There will be a number of sessions running on the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, however look out for a number of specialist topics that will run on an ad-hoc basis. Check back here on a regular basis
Monday sessions – 10.00am -10.45am
· Windows Vista in Education – Monday 5th November 2007
· Office 2007 in Education – Monday 19th November 2007
· Learning Platform for Schools - Monday 3rd December 2007
Specialist Topics
· The Microsoft Computers for Pupils Package – Wednesday 14th November – 10.00-10.45am
· Live Meeting 2007 – Virtual classrooms and remote learning – Thursday 6th December 3.30 – 4.30pm
See below for details of how to register and participate.
Details of Sessions
This session will explore new features in Windows Vista for Teachers and Learners that make Windows Vista a tool for learning. We will also look at the new features for system administrators to create and to protect the virtual education environment.
Presented by Steven Audis, a Microsoft Education Technology Adviser in the UK Team
Click here to put this into your Outlook Calendar with the joining instructions
URL: https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=SQH3DD&role=attend
Call: 0118 909 2000 and use participant code: 9395559
Get an overview of the latest Office system from Microsoft, which provides the ultimate arsenal of productivity tools for your students, educators, administrators, and support staff. From word processing to classroom presentations and animated Web design, the Microsoft Office system delivers a powerful and easy-to-use experience. Introducing Learning Essentials 2.0.
Click here to put this into your Outlook Calendar, with the joining instructions
URL: https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=GMBMJ6&role=attend
The Learning Gateway from Microsoft is a solutions framework that helps improve education by integrating the tools you already use and putting them to work connecting people with the information and processes they need to teach and learn more effectively.
Presented by Steven Audis, a Microsoft Education Technology Advisor in the UK Team
URL: https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=ZW4ZPZ&role=attend
Call 0118 909 2000 and use participant code: 9395559
In this half hour slot, we will share how Microsoft have engaged in the Computers For Pupils initiative and dive into the package we can offer, including a discounted Office 2007 productivity suite (including OneNote, Groove and Communicator) and a specially developed curriculum materials pack. See how this can fit into your overall CFP package and join in our Q & A at the end!
Presented by the Education Team
Click: here to put this into your Outlook Calendar, with the joining instructions
URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=CFPnov07&role=attend
With the advent of the new version of Live Meeting (2007) functionality has now been implemented that’s been specifically designed for education faculties, training organisations and educational generalists. Live Meeting can extend the reach of education in enhancing the learning experience. Simon Palmer, former Learning and Development Manager for Dell in EMEA, will demonstrate some of this functionality illustrating how learning styles can be enhanced to improve learning either in the workplace or through educational establishments. Compelling new enhancements such as video, voice, rich media and break out rooms combined with an easy to use interface generates the right virtual environment to capture the pupils attention and will allow them to engage in interactive learning!
Presented by Simon Palmer, Technology Specialist for Unified Communications and former Learning and Development Manager for DELL EMEA.
URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=LM2K7edu&role=attend
Have you been looking for a way to convert older learning resources into SCORM format? Well Hunterstone may have the answer for you.
HunterStone announced it has developed a "Mass SCORM Conversion Tool." The company developed the tool for use in projects that require large amounts of content to be converted to SCORM. Targeted for use in projects with publishers and organizations that have very large databases of content and learning materials HunterStone President and CEO Neil Richards stated "the tool will save organizations countless hours of time which will directly translate into saving tens of thousand if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in SCORM conversion endeavors."
