The Microsoft 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum is right around the corner. The event will draw in some of the most innovative minds in the field of education. Educators attending the event will have a rare opportunity to network and connect with likeminded colleagues and she how technology and technique can be blended together to engage students. Given the rapid advancement of technology and its increasing role in daily life, teachers are hard pressed to find new ways to reach students whom are subject to the whims of their mobile devices.
Hundreds of teachers throughout the nation submitted application to Microsoft for their various tech-driven teaching methods. A total of 102 teachers were selected to attend the event. Among them is Melanie Wiscount, a teacher of computer technology at a Palmyra Area High School in Pennsylvania. Microsoft chose Wiscount because of her innovative podcast project.
The project tasked students to create a series of two-minute long documentaries chronicalling the history of local businesses. The short videos were then promoted through printed QR codes. The school caught the attention of the media thanks to the codes and received a significant amount of attention. Wiscount says that the codes were the ideal tool to boost the exposure of the documentaries and is satisfied with the results thus far.
Wiscount will be attending the Microsoft forum at the end of July in Washington. There, she will get a chance to see how others in her field are incorporating emerging technologies.