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One of the many pleasures of working in Microsoft Partners in Learning is when teachers in our network spontaneous begin to collaborate. A great example of this happened recently , when five teachers began developing and sharing their ideas and developments of using the Kinect SDK and Kodu , to create...

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” – African Proverb The Partners in Learning Institute in Seattle this week has been a great experience – not least because it has all been about working in partnership with other educators from all over the world for our own learning...

This is the first blog post from the newest addition to the Microsoft UK Partners in Learning Team, so please welcome Jan Webb . She will be supporting us in delivering the Partners in Learning programmes in the UK whilst Kristen is on maternity leave. I will let Jan tell you more. It's world book...

We have had lots of requests for the workshop presentations, livestream recordings and teachers projects , from those that attended and those who could not make the UK Innovative Education Forum . We have created a community on the UK Partners in Learning Network . That contains all the Virtual classroom...

We are pleased to announce we are now accepting entries for this year’s Innovative Education Awards. (You'll know these as the Innovative Teacher Awards -- we've changed the name to tie in with the European and Worldwide Events.) These annual awards showcase the best uses of technology to support...

I don’t know about all of you, but Stuart and I had a lovely Friday, driving from our offices in Reading to Margate, Kent to deliver a car full of Stone Netbooks to Nicki Maddams, our Innovid video contest winner . We met Nicki’s head teacher Andy Somers (pictured here with Stuart, Nicki and me) and...

Last month I wrote a blog post about Mouse Mischief , unfortunately it appeared on the day they removed the beta version, Whoops! But, I am really pleased to announce that the full version is now available to download for free at www.microsoft.com/mousemischief If you haven’t read my last post and...

I am always amazed at the various professional networks that teachers belong to. When I was teaching, my professional network revolved mainly around the teachers I met on local authority organised training (these don’t happen to the same extent any more ) and a professional subject network, such as the...

Over the past year, the work we have undertaken with teachers and schools has resulted in us creating and collecting a plethora of video resources. We wanted to make sure that we are able share these with as many of you as possible. So we have created our very own YouTube Channel. The UK Partners in...

We’re all back from Berlin, in spite of the BA strikes over the weekend. Once again we had a great week – I always wish that every teacher I work with could accompany us to these Innovative Education Forums. The speakers this year were particularly inspiring, there were some useful workshops for teachers...

Do you believe in the idea that our futures and personalities are governed by Zodiac star signs. Here is an example, which one of these do you think describes myself and Kristen, are you able to identify our personality traits from just our blog posts? (or even from the occasions where you may have met...

In Monday’s blog post, I introduced you to the first half of our all-star team of teachers coming to this year’s Innovative Education Forum in Berlin. I hope you’ll take a look at Amy and Jan’s work in more detail on the Partners in Learning Network . Today I’d like to introduce you to David Rogers...

Alessio Bernardelli teaches in Croesyceiliog School in Cwmbran, Wales, in this blog post he describes his journey with the Innovative Teachers Network programme, how it has transformed his teaching and his views on education as he has developed his own professional learning network. These are his...

My previous post described how you can use AutoCollage , t o tell digital stories in the classroom, here is a great example from one of our award winning teachers, David Rogers, whose students have used this free application to make a comparison of their local area. Microsoft has a number of free...

In my last post I described a simple walkthrough of AutoCollage and how to create a photo collage. Now lets look at some ways of how you can use AutoCollage to allow your pupils and students to describe and communicate their thinking and ideas through images. One obvious use is to create collages from...

Yesterday, Stuart and I and our teammates from Microsoft gathered with our colleagues from SSAT, Shireland Learning to welcome over 75 educators to Birmingham for our Innovative Teachers Forum. As Stuart has mentioned, this year’s Forum was our biggest and best yet. We received more VCTs from you for...

After receiving the highest number of entries ever for a Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum, (I say that every year, but it’s true.) I am pleased to announce the Virtual Classroom Tours that will be celebrated at the awards event at the Innovative Teachers Forum in Birmingham on Dec 1st (sign up HERE...

A new name, a whole new sleek look and a whole new direction. We're talking about the launch of our new Partners in Learning Network . Like all new things it will take a little getting used to. Think of it as like getting a new pair of shoes: they need breaking in and you may get a blister or two, but...

We’re all finally back from Brazil, after an exhausting and very rewarding week. Our week ended on Friday with the event’s gala dinner and teacher awards. Before and after dinner, we were treated to a performance by the local Salvador youth orchestra. The orchestra has brought together some of the less...

My favourite part of the Microsoft Innovative Education Forum is meeting the teachers that have submitted Virtual Classroom Tours to share with their colleagues. I’m lucky enough to have been asked to be a judge at this year’s Forum, which is a lot of work, but also means that I get to speak in-depth...

As usual at these events, we have the best intention of writing blog posts every day, but the event’s agenda of workshops, keynotes and collaboration projects has kept us completely occupied from 9 – 18:30 every day. Thus it’s now Friday and it’s only our second post of the week. Better late than never...

After many hours of travel, Stuart and I, our innovative Teachers Ollie and Mandeep and our new Innovative Schools from Scotland arrived in beautiful Salvador, Brasil. We were particularly excited about this year’s Innovative Education Forum, as it combines the best teachers from around the world, sharing...

Next week is an important one for Microsoft education – and for some teachers and schools in the UK. It’s our biggest event for worldwide teachers and schools: the Innovative Education Forum. Last year, we wrote about this event when we brought two English teachers, Peter and Dan, to Hong Kong. This...

During this Summer, we held a unique event for us, the first Innovative Teachers Summer Camp , where we invited 10 of our innovative teachers to develop some classroom resources. Their task was to begin creating short, 3-5 minute videos, to support teachers and educators in the use of technology in the...

We have talked a lot about Dan Roberts, one of our award winners from the Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum in Hong Kong. He is still very much an active member of the Innovative Teachers programme, and Kristen and I are in contact with him and his school on a regular basis. He has just returned from...