The odd ramblings of a geek pretending to not be "all grown up" : Student Day

Student Day has been and gone

AndrewParsons — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:07:09 GMT

Well, Student Day has been and gone, and I must say, it absolutely rocked. The high school morning session was overflowing with kids from all years (more than a thousand of them!) keen to hear about just what the “now” Microsoft is all about and why they would consider a career in technology. The university session in the afternoon was a smaller crowd but not a lot less vocal in their appreciation, enthusiasm and interest in the topics presented on the day.

From the opening keynote that highlighted how important technology is to the world and how a large chunk of companies, innovations and all around technological goodness has come from people aged under 25. To the wow sessions on PhotoSynth, Popfly and XNA. To the thousands of dollars worth of software and hardware given away to both groups of people, including Xbox 360’s, copies of Vista and Office and ultra cool webcams. Every aspect was avidly devoured by all who attended.

And to supplement it all came the public unveiling of Students to Business and Dreamspark, two programs aimed at empowering students with technology and access. Given the enormous value both of these programs have, I’ll blog about them each in turn later in the week, but they, along with the awesome video about Imagine Cup were the perfect cherry on top for the day.

It's almost here!

AndrewParsons — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:22:00 GMT

Well, after months of planning by some very brilliant people like Karo Esmaili and Roger Lawrence, and a mad dash over the past week by the whole team, Student Day is almost here. And man, what a day it's gonna be!

Joe Wilson, the top dude for Academic Relations, is flying over from the US to talk about a Microsoft that may sound foreign to a lot of people - a Microsoft that's modern-day cool. And of course, bolstering that is the stuff I've spoken about previously - Student 2 Business, DreamSpark and Imagine Cup - as well as some funky stuff on PhotoSynth, Robotics, XNA Game Studio and more.

For those of you in university, there are still some spots open but you're going to have to be mega quick given it's on tomorrow. For those of you already registered - see you there!

Toldja

AndrewParsons — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:26:00 GMT

Well, I mentioned student regos were hotting up and we're now pretty much full on the high school sessions. So, if you're a university student and have been procrastinating about whether to attend this free information day (where you can win prizes too!), head over to http://www.microsoft.com.au/teched/studentday and register before you miss out.

(Really this post was just to test out my new cartoon software, but the fact remains - Student Day could be one of the most important times of your year, so don't lose the opportunity to see some of the awesome stuff we've put together for you).

Student Day registrations hotting up

AndrewParsons — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:58:00 GMT

Wow. I had an update meeting on Friday to see how things were progressing for Student Day and found out that registrations are really hotting up. We're very rapidly approaching the upper limit in terms of numbers, particularly for the high school session in the morning. This is fantastic news, because I know how much value attendees are going to get out of this free conference. So, this is a call out to all students, university and high school, and teachers, tutors, mentors and lecturers; if you've been thinking "I'll get around to that later", you might want to start thinking "I'll get around to that today"! :)

One of the things I mentioned in my last post was Imagine Cup ( www.imaginecup.com ). Imagine Cup is a global competition run by Microsoft to engage the creativity, imagination and passion of students all over the world. Each year the competition runs with a number of categories such as Software Development and Design, Game Development and IT challenges, but the categories also include more media-based and more accessible categories. There are categories for Short Film and Photography and, for the first time this year, Mashups.

Students can win cash prizes, trips overseas and the chance to participate in some cool programs that help them take their creations further. All you need to do is ask Team SOAK, the winners of the premier category, Software Development and Design, about how much they got out of going to Paris, presenting their solution in the Louvre, and coming out on top, to see how much of an impact participating in Imagine Cup has had on them.

But the really cool thing is that the competition provokes students to think about global issues and how they can play a part in raising awareness or even to help solve them, regardless of how small a part that might be.

This year's theme is Solve the World's Toughest Problems, and the competition is taking the United Nations' lead on which problems need to be looked at through the 8 Millennium Goals). We're talking about things like ending poverty, providing universal education, increased child health and gender equality around the world (check out the link for the complete list: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ ).