The tool is thought to be among the first of its kind used for commercial purposes. SCORM's adoption rate is forecasted to accelerate during the next few years and HunterStone's strategy as a leading provider of SCORM eLearning services is further solidified by this announcement. Previously, the company released its leading SCORM Conversion and Authoring product suite THESIS for general use by instructional designers, subject matter experts, and trainers throughout the world. Additionally, Microsoft's Education Product Group licensed a portion of THESIS technology for use in its Learning Essentials Program and provides Microsoft Academic Customers the ability to author SCORM content with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
THESIS is a suite of eLearning tools which adheres to the SCORM specifications and integrates with Microsoft Office. This enables a user to author eLearning resources and objects straight from familiar Microsoft Office applications such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Visio and Producer. The THESIS "Learning Object Manager" allows a user to author complete SCORM courses and quizzes for online instruction, using multiple learning objects from different sources. THESIS Librarian "SCORM enables" Microsoft SharePoint to create Learning Object Repositories where subject matter experts can collaborate on course development and also use the tool as a meta-data manager.
If you're intertested in how technology is starting to have an impact it maybe worth taking a look at the HMCI Annual Report. Here's one small extract from a very big report!
There were examples of schools using information and communication technology to provide more personalised approaches to learning, some of which enabled young people to continue their learning in their own time at home. For example, a project in Wolverhampton, known as 'Learning2Go', used handheld computers to extend learning opportunities by providing multimedia content and a range of software to individual learners in any place and at any time.
The link to the full report can be found at: http://live.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/annualreport0607/
Have you had trouble finding training courses in the past? We now have the Partner Learning Centre (PLC)
https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc
What is it?
The PLC was released at the beginning of this year in order to simplify the way in which Partners search for training. Previously, Microsoft had a number of different websites that you could search for training on which sometimes caused confusion. The PLC amalgamated all of these sites in to one really powerful search engine which stores all of the training that Microsoft has on offer.
What it does – Searches all of the training Microsoft offers in all available formats including classroom courses, books, online training, web casts and sample exams. It can be aligned in multiple ways; location, preferred course type, job role, technologies, partner programme competencies etc. You can use it to build individual training plans and track progress. Recent popular examples include Windows Server 2008, Infrastructure Optimisation academies (free of charge) and a Learning Pathway for the amended Information Worker competency.
How to use it – It takes 10 minutes to set up. You need to have a Live ID and associate your Partner’s unique Partner ID with that Live ID.
Tip! When you first log onto the PLC set your ‘Training Preferences’ around your specific needs and a filter will then run in the background every time you log in thereafter. For example, when you search for Academic Licensing you might not necessarily need to know about OEM Licensing or FPP Licensing, this gives you the option to remove all of the irrelevant information rather than having to scan the 6th or 7th page of the search.
There is a recorded live meeting that goes through how to set everything up and set training preferences, please follow this link: https://partner.microsoft.com/UK/trainingevents
Assistance and Queries - please contact either ukplcsup@microsoft.com by email or telephone 0870 8509442
There's a new brochure available, designed to answer one question: "What does it mean for schools?"
In addition to the main UK Education website's section on Office 2007, there's also now the new brochure (below), which includes an overview of how it helps from both a teaching & learning and administration & coordination perspective. My favourite section is the middle-page spread which contains screenshots showing what some of the main new features can do - like easy colour coding of spreadsheet cells, and the new SmartArt. And it also contains a case study from Stoke College in Essex - the first school in Europe to use Office 2007 across all of their systems.
If you'd like us to send you copies of the brochure, just pop us an email, using the Email link in the header of this page.
At Microsoft, we believe passionate people and innovative software are key to unlocking some of the biggest challenges in the world today. So, we are searching the globe for stories about ISVs that are making a meaningful difference in education. If you know an ISV with an innovative solution built using Microsoft technologies and addressing challenges facing one of these industries, please have them enter The Ingenuity Point contest.
New ISV Team Blog is launched!
Maybe I shouldn't be advertising a rival blog, but in the spirit of co-operation I guess I should!
ISV’s have always been a key part of Microsoft's overall partner strategy. The Microsoft ISV team blog has been created to help facilitate an open channel of communications with the ISV community around the world, and to provide access and information about the various programs and technologies we offer. Check out the blog, send it to your teams, link to it from your blogs, and please share it with your ISV partners.