The Knowledge L’avenir Conclave (KLC) webinar series, which started on 7th September 2020 created history in Indian education after just 18 webinars when the first assessment was held on Sunday, 27th September 2020. In the initial 18 days, 300 teachers trained nearly 5,000 teachers from across the country – from Ambala to Agra to Aligarh to Ambernath; Kanpur to Kalyan to Coimbatore, Hosur to Hyderabad to Vellore; Pune to Tirupur to Bengaluru; Mangalore to Vizag to Goa, so on and so forth.
The Schools who attended these conclaves were as follows:
- Knowledge L’avenir Conclave registered schools whose requirement was 100% attendance in the L’avenir and 100% MIE certified teachers.
- Digital Transformation and Holistic Learning Program registered teachers attended the conclave to witness high quality of teaching in these webinars.
- The third category of teachers who attended were from schools across the country who got 2 free passes to attend these webinars.
As it is important for teachers to get a degree/ diploma in teaching to become a qualified teacher, similarly to be recognized as a digital teacher MIE certificate is necessary in post-COVID-19 world.
Largest ever
Tech Avant-Garde, a Global Training Partner of Microsoft in Education, conducted the KLC assessment of thousands of teachers on Sunday, 27th September 2020. Teachers from across the country took this test in large numbers. And 3,173 teachers passed the test and qualified as Microsoft Innovator Educators (MIEs). This was the largest congregation of teachers taking the test to become MIE certificated in a single day in anywhere in the world.
Speaking at the Event, Ali Sait, CEO of Tech Avant-Garde, said, “Teacher is most important stakeholder of education by empowering the teachers we can empower the entire society. If teachers are not digitally skilled, our formal education will collapse and it will have a serious impact on our human capital.” He went on to say “In today’s world where knowledge is the greatest asset, the benefits of the information-rich, technology-enhanced, Connected Learning environment must be extended to empower students, teachers, parents, schools and entire communities to learn without limits”.
First amongst equals
The highest percentage of marks was 100%, followed by 97% in second place and 94% in third place. In first 3 positions there were 63 teachers. In the first place, it was Anamika L. with 100% from Mathakondapalli Model School – Hosur; while Akansha Singh from TCIS Bengaluru and Vineeth Chandrasekar from Litera Valley Zee School Hosur were in 2nd place with 97%. These 63 teachers were felicitated on 2nd October 2020 at the Connected Learning Community (CLC) Carte Blanche Graduation 2020 event, which is held to celebrate the Digital Transformation of schools from Bricks and Mortar setups to Connected Learning Community vision of UNESCO.
MIE certified teachers who made their schools proud
Anamika L. – 100% – Mathakondapalli Model School
Vineeth C. – 97% Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Akansha Singh – 97% – The Cambridge International School (TCIS)
Kaveri Venkatesh – 97% – The Orbis School, Keshavnagar, Pune
Swetha T. – 97% – Litera Valley Zee School
Subhashre – 97% – Lawrence High School
Deepika – 97% – TCIS, The Cambridge International school, Harlur, Bangalore
Muthupriya S. – 97% – Mathakondapalli Model School
Blessy Jenifer – 94%- Mathakondapalli Model School
Swathi – 94% – Lawrence High School
Prathime – 94% – Lawrence High School
Ratnesh Kumar – 94% – Arya Gurukul
Manju Mishra – 94% – Dr. Virendra Swarup Education Centre, Shyam Nagar, Kanpur
Siva Kumar – 94% – Chinmaya International Residential School
Kavitha – 94% – Lawrence High School
Helen – 94% – Lawrence High School
Malini Raghu – 94% -Lawrence High
Sindhu Bairavi V – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Lovely Bhat – 94% -TCIS, Whitefield
Lakshmi Madhavi – 94% -Lawrence High School ICSE HSR Layout
Kavya Gowda – 94% – Little Aryans Pre-K
Mehrunisa Khan – 94% – Arya Gurukul High School
Divya Borse – 94% -Arya Gurukul Nandivali
Veena Nair – 94% – Arya Gurukul School, Kalyan.
