Egypt’s Ministry of Education announces it has signed an agreement with Microsoft Egypt to provide a digital educational environment for students and teachers.
This is part of its efforts to ensure the safety of all educational system members. Whilst ensuring learning continues across the country as the world grapples with the coronavirus crisis.
Twenty million students and one million teachers are set to benefit from the unified platform.
The partnership will see the activation of an E-service for the entire Ministry of Education and Technical Education. It will also equip educators and students with solutions such as Microsoft Office 365.
Microsoft will implement the digital educational environment through its local partners Cairo Codes and BlueCloud.
Check out other stories making the news in the technology ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East.
Central University of Technology, South Africa, is introducing an Artificial Intelligence university programme powered by Microsoft.
To firstly skill employees with the in-demand skill and secondly address the demand for the skill in the province and South Africa in general.
The Artificial Intelligence university programme is developed by Microsoft and will be delivered by Microsoft Partner Gijima. The initiative is also in partnership with the Free State Provincial Government.
It will comprise of a 12-month blended learning model of self-study, online learning, classroom instructor-led training and a flipped classroom. The program will include; Mentorship and coaching by industry experts, Business skills, Microsoft Azure AI Associate Certification, Flipped Classroom, Guest Lecturers, Career days, Examination and Certification.
The program is designed to pass on skills employers value and need. By teaching graduates with limited or no work experience to explore, transform, model, and visualise data. As well as to create the next generation of intelligent solutions.
The collaborative nature of the Artificial Intelligence university Programme will unlock the value of AI and the role it will play in workplaces of the future says Microsoft South Africa Managing Director, Lillian Barnard.
By bringing together private and public sector partners, students, facilitators, mentors, coaches, and industry experts, the programme will enable the development of critical AI skills that will help our young people become more work-ready and employable, as well as help organizations, adapt to the ever-changing demands of the world of work.
Lillian Barnard
The training and certification program started on the 3rd of July 2020 with the Innovation Services of CUT (CUTis) and the Free State Provincial Government. The program will become available to the general public for enrolment from 2021.
Microsoft Education Lead for North, West, East & Southern Africa, Levant & Pakistan countries, Angela Nganga, shares on what learners and facilitators can do to ensure a safe digital learning environment as they learn.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world, quoted South African activist and former president Nelson Mandela. Investment in education is one of the biggest investments any country can make for its current and future generation. Currently, around 420 million people across the world would be lifted out of poverty with secondary education consequently improving the quality of life globally by more than half.
Today, as more and more people across the African continent are required to stay home due to government lockdown interventions, we are seeing a massive shift towards remote learning. This has meant the growth in the usage of collaborative tools such as Microsoft’s Teams to create virtual classrooms wherein educators can communicate with their students in real-time.
In the Middle East and Africa Emerging markets alone, over 1.5 Million students and teachers are leveraging Microsoft Teams as the remote learning platform during this period.
Through such platforms, educators can connect with and support students in much the same way they could in person with live meetings wherein they are able to show video, share presentations, and even invite external speakers for virtual field trips.
But, as students and educators move online, naturally there is an increase in the risks to security and safety.
As we adjust to the new normal and governments take the much needed next steps towards safely re-opening the economies and adopting possible return to school strategies, blended learning will play a key role in ensuring that some of the non – essential aspects of learning that do not require face to face interaction are enabled while ensuring the online safety and security of students.
Educational institutions, therefore, need to take steps to ensure that digital learning environments are safe by setting up concrete policies and restrictions when using these tools to guard students’ safety, while also ensuring that online classrooms remain engaging and giving educators the tools they need to create a focused learning environment.
Restricting access to meetings can safeguard students
There have already been multiple occurrences around the world wherein unauthorised users have gained access to virtual classrooms.
Just this month alone we’ve seen an online graduation ceremony interrupted with racial slurs by hackers, last month a man gained access to an online class and exposed himself and another online lecture was interrupted by playing audio of inappropriate content.
When educators set up meetings to teach students a link is created which participants can use to enter these meetings. Sharing these links online to reach students can seem like a quick and easy way to communicate with students when and how to enter live meetings but this also opens meetings up to anyone who sees the link.
To ensure the safe digital learning environment of educators and students, administrators should instead create identities (or profiles) for each student and teacher which requires them to log into the tool to join the meeting. Within Teams, administrators can thereafter choose to turn off the ability for anonymous users to join the meeting by changing it within the meeting policies.
Within meetings, educators can also make sure that all students are present in the classroom and there are no unexpected attendees by selecting “show participants” in the meeting controls giving them greater control over who is admitted into the lesson.
Managing the virtual classroom keeps students safely engaged
Educators are often required to manage students in physical classrooms to ensure good behaviour and keep students focused on learning the coursework being taught. This is required when teaching online as well.