Remember, the competition isn't just for programmers - it's for anyone who has a passion for using technology to help make the world a better place. The finalists in each category will be flown to Egypt to compete against their global competition, and any student team can enter, so what are you waiting for? :)

Here's a quick description of each of the categories:

Software Design - We are asking students to create real world software and services applications that use Microsoft tools and technology. It's not just about the PC anymore - students need to think about taking advantage of mobile devices as well. Think big! The judging requires students to use their creativity and drive if they want to compete on the world stage. This is where legends are born and lives are changed - where an application starts as an idea and ends up being used all over the world.
Embedded Development - The object of the Embedded Development Invitational is to unleash students' creativity in an effort to change the world into a better place. They will develop their own embedded device whose function is to better us all. The Embedded Development Invitational challenges students to go beyond the PC desktop and work in both hardware and software to build an embedded solution using Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 and the provided embedded platform.
Game Development - The object of the Game Development Invitational is to create a new game that uses both Microsoft's XNA Game Studio 3.0 and Visual Studio. Competitors' games should illustrate the Imagine Cup theme "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems facing us today." This is a chance for students who've always enjoyed playing games to create their own game and at the same time help change the global community. The Game Development Invitational is a great opportunity for learning and advancement towards an important step in their budding careers either as a game developer or as an entrepreneur in the game business. This is the students' opportunity to build a full game from scratch!
Robotics - Robots need more than gears and wires - they require highly sophisticated algorithms to interpret and interact with the world around them. This competition is a mathematical obstacle course where students must navigate a series of brain teasers, code challenges and algorithmic puzzles to demonstrate their ability to understand the potential of robots in our world. This exciting event takes place in a virtual world as students progress through increasingly difficult rounds.
IT Challenge - Students are challenged to develop, deploy, and maintain IT systems that are elegant, functional, robust and secure. This demanding competition requires students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in the science of networks, databases, and servers. They also need to show their analytical abilities and make tough decisions in IT environments.
MashUp - The object of the MashUp competition is to create a new and useful Web 2.0 application that is connected to the Imagine Cup theme "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems facing us today." Students will use Microsoft PopFly to leverage current third party data and services available on the internet to create a new and unique tool that is effectively consumed by other internet users as their Imagine Cup entry.
Photography - Great photographers know a single image can change the world. In this competition, students communicate a story that explores a critical issue through a photo essay of inspiring still images. The photos must grab the audience and illustrate the students' personal insight into these global issues.
Short Film - We all love to go to the movies but some of us love to make movies! Filmmaking is a technical craft combined with the art of storytelling using moving images. A short film has the difficulty of conveying a message in a brief period of time while also being visually stimulating. In this competition, students will be challenged to create an original short film and also demonstrate excellence in filmmaking at all levels from concept art to polished editing.

As I mentioned earlier, these last three categories are perfect for any student to use technology in creative ways to promote awareness and even help solve the world's greatest issues.

If you want more info, please register for Student Day - Joe Wilson will talk about Imagine Cup in his opening keynote and university students will have an opportunity to hear from the worldwide winners for 2008 directly.

Also, feel free to contact me if you have any queries about Imagine Cup and I'll do my best to answer them for you. You can contact me at aparson {at} microsoft {dot} com.

What are you doing September 2nd?

AndrewParsons — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:11:00 GMT

Every year Microsoft holds a developer conference called TechEd. This 3 day dev-fest celebrates all kinds of technologies that professional developers are faced with in their day to day working lives. Things like Visual Studio, SQL Server and Windows Server are covered at a variety of depths and set the attendees up with a bunch of knowledge chunks they can often apply directly to their jobs. However, it's not all about learning new things in the technology. Equally important is the networking opportunities that TechEd brings - a chance to meet up with colleagues, competitors, prospective employers, Microsoft employees and share experiences.

On the front of TechEd is a special day dedicated to university and high school students. Hiding under the normal-sounding name, Student Day, this opportunity is jam-packed with the same kind of stuff that the professionals see, but aimed squarely at students of all ages along with teachers and lecturers. While it does include a number of presentations, it's more about showing you what you can achieve with technology and to give you some ideas of what you might want to do if you decide to move into IT as a profession.

What can you expect to see?

How about how to create your own Xbox 360 games using XNA Game Studio Express?
Or the ultracool PhotoSynth which can stitch normal photos (even ones you take on your mobile phone) into a 3D meshed representation of the subject?
Or maybe you want to see how much easier it is to make programs in modern development tools.

What can you expect to learn?

How getting an IT career in today's world isn't just necessarily about programming or being a network administrator - there are many other opportunities to grab hold of.
Or getting the inside scoop on Imagine Cup - the world-wide competition run specifically for students to show how their imagination and creativity can help solve the world's problems.

What can you expect to receive?

DreamSpark - more info about what you're able to get without paying a cent will be revealed at Student Day, but the big thing is "FREE SOFTWARE"
A chance to win some great prizes, both entertaining and functional.

Whether you sign up for the high school morning session or the university afternoon session, this is just the tip of the iceberg. And spaces are going fast, so head over to the registration page ASAP and sign up.