Microsoft Nigeria; Professor Pat Utomi, founder/CEO at Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL); among other educators have expressed support to Flip Learn Kids Conference (FliplearnCon) organized to explore various depth in the educational system and harness 21st Century models in the country’s learning experience.

During the annual event, school owners, stakeholders and internationally reputable educators gather to discuss emerging trends and technology with the aim of making impact in Nigeria’s educational system.

Speaking at the Conference held at the weekend in Lagos, Prof. Utomi, founder/CEO at Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL), said that 21st Century culture is in transition hence knowledge is changing.

He said that for the country to create a new boisterous economy stimulated by entrepreneurship, it needs a liberated pedagogy, “Where people are allowed to learn about how to tackle their challenges through the global entrepreneurship views”. 

According to him, every generation is supposed to make its shoulders available for the upcoming generation to stand and see its future clearer. “That is where Nigeria has failed. We have created a generation that believes it can’t achieve something tangible unless they are assisted.

He said that the Flip Learn Kids efforts to inundating educators in the country with contemporary teaching tools, is a welcome development that should be supported by all stakeholders.

Microsoft Education, Jordan Alyse Belmonte, education programs manager, Microsoft Nigeria, said, is on a mission to creating immersive and inclusive experiences that inspire lifelong learning, stimulate development of essential life skills, and support educators in guiding and nurturing student passions.

Belmonte said that Microsoft is working with different institutions in education to transform lives and foster economic growth across in the country.

She said, “We invest heavily in education in Nigeria to provide affordable access to technology and experience, especially to academic institutions. The theme of today’s event is ‘Creativity in Learning’, and Microsoft has been on the vanguard to using technology to impact students knowing that not all students learn the same way; some students are visual learners, some, by practical. However, in the classroom environment, that is not easily embraced. But with technology such experience can be realised in the classroom. Microsoft’s quest is to get schools and educators to be at tune with the modern methods teaching the students to develop critical thinking skills, communication and creativity skills that are needed at the present day workplace.

“Microsoft has success stories in Anambra State which adopted the ‘Microsoft Academy’, a digital training platform for teachers. The solution has transformed the secondary school system in the State as it has helped teachers to upgrade their skills and adopting best teaching methodology. The ripple advantage is that the State was among the best with WAEC results in 2015. Due to this solution, the Commissioner for Education also won the best commissioner for education of the year award. Also, hundreds of private schools across the country are adopting the solutions; the Federal Ministry of Education has also approved the solution for Unity Schools. So, we are penetrating different areas of the country, not focusing just in Lagos”.

Aside the Microsoft Academy, she said the global technology giant offers Office365 for every education institution which includes Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, etc., meant for every teacher to develop more interactive process with the students, because of the messaging, inbox, conferencing tools; in fact, it offers the best for schools and we want people to have access to it.

“Microsoft Education is another big platform. We also offer free developers tools for our students to develop professional games and website. We have also gone to the level of giving them free Azure account, for them to store (personal) data while developing their applications. So these are some of the thing are doing to make it easier for schools to adopt Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S.T.E.M) programs”, Belmonte added.

On his part, Clifford Ifebueme, director of Strategy, Flip Learn Kids, said they are working on redefining 21st Century education with a focus on understanding the present and future education barriers, and evolving innovative solutions to address these problems.

“Fliplearn Kids is an EdTech initiative aimed at redefining learning for kids and content delivery for educators. Our aim is to promote internalized learning and do away with rote memorization. Our products and services cater for kids ages 5-16 years, parents and educators. They are the Virtual Reality Demo for Schools.; eCreative Writing; Learning Management System and EdTech Conferences and Training”, he said

Speaking specifically on the ‘Professional Skills Development for Educators’, Ifebueme said that with technology being just a tool and playing a very big role in the kids learning experience, the teachers are also major players in motivating the kids and getting them to work collectively.

“Our trainings are aimed at improving classroom learning experience and skills of teachers through our training programme. Our training programme focuses on the role of the 21st Century teachers and their understanding of the iGeneration, in addition, they are exposed to different technological tools for learning individualization and content delivery.

“Our mission is to redefine learning experience for kids through the use of technology, by being a world-class EdTech company with innovative offerings for redefining learning for kids and content delivery for educators through the use of technology”

“We have the Virtual Reality Demo for Schools. As kids are always intrigued by colours, shapes and sounds and always have a way of exploring things by playing with or using them, we are leveraging on these basic principles of learning to produce excitement, convincing and memorable results. With immersive multimedia quality, there is a higher potential of enhancing the kids learning process. Virtual reality environment can be interesting and similar to the real world creating a lifelike and sensory experience. You can schedule a demo for your school by clicking the link below and we will get you all set up,” he added.