an easy feat, but thanks to the passion of my fellow teachers, and the support from the government and our partners, we succeeded in supporting educators with the transition from a traditional classroom, to a virtual one.”

Teams: Our One-stop Solution to Remote Learning Challenges

“As a staunch supporter of leveraging digital tools to supplement educational learning methods, it was a natural step for me and the team at Digital Classroom (DC) Malaysia to determine how to best resume education in the midst of the Movement Control Order.

This was a challenge unlike any the Malaysian education community has ever faced – the need to immediately shift to remote learning. To this end, software such as Office 365 and more specifically, Teams, provided a one-stop solution to our remote learning challenges. It empowered us to collaborate and communicate among educators, whilst also enabling classrooms to resume virtually.

But of course, this is only the beginning of our digitalization journey. We are constantly exploring Microsoft’s plethora of innovative solutions, to continuously enhance the learning experience for all students in Malaysia.”

The post Digital Classroom Malaysia: Hear From the Educators Themselves appeared first on Microsoft Malaysia News Center.