Originally posted on the Born to Learn blog
Cloud computing is no longer the latest buzzword—it’s the new reality for global business. As cloud technology rapidly evolves and matures, enabling innovative products and services, organizations face a critical need for a skilled, cloud-enabled IT workforce. As revealed in a recent Microsoft-sponsored study by IDC, cloud-related skills represent a good portion of the IT growth opportunities worldwide through 2015, punctuating the opportunity—and demand—for the training and certification that Microsoft IT Academy provides to academic institutions.
Microsoft collaborated with IDC to gauge the correlation between the demand for cloud-related jobs and the gap in IT skills needed to fill the positions. As the research reveals, demand for “cloud-ready” IT workers will grow by 26% annually through 2015, driving 14 million new jobs by 2015 with 7 million IT professionals working in a cloud-related IT role.
The demand for skilled cloud professionals is coupled with a distinct gap in the skills needed to fill positions—a challenge already resonating throughout the IT industry. IT hiring managers report today that the lack of trained and certified job candidates is the core reason they failed to fill an existing 1.7 million open cloud positions in 2012. Over the next few years, as organizations concentrate technologies in the cloud, solving the IT skills gap will become imperative to stay competitive and to solving the IT skills gap is imperative to reduce costs and stay competitive.
Training and Certification: the Keystone for Solving the IT Skills Gap
The IDC study reports that training and certification will play essential roles in preparing IT professionals for the evolving IT organization. In anticipation of the evolution to the cloud, Microsoft recently reinvented training and certifications for Microsoft server and cloud platform technologies, including Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, Windows 8, and Office 365. These certifications are providing the cloud-ready skills and validation hiring managers are looking for, both in professionals transitioning to cloud technologies and a new generation of job seekers.
Microsoft IT Academy is helping to fill the pipeline of new cloud-enabled workforce by providing training and certification for academic institutions worldwide. Microsoft IT Academy program is helping students develop the necessary cloud skills needed to succeed, whether it is the business skills of Office 365 or deeper technology skills. With more than 13,000 IT Academy members in more than 130 countries Microsoft is providing the training and certifications to help over 7.5 million students to obtain the skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow.
Read more:
Hello all,
My name is Kieran Porter and I am the new Internal Further Education Business Manager. I have been lucky enough to get the chance to speak to quite a few of you already and I’m really excited for the coming year in FE!
January was a tricky month for us all with the snow and there were definitely some takeaways to think about. It was interesting to see that, although measures have been taken to prevent downtime in Education, a lot of people still had a day (or more) off and some Colleges were closed for days at a time. This leads to the question - why are we still not prepared for this?!
The proliferation of connected devices, combined with the variety of services such as Office 365 for Education & Lync, can provide a powerful solution to deliver remote learning scenarios & it is getting much easier to provide the tools for anywhere, anytime teaching and learning. I think we will see a lot more Colleges adopt these new ideas in the coming year with new Cloud Services & Devices.
If you want to find out more about how Microsoft is helping Colleges throughout the UK adapt to the new ways of working, please join us on the following online Webinars in conjunction with our Education partners;
Webinars
Office 365 for Education – In Conjunction with Cloud Business
What is Office 365? What does it mean for education? How do we migrate from other services?
Virtualisation – Desktop Strategy in Further Education – In Conjunction with Risual
Desktop strategy in Further Education. Bring your own Device.
XP to W7/8 Migration in Education
This session is designed to help guide Colleges on how to migrate to Windows 7/8 from XP and the value of doing this for the College.
Lync in Further Education – How to teach and learn anywhere anytime – In Conjunction with Risual
Risual will be discussing about how Lync messaging, video conferencing and voice can enhance the teaching and learning experience and Collaboration in Further Education.
CRM in Education – Why? – In Conjunction with Crimson
In this session Crimson will be discussing the value of CRM in education and how this can save money and time as well as improve productivity.
