FutureEd Fest 2023 Recap

FutureEd Fest 2023, a festival to celebrate and inspire educational innovators, took place on October 7-8 at Museum Siam in Bangkok, Thailand!

This inaugural year included both onsite and hybrid activities, and was in collaboration with Dr. Prawit Erawan, Secretary-General of the OTEPC, Dr. Siridej Sujiva, Dean of the Faculty of Education at Chulalongkorn University and President of the Thai Council of Deans of the Faculty of Education, Dr. Pitak Sotthayakom, Executive Director of the Educational Innovation Office and board member of the Office of Basic Education, Dr. Krissada Raungareerat, Secretary of the Board of Thailand Education Partnership (TEP), Ms. Kanokwalee Viriyaprapaikit, member of the Thailand Education Partnership, Mr. Somyos Kiataramkul, Deputy Director of Content Creation and Integration at Thai PBS and Dr. Nanthporn Janchalia Seributra, CEO of Starfish Education.

The main theme of the FutureEd Fest was to create Meaningful Education, consisting of 6 Keys that are at the heart of creating meaningful education for everyone: U (Useful), P (Problem-Solving), R (Real World), I (Impact) S (Self-Directed), and E (Experiential).

Activities for both days kicked off with 17 workshops that covered 4 core topics to keep up with education in the future world: Innovation & Edtech, Maker Education, Future Skills, and Future Of Work from leading presenters both in Thailand and abroad. They were organized as both Onsite and Hybrid formats with more than 1,000 registered participants who mainly were educators, school administrators, with some students and parents as well. The workshops emphasized giving participants real hands-on experience that can be applied to be beneficial and meaningful to themselves and their students.

After the workshop phase of each day, many interesting activities then unfolded at the outdoor stage, including Keynote Speeches and Panel Discussions with influential speakers from both home and abroad who exchanged and shared their ideas. The audience was then introduced to modern education innovation concepts and inspiration in the form of Showcase activities from three Thai schools. School leaders and teachers alike echoed this takeaway from one audience member: “I have been opened up to new experiences and many ideas about meaningful education in the classroom, saw the importance of enhancing skills for the future, the use of educational technology, and the use of Maker Education to adding more to my classroom and the concept of modern education management.”

Another activity that captured overwhelming interest from attendees was the Pitching event, with more than 100 teams applying and 17 finalists selected to compete in the pitching of educational innovations that they had created and tested in real life with tangible benefits for their target groups. The Awards event also gave 10 prizes in the categories of Innovative Teacher of the Year and Innovative School of the Year, which are awards for teachers and schools that create educational innovations that provide appropriate teaching and learning for target groups that responds to the need for sustainable problem solving. The atmosphere of both these activities was full of excitement, with some audience coming to cheer on the competing teams and celebrate all teams that had made it to this final round.

The Maker Fest and Exhibition activities were designed to be full of fun and creativity. They received the attention of many people who attended the event. They gave groups an opportunity to present innovative models from a total of 10 schools and 6 educational organizations that have excelled in the development of innovative teachers in education and EdTech.

This year’s FutureEd Fest event intended to ignite the spark of Thai education and demonstrate the power of collaboration between leading educational partners both nationally and abroad. It included schools, directors, teachers, students, parents, and everyone who came to be a part of the audience. And what’s more, in the future there will be other programs under the FutureEd Fest platform, such as Future School Leader - a program to create future school leaders, as well as the 3R Project – innovative curriculum that helps with literacy. FutureEd Fest’s goals include bringing people together who believe in transforming education, exchanging how-to knowledge on educational innovations, Maker Education, and various educational technologies, and to have a positive impact and create learning that is truly meaningful for students.

Mr. Chaisak Phumul, representative of the school director from Ban Kong Mong Tha School in Kanchanaburi province mentioned this about FutureEd Fest: “It's a great opportunity to exchange knowledge about new innovations, to develop the teaching and learning process and develop the quality of education that will be consistent with the context of a school's location. Even if the school is far away in the forest, we will not provide education in a way that is far away from anyone else.”

Mrs. Jarunee Somjaikul, teacher from Nong Pa Khrang Kindergarten School Chiang Mai province spoke about the atmosphere of the work. “At the start of joining the Maker Fest activity, I was very excited about what we would learn. Will we be able to apply the knowledge or not? Will what we receive match our expectations? But everything I received from this Maker Fest exceeded my expectations in terms of organizing creative activities for students, giving advice, giving ideas, and opening new perspectives.”

The Advisory Board and FutureEd Fest organizers believe that this event is just the beginning of creating public awareness of the positive changes that educators, directors, and teachers are already creating. Therefore, if we work together strongly and continuously from all sectors then Thai education can create a meaningful space that opens up new opportunities, forge connections and exchange knowledge to expand results widely.

As Dr. Pravit Erawan said, “FutureEd Fest has the participation of all sectors. It is an event that gives us the opportunity to share and bring new innovations. Let's put on a show to expand our network even more.”

And Dr. Siridej Sujiva continued, “This event is a Learning and Innovation Playground. Everyone will be able to see a new picture of learning and innovation without having to rely on advanced academics or high technology, but instead something that everyone can use, can adjust and create further.”

Dr. Nanthaporn Janchalia Seributra, the CEO of Starfish Education, concluded: “Since education is everyone's business, then creating meaningful education will bring about positive change in society. Therefore, this event was created to inspire teachers, students, teachers, and parents. A space in society for this can happen, but we must continue to work together and help build it.”

You can follow more news about FutureEd Fest 2023 activities at our website: https://www.futureedfest.com/en/ , and our Facebook page titled “FutureEd Fest ติดบูทส์ไอเดีย เติมเครื่องมือ ขยายขีดจํากัดของการเรียนรู้” at https://www.facebook.com/FutureEdFest