Jasia Alonce – 94% – Arya Gurukul
Krishnaveni T. – 94% – The Cambridge International School
Neelavathi P – 94% -Chinmaya International Residential School , Coimbatore
Venkateshwari Nadar – 94% – Arya Gurukul
Periyasamy P. – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Muthu B. M. – 94% – Lawrence High School Koramangala Bangalore
Kasthuri R. – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School
Suman James – 94% – Sunshine Worldwide School
Madhuri Sharma – 94% – Lawrence High School
Navya V. – 94% – The Cambridge International School Bangalore
Nipurna Mahesh – 94% – Greenfield Public School
Aarthy N. – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School
Kalaiselvi S. – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Sneha Kale – 94% – The Regency Public School, Bangalore
Vijayshree Pandey – 94% – Dr. Virendra Swarup Education Centre, Shyam Nagar, Kanpur
Jitender Arora – 94% – D.A.V. Public School, Ambala Cantt
Ekta Rajput – 94% – DAV Public School, Ambala Cantt
Deepitha K. R. – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Vaneet Makin – 94% – The Cambridge International School Bangalore
Sruthy Benny – 94% – The Cambridege International School, Bangalore
Tiana – 94% – The Cambridge International School, Bangalore
Janhavi Kamble – 94% Arya Gurukul,Kalyan
Roopa B Staff – 94% – The Cambridge International School
Remya Shijith – 94% – The Cambridge International School
Logambal A – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Chandrasekar R. – 94% Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Bhuvaneswari N- 94% – Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Neeru Sharma – 94% – DAV Public School Ambala Cantt
Anjuli Malhotra – 94% – DAV Public School
Sumedha Vaish – 94% – DAV Public School, Ambala Cantt.
Tanvinder Chadha – 94% – DAV Public School
Nagamanjula P. – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Kavinder Chona – 94% – DAV Public School
Sheeladevi M. – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School
Avneet Kaur – 94% – Dr. Virendra Swarup Education Centre, Shyam Nagar, Kanpur
Pavitra M – 94% – Mount Litera Valley Zee School
Farzana A. – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur
Sailaja N. – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School
Asha A – 94% – Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur.
Mixed feelings: Caterpillars into butterflies
On a historic day coinciding with the birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhiji and former Indian Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastriji, the principals and teachers had mixed feelings and emotions. Some said that they were moving from darkness to light. Others said that after all the talk and fears, KLC had propelled them towards the much-awaited action of becoming digital citizens of the world. Yet others said they felt nice that they were not moving blindly in a digital world. And some others felt that they started the process of conquering many more digital learning frontiers. Some felt that every cloud has silver lining and COVID-19 had transformed caterpillars into butterflies. Most teachers felt that they were on Cloud 9.
Principals were happy that children in their schools had not missed a single class and had not been deprived of learning during the pandemic lockdown. They were happy that teachers had finally embarked upon the journey of becoming lifelong learners with digital classroom learning/ teaching. They were happy that digital tools were helping teachers forge new relationships with peers from across India and the world. Others felt that they were happy and relieved to do admissions online by building a robust ERP system. And finally, they noted that Parents had started writing letters complimenting schools instead of usual letters of complaints.
Education industry experts were happy that the customary classroom had transcended beyond four walls! They had never imagined that the pandemic crisis will lead to edu-warriors becoming resilient and overcoming the calamity into an opportunity for reimagining and reskilling! They lauded the great efforts and resourcefulness of Indian teachers and principals. They appreciated that teachers have done a wonderful job of coming out of their comfort zone and overcoming difficulties and tough times. They want them to build on the same do better in terms of being more effective, enjoyable and enlightening…
Vox Populi
Young Principal from IT background Arockia Jerald MMS (Mathakondapalli Model School) High School Hosur (ISO 9001:2015 certified) said, “Our motto is ‘Liberating Creativity’. This journey of KLC urged us to liberate the latent creativity within our teachers and this led to many success stories despite trials and tribulations. Our teachers teamwork is praiseworthy. We are proud that our teacher Anamika brought laurels to our school. We thank our management for their continuing freedom and support.”
Saman Sherwani of Blossoms School, Aligarh, said, “Aligarh has always been the seat of progressive learning. KLC boosted the confidence of our teachers. Teachers are now exploring a new digital learning world beyond class walls and also textbooks using VR, AR and mixed reality.”
Dr Priyadarshi Nayak, Principal, Doon Public School Agra reminisced about how school teachers were stuck during pandemic but when this KLC program came, it got them all excited and they participated wholeheartedly. “Agra is known to the world thanks to the Taj Mahal but now our teachers are making themselves known to the world. The technological inputs is ushering in a new era of Digital Transformation and Holistic learning with MIE certified teachers becoming not just tech-savvy but implementing and executing digital classroom teaching programs.”
Educator Bharat Malik of Arya Gurukul Group said, “The future is all about hybrid merging physical and online teaching models. Now is the time to plan a long term foundation for the future of our children. Tech Avant-Garde’s platform eliminates fear as collaborative learning starts with digital connectivity. The Connected Learning Community paves the way for Happy Teacher, Happy Child, Happy Learning! Everything is online — Ganesh Chaturthi, Independence Day, Environment Day, Digital Admissions, etc.
