FROGASIA’S LEAPS OF KNOWLEDGE CONFERENCE 2018

Teachers enjoying their time at the Leaps of Knowledge Conference's workshop.

 The Leaps of Knowledge Conference 2018 presented by FrogAsia Sdn Bhd with the support of the YTL Foundation saw more than 1,000 educators, parents, students and members of the education sector gathering to elevate 21st Century education in Malaysia. Held at the JW Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur, this year’s conference aimed to inspire, equip and empower Malaysians to collaboratively and collectively do more to raise the bar in education.


The Leaps of Knowledge Conference 2018 – themed Level Up!, centred around the commitment of the community of educators, parents and individuals to continue leveraging on the foundations built over the last six years, levelling the playing field across all schools in Malaysia through technology. This year’s conference explored how the community can work together to raise the bar by celebrating each other’s successes, learning from each other and collaborating on new ideas to increase outcomes for 21st Century learners.


“At FrogAsia, we believe in a world where everyone loves learning and where technology removes boundaries. With technology, there is equal access to quality education regardless of location or background. By bridging the digital divide, the education divide is also bridged at the same time. After six years of driving 21st Century education in Malaysia, we have seen the huge difference that Frog is making in the Malaysian education system. Schools from across the country can collaborate and support one another, and student progress can be monitored and tracked to help them improve. Today, we are gathering educators, students, parents and other members of the education community to join forces to raise the bar further and make 21st Century learning even more accessible and empowering,” said Lou Yeoh, Executive Director of FrogAsia Sdn Bhd.


At the conference, FrogAsia launched its inaugural FrogPlay World Championship, a competition that aims to encourage students around the world to collaborate and optimise the use of the FrogPlay gamified learning and revision application on the Frog Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). FrogPlay, available online on the Frog VLE and on the Google Play Store, motivates students to learn and progress by doing revision using gamification. Thousands of quizzes are available for the students’ revision, including quizzes from trusted education partner Pelangi Publishing Group, teachers and the Ministry of Education. FrogPlay also provides detailed reports to help parents and teachers help their child and classroom of students perform better.


Since its launch last year, students have clocked over 1.5 million revision hours on FrogPlay. By tracking the hours spent on FrogPlay and the progress of students, FrogAsia saw evidence that revising via the gamified-learning app resulted in an improvement in student performance across all subjects for both primary and secondary schools. For example, students who used FrogPlay for physics revision are observed to have increased their average scores by up to 29% points

(From left) Datin Kathleen Chew, Programme Director of YTL Foundation, Shaheen Mistri, Founder of Akansha and CEO of Teach for India together with Lou Yeoh, Executive Director of Frog Asia at the Leaps of Knowledge Conference 2018

Lou added: “We were so excited to see the impact of FrogPlay last year, which was driven by the FrogPlay Championship. The competition was successful in encouraging students to proactively learn and revise on FrogPlay even after the competition ended which led to an improvement in their academic performance. We believe in providing Malaysian students with exposure to the best education possible and equipping these students to be globally competitive. This is why we are taking the FrogPlay Championship to the global stage, where students in Malaysia will get to compete with students from all around the world including schools in the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United States of America.”


The conference featured Shaheen Mistri, Founder of Akansha and CEO of Teach for India who spoke on her belief that educators and students are partners in building education in a nation, and encouraged collective impact through the contribution of all in the community. Through her talk, she called upon the participants to evaluate the tools they already possess and to use them effectively to raise the bar in education in Malaysia, which will set a standard and be a role model for the world.

Programme Director of YTL Foundation, Datin Kathleen Chew was also one of the featured keynote speakers. She spoke on the impact and success stories that were the result of the collaboration between YTL Foundation, FrogAsia and the Ministry of Education. “It is evident that change has taken place and that technology has made a huge impact to education in Malaysia. We are so glad to be partners with changemakers in this country and will continue to contribute to this initiative that aims to inspire and upskill learners nationwide.”


After her speech, Datin Kathleen invited three teachers from schools that benefited significantly through the various initiatives like the Frog Classroom Programme, 1BestariNet Teacher Award and FrogPlay Championship. These three teachers were the Headmistress of SK Kayang Noridah Hamdan, 2nd runner up of the 1BestariNet Teacher Award 2017 Mohamad Jalil, and Chew Soo Lee, Frog Admin of SJK(C) Choon Cheng, School Winner of FrogPlay Championship 2017.

Leaps of Knowledge is sponsored by YTL Foundation, also a key partner in the Frog Classroom Programme where they, together with the Ministry of Education, contribute to building 21st century learning spaces for schools. YTL Foundation had recently contributed a sum of RM1.5 million together with the Ministry to provide 21st century education infrastructure to 50 Tamil schools nationwide.

During the workshops, the participants gained deeper understanding of higher order thinking skills and how educators can incorporate them into teaching and learning. There were also gamified experience workshops that introduced the new features of the Frog VLE to parents and teachers to demonstrate the capability of such technology when implemented in today’s education system.


ABOUT FROGASIA
FrogAsia is a social enterprise with the purposeful aim of enhancing teaching and learning. We offer 21st-century learning solutions through a technology-based approach, with a mission to provide equal access to quality education for all students. For a seamless introduction, integration and execution of technology into education, we include in our scope of work programmes and initiatives that build learning communities, deliver leadership coaching and influence thought leadership. We work collaboratively with educators and stakeholders to realise our vision of ensuring that every child is equipped with the skills to thrive in the 21st century.


FrogAsia is the first organisation in the world to connect an entire nation of 10,000 schools through a single, cloud-based platform to create a learning community of 10 million students, teachers and parents. Our virtual learning environment, the Frog VLE, is a simple, fun and engaging platform that enhances the teaching and learning experience. The platform is adopted and adapted from Frog Education UK, an education company with 19 years of experience in providing the award-winning Frog Virtual Learning platform to schools.


Frog Education was received the ICT Provider of the Year award at BETT 2015 and the Best Use of Education Technology award at the Education Investor Awards 2013. FrogAsia’s educational programmes, Leaps of Knowledge and the Word Mania Challenge, have been recognised with the Gold Award for Brand Excellence in the Education Sector at the CMO Asia Global Brand Excellence Awards 2014, and the Gold Award for Best Use of Games/Contests/Quizzes at the A+M Asia Pacific Loyalty and Engagement Awards 2014. FrogAsia is a part of the YTL Group.


ABOUT YTL FOUNDATION
YTL Foundation was founded in 1997 on the belief that education is the basis on which every society progresses. By developing and improving education in the communities in which it operates, YTL Foundation aims to empower individuals and communities to be catalysts of change to enrich and benefit society. Over the years, YTL Foundation has provided aid to deserving individuals who would otherwise be denied opportunities to pursue higher education. More recently, YTL Foundation expanded its role, organizing workshops, talks and conferences to enrich and inspire educators, students, parents as well as other stakeholders in the field of education. Through programmes, funding, thought leadership and by championing the use of technology, backed by the YTL Group’s 60-year heritage of nation building, YTL Foundation hopes to build better societies, through better education.