an estimated 65% of the students
entering school today will have jobs
that do not yet exist computational
thinking and problem solving skills are
key to the future we must prepare our
students for
tomorrow my great-grandfather who was a
marginal farmer had just passed
away leaving my great-grandmother a
young Widow with two sons and no source
of income
to provide for her sons and their future
she had to move to a town
nearby and make some difficult
choices she became a domestic servant
but still could only afford to send one
of her sons to
school while the two boys were close in
age both in grade
school one was seen as being more
responsible while the other was a bit of
a
troublemaker my great-grandmother opted
to send the more responsible diligent
son viewed as having more
potential into the
workforce he became a day laborer at a
construction
side he would continue in that field for
the rest of his life never given the
opportunity to gain new skills and gain
higher level
employment the other son was sent to the
local school and that boy was my
grandfather despite being seen as being
less
responsible he continued through school
and eventually became a police
officer despite entering the workforce
nearly a decade after his
brother his starting salary was
exponentially
higher it was my grandfather's education
and the eventual career that enabled my
father to pursue his own
education which eventually allowed me to
follow my own
passions the opportunity my grandfather
was given impacted the tra
trajectories of the generations to
come this personal story
reflects that often repeated
adage Talent is everywhere but
opportunity is not
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expressvpn now today's event is about
education and
Technology more specifically it is about
empowering the students of today to
create the World of
Tomorrow we live as an amazing time of
technological
progress every aspect of Our Lives
economies and societies are being shaped
by digital
Technologies however technology is also
creating
disruption there's a growing concern
over job growth Economic
Opportunity and the world we're building
for the Next
Generation the real question is how can
technology create more opportunity not
for a few but for
all addressing that question is core to
our mission to empower every person and
every organization on the planet
to achieve
more this is not just a set of words for
us but something we care deeply about
our success is measured by others
success democratizing Educational
Opportunity speaks directly to our
mission and it's one of the most
pressing societal
challenges technology can amplify the
work of of dedicated people and
institutions but rarely can substitute
for it kentaro tooma a former researcher
at Microsoft and the author of the book
geek heresy captures it best when he
says that societal change requires more
than just
technology technocrats as toyoma refers
to them have a tendency to extol the
virtues of technology and view it as a
remedy to all that ails the
system I'm here today as a
heretic we are under No Illusion that
technology alone is the answer to
transforming
education dedicated
administrators great teachers motivated
students and involved parents and
communities are the ones changing educ
education and technology is merely a
tool to
empower their creativity and their
Ingenuity it is this opportunity that
motivates our work in education and
everything you'll see
today one of my favorite parts of the
job is to be able to see and learn from
the students all around the world over
the past two years I've had a chance to
visit students students from 20 plus
countries to see students in Jakarta and
Tel Aviv use the same office tools that
my daughters use in
Seattle how teachers in Tokyo and Madrid
are using Minecraft to teach students
computational
thinking how a group of young female
students in Cairo were inspired to learn
to code and built an app to assist the
Syrian refugees in their own community
I've been struck by the
commonalities amongst the students their
Ingenuity their thirst for
learning diversity and dreams for
future as I've spent time visiting these
classrooms a few things stick out to me
each
time
First Technology should help not hinder
teachers work in the classroom
teachers have constant demands on their
time they must create curriculum grade
tests and papers manage classrooms
discipline educate and
Inspire each time I leave a classroom
the job of a teacher makes my job look
easy in
comparison technology should make
teachers life simpler and Spark students
creativity not distract from
it this is a top priority priority that
we are focused on at
Microsoft today you'll see how we're
delivering an accessible streamlined
platform readily available to all
classrooms so teachers spend less time
focused on technology and more time
doing what they love doing inspiring
students secondly the nature of work is
changing
drastically much of work today happens
in teams within groups of people working
together to solve a problem where the
sum becomes greater than the
parts we need to prepare our students
for this future and enable team-based
learning experiences in the classroom
amongst groups of students between
students and teachers between teachers
and parents what you will see today is
how any classroom can promote learning
through collaboration hubs for teamwork
personalized learning tools and the
ability to
co-create by empowering students to
learn together their educational
opportunities get
better third we must prepare our
students for tomorrow consider the
report from the world economic forums
and their jobs report an estimated 65% %
of the students entering school today
will have jobs that do not yet
exist teachers know this and they are
hungry to equip their students for this
future they know that computational
thinking and problem solving skills are
key to the
future but they also know that they need
to take a much broader view of stem by
bringing stem curriculum alongside
Reading Writing design and art will set
these students up for success in the
future throughout today's presentation
we will show you new technologies
designed to address these needs and most
importantly how technology can Empower
students and teachers to enhance
learning outcomes and create a world of
Tomorrow lastly democratizing
educational opportunity
must be inclusive of everyone not just a
select
few to me this is something that's
deeply
personal this includes students with
disabilities and different learning
styles they must be given an opportunity
to pursue their own
dreams dyslexia is estimated to impact
one in five
people 72% of the classrooms have
students with special learning
needs reading is an essential competency
and once a student falls far behind it's
difficult to catch up and it's just not
about reading you fall behind in every
other subject
area this is something that we aim to
address with the one ner learning tools
designed specifically to help students
with
dyslexia but it can help
students everywhere with their reading
and writing
skills it's been incredible to hear the
feedback from the teachers using this to
teach emerging first grade readers or
from parents who have exhausted their
options seeking help for their dyslexic
children learning to
read or how a teacher in Macedonia use
the learning tools to teach young
students
English we will take a look at how these
learning tools and much more as Terry
meerson joins me
today to share more of the
news to close I want everyone to imagine
the world we're building for
tomorrow just as my grandfather's
opportunity changed the trajectory of
our
family this is what inspires me how how
can we collectively come together to
democratize the educational opportunity
for every student both for this
generation and the generations to come
thank you all very very much
[Music]