To register for any of the above listed webinars or for any further information on them then please email me; v-kiepor@microsoft.com
A full range of Office 2013 quick start guides are now available to download via the Office Blog. A selection of these can be viewed in full below. These can also be downloaded via our SlideShare account.
Brief video we shot of the Frog app for Windows 8 on their stand during Bett 2013. Loving the resource bank feature!
Frog Dashboard is a companion Windows Store app to the Frog learning management platform for education and training organisations. It brings the critical updates from within Frog directly to your Windows 8 Start screen, ensuring you are always up to date with events; such as new assignments, content sharing and site updates (e.g. user comments).
For schools it allows both students and teachers to get a snapshot of their activity within Frog. View homework set, take pictures via a camera for school projects and upload resources directly from your Windows 8 device.
More information about the Frog Dashboard app for Windows 8 is available via our Windows 8 in Education Microsite.
Nice overview of the Britannica app for Windows 8 at Bett 2013. We are big fans for the work these guys have done with the app and especially love the Link Map feature that allows learners to make better connections with relevant research. Very cool!
The Free Encyclopaedia Britannica App gives users the full contents of the 100 "Top Articles" and the first 100 words of all 80,000 articles as well as all images in all articles. Subscribers have access to the full content of the entire database.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica App also gives users the ability to find information and explore subjects without compromise.
You can learn more about the app on the Windows 8 in education microsite.
One of the most talked about new features of Windows 8 Enterprise during the Bett 2013 was Windows To Go, which gives users new possibilities in mobile productivity.
A quick refresher: Windows To Go is a fully manageable corporate Windows 8 OS image provisioned on a certified bootable USB drive that allows faculty and staff to work from anywhere. To use Windows To Go, you simply insert the provisioned USB drive into a compatible PC and boot into your personalized Windows 8 image, all while maintaining access to key security and management features of the operating system, as well as other key programs included within the corporate image, such as: Group Policy, BitLocker, BranchCache, App-V, UE-V and DirectAccess. Further, unlike many other mobility solutions, Windows To Go users are able to have their personalized Windows environment on their certified USB with or without network connectivity, which means they may be fully productive from any location they choose to work.
So, what exactly is a certified bootable Windows To Go USB drive?
In order to provide a seamless mobile Windows 8 experience, Microsoft only supports certified Windows To Go drives. To become certified, a USB drive must pass a battery of certification tests, as well as undergo self-hosting across a variety of PCs to test-drive for high performance compatibility with Windows 8 and Windows To Go. Additionally, certified drives must:
We are excited to announce that five vendors currently offer USB drives that meet or exceed the Windows To Go certification tests and requirements. Each of the manufacturers listed below have rigorously tested their products, and have worked with Microsoft to create high quality Windows To Go optimized drives. Combined, these vendors provide drives meeting a wide range of requirements, from small to large storage sizes (32GB to 500GB), a variety of form factors, and added security functionality.
For more information, check out the videos below which offer a great overview of both the unique features of Windows To Go combined with how this can be used within an academic institution.
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Guest post by Gerald Haigh. Gerald is a freelance education writer for Microsoft.
Picking up my quest for great Windows 8 stories after the New Year I learned from Microsoft FE Business Manager Mike Morris about exciting news unfolding in Liverpool Community College. It’s going to make a brilliant Further Education case study, and I’ll be travelling to the College soon to chase it up. Meanwhile, just to whet the appetite, here’s the news that Ken Ryan, the College’s Head of Information Technology has just taken delivery, from Microsoft Partner Gardner Systems, of 600 Lenovo ‘Tablet 2’ devices with Windows 8, for distribution to teaching staff. This particular Lenovo device has been impatiently awaited by potential users, and according to Mike,
‘Liverpool Community College might well be the first educational institution in the UK to have them.’
Mike’s particularly pleased because the decision to go for Windows 8 tablets was directly inspired by advice he gave to colleges in the Summer.
