SEAMEO INNOTECH and Goethe Institut to develop Regional Digital Learning Platform in SEA
With the significant role of technology in education and the contribution of education to the digital knowledge society, SEAMEO INNOTECH and Goethe Institut collaborated to develop a Regional Digital Learning Platform in Southeast Asia. The platform is said to foster project-based thinking among educators in the creative use of digital tools through virtual environments. It will revolve around key 21st Century education themes such as “Curiosity”, “Imagination”, “Innovation”, “Reflective Thinking”, “Critical Thinking” and “Multilingual Communication”.
In line with this project, the two organizations conducted a joint workshop in Manila, Philippines on 20-22 April 2016 to conceptualize the platform in detail. The 3-day workshop was attended by two representatives from each SEAMEO member country—one representative from the Ministry of Education involved with digital education strategies and one school director from a potential pilot school—and international experts in the field of digital education.
Through the workshop, participants were able to share some of their countries’ initiatives in digital education, express their opinions and insights on the proposed project, as well as suggest content, technology to be used, distribution method, and assessment plans for the regional platform. Experts from Dubit (USA) and KIDS Interactive (Germany) also shared their projects on digital education, like the use of virtual reality and augmented reality, to help the participants conceptualize the platform.
The organizers target to pilot test the platform in the fourth quarter of 2018, after several content workshops and development reviews.
Goethe Institut is a non-profit German cultural association which has been active in promoting inquiry-based learning through a range of capacity building initiatives for teachers and media content creators with special emphasis in the areas of science, technology, mathematics and language learning.