Deepak Khaitan of Sunshine Worldwide School Goa expressed that he was amazed watching teachers deploy the latest Microsoft tools and techniques. He wants them to forge ahead in the digital world. Goa is known throughout the world as a tourist hub and now its teachers will get connected to the global education community after getting digitally qualified and certified, he said.
Dr Sunanda Jettiof SDM TPP, Odisha said, “We were apprehensive but thanks to KLC we feel connected to our peers in India and abroad. Puri and Kaling have always been the seat of learning and now with Carte Blanche Graduation, our schools and teachers have shown our progressive ways and how we are ahead of our times.”
Shanti Krishnamurthy Director of Chinmaye Residential International School Coimbatore emphasised that their teachers always wanted to embark upon digital teaching but were not sure how to go about this. They are thrilled that Tech Avant-Garde and Microsoft are now showing them a new world and helping to explore new possibilities.
Brinda of St Thomas Gopiganj Kanpur said, “Digital classroom training is now a necessity. Knowledge sharing has become easy thanks to technology. Microsoft has a robust syllabus, tools and techniques in education thanks to its global presence. It is brining the world to Indian teachers. It is helping teach as well as assess students. It is helping upcountry school manage difficult challenges.”
Balavinder Kaur of Arya Gurukul Ambernath said that she is honoured to be recognized as a CLC educator. “CLC can help us become part of the global world. We can adapt and adopt digital technologies, methodologies and mindsets. KLC has touched every educator and inspired him/her. It has exposed us to new 21st tools, empowered autonomous and collaboration. We all are now working as one cohesive entity. School teachers are becoming students and emerging as 21st century teachers.”
Santosh Kannavali, Principal, Subbiah Central School Tirupur, said, “Microsoft ASPIRE school teachers learn great deal. The experiences at KLC comprised best practices — teachers take great strides to becoming digital natives and innovators. As MIE-certified Microsoft teacher, CLC takes us global on a 24×7 basis. We can also do networking or scheduling or organising at a click of a mouse.”
Asha Shrinivas Reedy Principal of Priyadarshi Moshi School, Pune said that their teachers had always idolised Satya Nadella and becoming MIEs were a proud moment for them. In the beginning, they were nervous of whether they would be able to deliver the same quality as they did in traditional teaching. They have now decided to take it further for the benefit of students. The teachers got to know things, which they were not familiar with! They experienced cohesive learning being part of a global learning community. Now they were not restricted to same four walls but could explore the world beyond.”
Asif Daruwala Director Crescent High School Pune, said, “Teaching has now become more relatable to students. It’s a role reversal of sorts. Teachers have now become students. They can now give personalised feedback on students to parents. KLC and MIE training enhanced the versatility of the school and teachers. saving time and increasing efficiency. Everything now happens in real time.”
The Principal of St Mary’s School Kalyan said, “Technology is transforming education from erstwhile teacher’s style of teaching towards students’ way of learning. Tech is empowering students in front of their parents. The best experience is going digital, which is taking us into a world beyond. Now teachers can now feel the power that they can unleash with mixed reality — combining traditional and digital teaching strategies. They are now identifying areas of growth and becoming learners for life. Digital tools are helping to promote collaborations forging new relationships.”
The Principal of Samsidh Vellore said that teachers from Vellore are now connected to their global peers adapting to the latest 21st technology.
Rekha Sinha, Principal, Samsidh MLZS Horamavu Bengaluru, said that their journey of a digital classroom started three years back. “The pandemic provided a silver lining and enhanced the teacher’s digital learning process. They can now handle tech with much more confidence. KLC is a solid platform, which has boosted confidence. Getting MIE certified is a great achievement and teachers grown as a learning community. We are honoured to be part of this community.”
Judith Singh, Principal of Cambridge High School Bengaluru, saluted the bravery of teachers, who are now adept at online classes. She said that the teaching staff now explored an elevated and enhanced teaching methodology. They learnt digital software at KLC and it was a great experience.”
K. V. Vincent, Principal Huddard School Kanpur, said, “Those who had got used to customary classroom teaching never imagined that they would reimagine themselves and their methodologies in a crisis or calamity. They not just overcame the crisis but also moved forward. This is a great effort by resourceful teachers. They took several initiatives and interacted with their teams. Teachers have done a wonderful job of coming out of their comfort zone; facing difficulties and tough times.”
Dr. Kulbhushan Sharma spoke about the sorry plight of teachers in rural India and the need to empower rural school teachers. He said that in rural India, schools were located at quite some distance. Imagine if the school can go to the students in the form of digital classroom on a mobile phone handset.
