In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Microsoft Oman announced the winners of two pioneering education initiatives in Oman “Kodu Kup competition” and the “Innovate, Teach, Inspire (ITI)” project.
Kodu Kup competition was designed for students in the Sultanate of Oman, aged 10 to 18, to design, build and submit their own video games using the Microsoft Kodu Game Lab software with no previous programming experience necessary. The Microsoft Kodu Game Lab is an easy-to-use game design tool, for K12 students, which promotes creativity, logic and math skills for children while igniting their interest in future careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
This year’s Kodu Kup Winner is a team comprised of Ohood Al Yafei (teacher), Shaimaa Hassan (student), Rawan Al Yafei (student) and Ganahat Khalid (student).
As part of the “Innovate, Teach, Inspire (ITI)” project 60 master teachers were trained from 2 regions of the Sultanate: Al Sharqiyah North and Al Batinah North; each group receiving training on the Windows in the Classroom curriculum and the 21st Century Learning Design: Learning activities embedding 21st Century Skills.
Three teachers earned recognition awards for their Virtual Classroom Tour project, the winners of the ITI Project are: Ohood Al Yafei, Fahad Bin Nasser Bin Ahmed Alglendani and Hanan Almamari.
“We congratulate the winners on their achievements and we applaud the efforts and hardworking of all participants; they have all gained valuable experience in utilizing IT in the learning / teaching process and we hope to see more initiatives and constructive partnerships with giant companies such as Microsoft which help boost the interactivity level, for both students and teachers, with the econtent and develop new set of skills to adopt in their classrooms,” Issa Khalfan Al Anqoudi Deputy Director, Educational Technology Department, elearning section, Ministry of Education, said.
Al Anqoudi reiterated the Ministry’s appreciations to Microsoft for their efforts, commitment and contribution to the betterment of the educational environment in the Sultanate.
“We are happy to successfully conclude another session of the Kodu Kup and ITI competitions in collaboration with the Ministry of Education in Oman,” Sheikh Saif Hilal Al Hosni, Business Development Manager at Microsoft Oman, said.
“Each year we discover more talents with students and teachers, who are eager to learn new skills and work hard to develop their competences and win challenges. This is the kind of future generation leaders we at Microsoft and the Ministry of Education are hoping to groom in Oman.”
The Kodu Kup competition comes as part of the ongoing efforts of Microsoft and Omani Ministry of Education to disseminate knowledge and educate all segments of the society across the Sultanate especially school students about the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in building a knowledge based society where people can possess the key skills needed to use the modern technology and turn their ideas into reality.