Sputnik talked to Galiya Galyamova, commercial director of Novoye Vremya, the competition's director, to find out.
Sputnik: The project is quite young; it has been held for only 2 years. What can you tell us about the project and the results achieved?
Galiya Galyamova: "Knowledge up!" is a contest for Russian school teachers abroad, organised by Rossotrudnichestvo. The first competition was held last year; and today, when the number of participants has doubled, we can say that the contest is in great demand, especially as a communication platform for Russian school teachers abroad.
The competition involves teachers that use digital technologies in teaching. The judges evaluate the effectiveness of implementing these technologies, as well as the uniqueness of the methods used. The competition is aimed at replicating the successful experience of colleagues from other countries.
Sputnik: Teachers from which countries take part in the competition?
Galiya Galyamova: The competition covers almost all continents and is held in 40 countries, including, for example, Morocco, Cuba, Spain, France, Mongolia, Vietnam, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mexico, and Malaysia.
Sputnik: How is the competition organised, and where is it held?
Galiya Galyamova: The qualifying stage is held abroad, and the finals are held in Russia. The finalists come to Moscow so that they appear before the judges and present their projects. Moreover, we organise interesting activities for them.
Teachers visit the most advanced educational facilities: last year they visited school 548 in Sovkhoz Imeni Lenina and the Prosveshchenie publishing house, where the participants had been choosing educational materials for two hours. It's a pity that they have difficulties in getting methodical literature abroad. The competition helps solve such problems.
Sputnik: Which participants' digital developments stand out?
Galiya Galyamova: First of all, it’s the project of last year's winner, Saini Sonu from India. Together with his colleagues from Israel, Turkey and other countries, he is creating an interesting mobile app is involved in creating an interesting mobile app. Armenian contestant Kim Vanskigian has a quite unusual project. She has created a mobile app "Talking to a Poet", which helps teach Pushkin's poems through the game.
Sputnik: How is the contestants' successful experience replicated?
Galiya Galyamova: We are currently working to create a data bank, which will be like a social network; it will be named after the contest, "Knowledge Up!" At the moment, the competition's organising committee, judges and participants have the opportunity to communicate and exchange experiences online, despite the pandemic restrictions.
Sputnik: What role do you think digital technologies play in modern schools?
Galiya Galyamova: Digital technologies are an integral part of the educational process. Today children consume information mainly through devices and gadgets. We are on the verge of the time when teachers retrain and introduce such tools into their work.
We can for sure say that the future belongs to digital educational technologies. Therefore, this competition provides an opportunity for all the participants, organisers, and judges to step up and up their knowledge.