Online classrooms introduce a new dynamic for both teachers and students alike making managing disruptions and curbing inappropriate messaging, a task which educators need to perform in new ways. Now, these disturbances can also appear in the form of unauthorised users with disruption often being their main goal.
To manage disruptions while ensuring the safety of students, administrators should limit students’ ability to schedule meetings, initiate private calls, and monitor chat sessions to remove inappropriate messaged in channel meetings. This can be done by restricting meeting roles for students within a meeting.
Educators can control the learning environment further in Teams by creating meetings for classes within specific channels which allows them to disable student-to-student chat if necessary and allows them to track class discussions in context.
Other functionalities such as being able to blur video backgrounds, mute participants, and control who can present during the meeting are key for ensuring safe learning for students with Teams.
A new world of learning
We have entered an unexpected and often challenging time where in just over a month the education landscape has completely transformed. But as we have also seen, technology is a powerful tool that can be used to overcome these challenges and sometimes even improve on functions such as learning. With technology, education can be interactive, engaging, and controlled as long as we ensure digital security to protect students and staff online.
As a way to support educational institutions as they work to ensure a safe digital learning environment, Microsoft has created a more in-depth guide to serve as a foundation to their safety plans, and thus help to give teachers, students, and parents’ peace of mind while also making learning more productive.
UNICEF is bringing its Learning Passport platform powered by Microsoft to the youth of Jordan. To help them continue their learning and skills development at home amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The platform offers courses in advanced coding and software development, Microsoft Arabic digital literacy courses, life skills, social entrepreneurship and English language.
UNICEF Learning Passport is free and provides content in both online and offline formats. The launch in Jordan means it is the first version to be launched in Arabic and in the Middle East Region.
Through our partnership with UNICEF and The University of Cambridge on the Learning Passport, we are able to rapidly provide a locally-relevant remote learning solution. That ensures continuous access to education for millions of youth in Jordan says Roula Chehab, Microsoft Jordan Country Manager.
“At Microsoft, our priority has been to find ways for technology to improve people’s lives and bring the promise of technology to those who are most at risk of being left behind in this era of digital transformation. Our focus includes closing the skills gap and ensuring that our solutions benefit all youth to become tomorrow’s leaders. Unlocking this potential for all students to learn through immersive and inclusive learning experiences.”
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If you have been planning to skill up on Microsoft’s cloud technology, Azure, here is an opportunity. No matter your level, GreyCampus is offering you their Azure courseware for free during this time of Covid-19.
The courses span; Azure Fundamentals, Microsoft 365 Fundamentals, Azure Administrator, Azure, Architect and Azure Developer.
While social distancing becomes the need of the hour, it calls for self-care, overall well-being and above all staying positive. During these times, we, at GreyCampus, believe learning is the gateway to growth, engagement and success. We have taken an initiative to serve our patrons and community through a wide array of Microsoft official courseware being offered free of charge for a limited period.
The Azure courseware valued at between $800 to $2500 are free till August 2020. To access the courses, visit GreyCampus via this link and register. After registration you will recieve a license code to the registered email address with 24 hours. With the code, you can now start learning.
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DynExcAfrica brings digital skills training to girls in northern Cote d’Ivoire with support from Microsoft Philanthropies. The initiative dubbed DynExcAfrica STEM Tour, skilled six hundred and seventy two girls across M’bengué, Dikodougou, Sinématiali and Korhogo.
Étape de M’bengué terminée. 2 jours d’apprentissage et de partage des @STEM avec 248 filles. Objectif très atteint on attendait 200 filles. Nous avons semé la graine de la technologie. Merci à notre partenaire @Microsfot. pic.twitter.com/0AwZ6ts6MV
The tour is an initiative by DynExcAfrica to encourage girls pursure STEM programs. With the aim of bridging the digital divide, Fognon Maimouna KONE, founder of the initiative shares. She also seeks to reach girls in underserved areas of Côte d’Ivoire with the training.
She notes the initiative is an opportunity for girls outside the capital city to familiarize themselves with digital technology and become agents of technological evolution in Africa.
Ce que nous recherchons c’est de réduire la fracture numérique féminine qui est très forte dans des villes en dehors de la capitale. Donner la chance aux de se familiariser avec le numérique et être des actrices principales de l’évolution technologique en Afrique car elles ont le potentiel. Leur faire connaitre les challenges de la technologie, le monde de la programmation. Permettre aux filles d’apprendre à travers la pratique la magie de la science afin qu’elles n’aient plus peur de la série scientifique.
Other partners of the tour include Learning for all, Simplon CI, We Fly Agri, AfricaBot and BoraKids.
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