As digital technologies make their way in the classrooms, complex questions emerge. How might schools best embrace digital transformation? How might education be transformed so that teachers and students are future-ready? How might innovative pedagogies that go beyond the use of digital tools be created? How might inclusive, empowering learning environments for the 21st century be designed?
While there are no easy answers, a growing global community of education innovators is actively working on shaping the future of digital education and learning through forward-thinking solutions. Switzerland is uniquely positioned to be a global centre of digital education innovation, not only in higher education but already starting from early childhood. It has a reputation of an education, science and technology pioneer and a strong national agenda focusing on digital transformation.
HundrED together with a strong team of local partners - We Are Play Lab Foundation, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, Jacobs Foundation, Stiftung Mercator Schweiz, Beisheim Stiftung, digitalswitzerland next generation, and the Zurich University of Teacher Education - launched the Spotlight Switzerland - Digital Transformation at School in May 2019. The initiative aims to identify kindergarten, primary- or secondary school teachers who are leading innovation in digital learning and education in their classrooms, share these emerging good practices with other educators and support them to further develop their projects.
From May to July, more than 60 inspiring kindergarten, primary and secondary school educators from across the country submitted their projects illustrating emerging good practices for digital transformation in the classroom. In August, an expert jury reviewed all submitted applications using the descriptive factors that have been shown in innovation literature and HundrED’s research to play a significant role in establishing innovativeness, impact, and scalability in educational innovations. Ten inspiring emerging good practices were selected by the expert jury that will be announced on October 30th, 2019 at Campus Seminar Zurich. The Spotlight Switzerland innovators will receive grants summing up CHF 120’000 for further development of their projects. You can discover these projects and meet the Swiss education innovators at the HundrED Innovations Summit in Helsinki on November 6th - 8th.
Throughout the project, it was reiterated many times that teachers are key actors of change in education and need all our support. Through their everyday presence in the classroom and their transformative activities with the students, they can significantly contribute to transforming the education system to meet the demands of tomorrow.
To know more about the Spotlight on Switzerland & Digital Transformation At School, click here.