What is #ASEFClassNet?
For over two decades, the ASEF Classroom Network (#ASEFClassNet) has been providing capacity-building opportunities for collaborative teaching and learning and a platform to explore the potential of cutting-edge EdTech tools and the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in secondary, high, and vocational schools in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Partner countries. Its target group is broad, given its intergenerational & multi-stakeholder outreach. It ranges from students, teachers, school leaders, teacher trainers, researchers, policymakers, and to EdTech experts. Since its inception, about 2,000 teachers from all 51 ASEM Partner countries have participated in and become members of the ASEF Classroom Network. As a result, about 35,000 students have been engaged in over 430 Asia-Europe School Collaborations and local spin-off activities.
14th ASEF Classroom Network Conference
On 27-30 November 2018 in Helsinki and Espoo, Finland, over 100 participants which consisted of policy-makers, scholars, pedagogical experts, education leaders and innovative secondary, high and vocational school teachers from 45 ASEM countries explored and shared good practices on the field of gender equality and STEM education, as well as its possible impact on the society.
The 14th ASEF Classroom Network Conference (#ASEFClassNet14) brought together over 100 participants including policy-makers, scholars, pedagogical experts, education leaders and innovative secondary, high and vocational school teachers from 45 ASEM countries.
Through panel discussions and lectures from experts on the topic, the participants enriched their understanding of gender and participated in debates and discussions to highlight why gender equality in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) is crucial today. Most importantly, it encouraged participants to debate how school leaders and governments can introduce initiatives to encourage more girls to study STEM in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Encouraging Learning Beyond the Regular School Curriculum
Considering the value of integrating creativity, critical thinking, and team work in learning process, every year ASEF ClassNet Conference encourages teachers from Asia and Europe to propose and collaborate on projects that can empower students, with opportunities to learn beyond the regular school curriculum. This year 6 outstanding ASEF ClassNet School Collaborations were shortlisted from 19 Collaborations and awarded with Gold and Merit Awards at the 14th ASEF ClassNet Conference in Finland:
Gold Awards
Let’s Stroll in the Streets
This collaboration invited students to team up to reveal history of streets in their neighbourhood and countries.
Entrepreneur’s Bazaar
This collaboration created opportunities for students to experience the full cycle of operating a retail business from a start-up through simple real business initiatives.
Rivers – An Elixir of Life
Through this collaboration students learned about lives of people living near rivers to understand civilizations that are formed around rivers.
Merit Awards
The Power of Song
Using a range of ICT tools to develop digital skills, students explored the power of music to empower lives and societies around the world.
What Matters in Your Life? 2017
Through this collaboration students explored deep questions on aspects related to life that they find important in four levels – individual, community, national and global.
Uniquely Us: Publish It!
Students explored and learned about photo journalism and anthropology to study, document and share stories of their home country with participants around the world.
These 6 School Collaborations involved a total of 692 students, 53 teachers from 41 schools in 22 ASEM partner countries.
