On the 26th January 2020 the Directorate for Digital Literacy and Transversal Skills within the Ministry for Education organized the Embed Digital Literacy Awards Ceremony. With schools closure in the present extraordinary Covid-19 circumstances, digital education has been taken to a new unprecedented level as many educators have shifted to remote lessons. This posed new challenges to educators to use online platforms and other tools in their teaching and learning. For this reason, the Directorate for Digital Literacy and Transversal Skills decided to celebrate the good pedagogical practices both before and after the school closure.
For this year’s Embed, there were 4 categories as below.
1. Early Years
2. Primary Years
3. Secondary Years
4. Collaborative
5. School Leaders
Each category was assessed by different adjudication panels mainly formed by educators.
During the Awards ceremony, Ms Mandy Mifsud, Assistant Director within the Directorate for Digital Literacy, presented the ceremony.
During the opening speeches Mr Grazio Grixti highlighted the vision of the Directorate and announced a new Digital Education strategy.
Hon Minister Justyne Caruana honoured us with her presence and acknowledged how technologies were crucial during the pandemic and they are equally important now that schools are open . She thanked all educators and promised the Ministry’s commitment in ensuring that students entitlement to quality education is reached.
This was followed by an address from Dr Frank Fabri who reaffirmed the measures taken by schools to ensure the well being of our students. He reiterated the importance of ensuring that the outcomes of the digital education strategy will be implemented.
The Keynote speech was delivered by Dr Becky Parry, the Programme Director of the MA Digital Literacies, Culture and Education and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy within the University of Sheffield. Her address focused on creativity in digital play.
The main activity was certainly the Awards Ceremony Participants who submitted educational initiatives for one of the Embed categories were first awarded. These were followed by high quality eTwinning awards.
The success of this event was the enthusiasm of a good number of educators whose initiatives leave a very positive impact on students. Further to this, their good practices will have a multiplier effect and set a good example to others.
This video showcases some of the initiatives that were submitted for Embed Digital Literacy Awards 2020
School Leaders Category: Winners
Primary Years Category: Winners
One of the winners Mr Christian Formosa showcasing his work.