Annual Microsoft Showcase School Meet.

Microsoft India hosted its Annual MIE Expert and Showcase School Leaders' Meet on 7th and 8th February, 2017 at Pride Plaza Hotel, Aerocity. The Microsoft Innovative Educator Programs recognise educator visionaries who are incorporating technology to pave the way for better learning and student outcomes. There are a variety of programmes to help both, educators who are just beginning this journeys, as well as educators who are already leaders in innovative education. The Indian School, being a Microsoft Showcase School, was invited to attend the Meet. Vice Principal, Ms. Sukhmeen Cheema and Ms. Minoo Sethi represented our School at the Meet.

The MIE Experts Meet aimed to share best practices, to facilitate collaboration among participating schools and to engage with opportunities that will lead to transformational learning scenarios.

The ground work for the meet started early when the MIE experts from different schools were assigned teams. As per their assigned teams, they had to collaborate with teachers of other schools and create a learning activity to be showcased during the Expert Meet. The learning activities chosen needed to incorporate 21st century learning skills which are now the need of the hour. Each group was given the identity of a persona for the activity. For example, the delocalise teacher persona had to build collaborative learning environments in and out of the classroom focusing on globalthemes that are also found in the local community.

The personalise teacher persona crafted learning that reaches students individually and pays attention tostudent needs. Office Mix, Office Online, and Sway were a few examples of how students could showcase their learning in a variety of ways.

The strategise teacher persona based lesson- decisions on how to best impact every student by using accessibility toolsto ensure equity in education and success through differentiation. The gamify teacher persona knew how to spice things up in the classroom by using simulation and gamification elements to a lesson using Office Mix, Kodu, Touch Develop, and Minecraft: Education edition.

Lastly, the minimise teacher persona made efficiency experts look like rookies by focusing on what really counts: working with students.

As MIE experts from our School, I was assigned the gamify and Ms. Sukhmeen was assigned to work on the minimise persona, based on which she collaborated with teachers from Pailan World School, Kolkata and Parivartan School. The learning activity was titled: 360 degrees digitisation, which showcased the positive effects of complete digitisation in schools through Microsoft Classroom, OneNote Class notebooks, etc. This project was well appreciated by all present.

Under gamify, Minoo Sethi collaborated with teachers of Parivartan School, Blue Bells International, Delhi Public School and Ramjas School to create the learning activity - GET SET GO-LEARNING WITH FUN. In this persona, students of class VI of our School had a Skype session with grade IV students of Parivartan School. It was an interactive session where our students tested their knowledge on the topic PLANETS, using a question - answer round t to arrive at the knowledge. Microsoft tool - Office Mix was used to create a lesson plan on planets for ready reference and the M8 mapping tool was used to create a mind map on collaborative learning through 21st century learning skills. Since gamify was the persona used, the assessment was done in a fun way through a quiz game prepared on Kahoot. A fun element was also added by creating the game Spectacular Flat Verse using the tutorial Microsoft Touch Develop.

The first day of the event saw eminent personalities talk about The Inclusive Educator, Building our Brand and Redefine the Learning Experience with Microsoft Classroom. On the final day of the Meet, the groups under different personas showcased their projects through a learning market place.

The event provided educators and school leaders a very robust platform for the confluence of ideas, collaborative experimentation and charting out new milestones for collective achievement.

As Bertrand Luanay, COO, Microsoft India told participants teachers in his inaugural address, You are teachers of our future leaders-embrace technology the best way you can.

Ms.Minoo Sethi, Ms. Sukhmeen Kaur Cheema.