Roshini Kumar, Director, LYCEE Corp., said, “Initially, schools were not sure of adoption. We took all stakeholders including parents in each school and appointed subject experts, who were tech savvy in every school. We also conducted extra-curricular activities and transformed physical school into digital classrooms in a methodical way. Gen Extra Muros provides knowledge beyond four walls of a classroom and demonstrates how to conduct collaborative initiatives. Students will now interact with knowledge workers across and their peers.”
Tech Avant-Garde recognised as ET Industry Leaders 2020 Awards List for Software Innovation in Ed-Tech
Ali Sait of Tech Avant-Garde (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/partners/showpartnersdetails.aspx?id=2076473&i=false&t=1&p=1&ps=24) has been recognised in ET Industry Leaders 2020 Awards List for Software Innovation in Ed-Tech.
TAG is undertaking Digital Transformation & Holistic Learning program to make Indian school principals and teachers future-ready. Every year, the Microsoft Global Training Partner (GTP) program connects Training Partners to thousands of education leaders, educators, and faculty throughout the world – helping them to best leverage technology for teaching and learning, no matter where they are. Microsoft announced ‘Teams for Education’ features to engage and prepare students and teachers for new remote and hybrid learning formats in the upcoming school year.
To ensure all professional development (PD) sessions are consistent, all Global Training Partners have undergone an official Microsoft training program enabling them to deliver in-depth learning experiences aligned to the Education Transformation Framework on behalf of Microsoft. This engagement is highly advisable for every school by upskilling teachers thereby ensuring that students and educators have everything they need to excel. The network of Global Training Partners offers professional development experiences several of the 5 following areas: Education Transformation Framework; Modern Classroom Teacher Academies; Future-Ready Skills and Industry Certifications; Minecraft: Education Edition; and Hacking STEM.
TAG unveiled NEP-compliant Learning Management System (LMS) software called AZVASA, which helps teachers with STUDY, REVISE & ASSESSMENT modules. AZVASA Connect is a complete School Management Solution having Teacher – Student – Parent Connect in one platform.
TAG-Microsoft will deploy emerging tech-driven ideas such as Skype in Classroom and Virtual field trips instead of the traditional ‘chalk and talk’. As home schools become the new normal, Cognitive learning, Mixed Reality, Immersive Learning, IOT and AR-VR will eventually reach students at home. School teachers trained in Gen Extra Muros – Knowledge Beyond Walls pedagogy – will understand essential tools such as Microsoft Teams, One Note, Flipgrid, Padlet, Powerpoint and others that improve the quality of their teaching and lead to a holistic learning experience for students.
Carte Blanche School: Empowered School
Every school in the Connected Learning Community is education’s home base, operations center, and data center. It is where teachers and students meet, discuss projects, establish learning goals, solicit help from one another and embark on new missions of discovery and creativity. These schools have embraced technology and made the organizational changes necessary to use it effectively.
Schools can continuously improve and provide efficient service. With a ubiquitous network, enterprise software can help schools track inputs — such as finances, procurement, inventory, schedules, human resource information and student demographics — and outputs, such as performance information on pre-determined benchmarks and goals. With better management information, schools can make better decisions. However, such data management requires an organizational commitment from the highest levels of leadership.
Schools support teachers, students, and families and reorganize to take advantage of technology Using technology; schools encourage teachers to experiment with team teaching, longer class periods, experiential learning, or other pedagogical models. Such organizational change can unleash the power of teacher and student creativity.
Administrators must ensure that teachers are equipped with the information resources that they need such as just-in-time information on students, local and state standards, lesson plans and content reviews.
Administrators must also ensure that parents have the information that they need such as on-demand, convenient access to student grades, absences, learning goals, school projects and other information.
5,000 teachers still counting all the way to 2.6 crore…
TAG has already started the record-breaking Knowledge L’avenir Conclave (KLC) webinars in association with Microsoft, Knowledge Key Foundation, Lycee Corp, Efeeonline and Roshini Social Schooling. Over the next 12 weeks (till November 2020), 3,000 professionally trained teachers will exhibit their Digital Teaching Skills and train over 150,000 teachers from over 72,000 schools across India with a student-teacher-parent population of 7.6 crore. This grand education showcase is part of Mr. Sait’s vision to transform 18 lakh schools in India from four walls of the classroom to Connected Learning Community after the announcement of the National Education Policy (NEP).
Training and certification of 5,000 teachers is just the tip of the iceberg, Tech Avant-Garde is finding ways to digitally skill 2.6 crore teachers in India and many more across the world.
Also read: 3,100+ teachers certified as Microsoft Innovative Educator by Tech Avant-Garde