I go to thinking. We host a lot of Live Meetings here (locally and across the Atlantic with HQ) and we are all well equipped to work from home - mobile, PC, broadband, Microsoft Lync etc. So when the weather turns bad we can stay at home and continue to work pretty much like we normally do. Unless you are in the Office when the snow starts you still have to get home but I usually just stay late, let the traffic all die down and then use the little lanes etc to drive home safely. If it gets really bad (like last year) then Microsoft does cater for people staying overnight in the office - it might not be as comfortable as at home but at least its warm. 150 people took advantage of this last year :-). Not all of us have 4x4s and can enjoy this sort of drive to work.
Anyway, what do you as students do? Are you able to work from home? Does the university enable a distance learning experience or do they still expect you to attend lectures?
Whilst face to face is still an incredibly valuable and interesting learning experience could Universities do more to enable you to work from anywhere? Let me know your thoughts.....
Change the world!
I had heard of the Imagine Cup when I was in IT Pro/TechNet land but didn’t really understand it or know much of the detail. Then I joined the Academic team in June this year and one of my first tasks was to go out to the worldwide finals, held in Poland, last July to watch the final day and meet students and my counterparts from around the world.
Saying I was impressed would be an understatement. To see the number of students, the solutions on display and the number of Microsoft people present created a big impression on me. Hearing the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and seeing Michelle Obama on video welcoming students to New York for the 2011 finals was the icing on the cake. If I can do one thing in my role this year that would make me feel good inside would be to see as many UK students as possible enter the completion. We’d really like to see a UK team win the $25,000 first prize in either the Software Development or Embedded Design competitions as we have local UK interest in those.
In fact one of the competitors from 2008 is now sitting opposite me in Microsoft UK having joined the academic team as an evangelist – check out Bens post here with his own personal memories and experiences.
Go on, have a go, the first part is quite simple. Get a team together, evaluate the problems posed on the site or create something yourself. Stage 1 which needs completing by December 10th for the Software Design or Embedded Competitions is a simple summary of your idea!
For more info or to enter, visit www.imaginecup.co.uk