Mike suggested that if a college was about to buy tablets, they ought to hold off until W8 devices were available. Ken was going to buy Android, but he got in touch in response to Mike’s approach. Mike went in to the college and talked through Windows 8. Based on those conversations, and a subsequent evaluation process within the College, Ken decided to go with Windows 8 as his mobile platform of choice.
After looking at Hardware options, Ken decided to buy Lenovo Tablet 2s.
‘The specification was hard to match,’ he says. ‘Brand new Intel Atom processor power, 64Gb hard drive, USB connectivity, true 16:9 format display, only 565 grams and a massive 10 hour use on a single battery charge.’
For Ken, though, the real draw was the ability to run Windows 8 Professional.
‘It makes the tablet a true corporate device – network log on, the ability to run Microsoft Office applications including Outlook and Lync, all making the tablet easy for staff to use and adapt to in a work environment.’
Microsoft Partner Gardner Systems helped him to make the hardware decision and will be helping with the configuration roll out and staff training whilst in a new partnership, ‘Softcat’, the Tablet supplier, will be working with the college to provide an accessories supply portal for direct staff access via the web.
Ken is looking to use the tablets to rejuvenate the use of technology by teaching staff.
At the moment, he says,
‘Teaching staff have desktop PCs, some have laptops, but no matter what software you put on there, it still comes down to being tied to a desk with box and a monitor. What’s needed is something to get staff excited about mobile technology.’
He envisages a real effect on teaching style ��� ‘It’s more intimate,’ he says. ‘The tablet frees the lecturer from the PC at the front of the room and enables them to get among the students with the device, letting them drive the presentation.’
So far, people who have seen the new Lenovo devices are excited not just by the excellent ‘consumer’ touch screen features but by the obvious advantages of being literally in touch, on the move, with all their familiar Microsoft technologies. But, of course, it’s early days, and now Ken and his team are engaging with the College’s ‘Enhanced learning’ groups in order to run a series of lunchtime sessions, exploring ways of using the tablets to improve teaching and learning.
The next step is for me to attend one of those sessions in order to explore, understand – and report here – how Lenovo tablets and Windows 8 are being received and used in a go ahead FE College in the go ahead City of Liverpool. Once again, ‘Watch this Space’.
Guest post from Gerald Haigh. Gerald writes regularly for the Microsoft series of education blogs.
Continuing my hot pursuit of early Windows 8 adopters, I had an interesting conversation the other morning with David Rogers, Geography Curriculum Leader and Professional Tutor at Priory School in West Sussex. David is a Microsoft Innovative Teacher, and it’s easy to see why, because not only is he full of ideas, but he also has the knack of switching on mental lightbulbs in the mind of the person – in this case me – to whom he’s talking.
Our chat was about the use of Windows 8 tablets in school, because David’s been trialling six of them, from Asus, Acer and Fujitsu, with some of his students.
The experience has clearly opened up some intriguing possibilities for him. At the heart of his thinking is the key feature, which is that a Windows 8 tablet presents users with their familiar Microsoft software together with the possibility of easy collaboration and communication between and among students and teacher.
What really lit up my lightbulb, though, was the way David could see this opening up the possibility of a genuine digital exercise book.
‘You can see it working, if they all have a W8 tablet – using OneNote and SkyDrive, teacher giving feedback by annotating work, and recording their voice. Comments could go to one student, or all of the tablets if necessary. I think of GCSE projects, for example, and the ability in OneNote to drag in videos or diagrams.’
Annotation and the addition of comments and short notes on pieces of work by a teacher or a student is particularly easy, says David, when it’s possible to use a stylus.
‘I’d underestimated the importance of the stylus, but the students were off and running with it for handwriting recognition.’
So, ponder on all that, and then imagine an exercise book that --
That’s what’s possible right now with the Office suite, SkyDrive, OneNote, touchscreen and stylus, all together in a neat tablet. It looks like a winner to me.
If you are keen to hear more about the concept of the digital exercise book, David Rogers will be presenting twice daily on the Microsoft stand at Bett 2013. The full schedule is available via the Microsoft at Bett 2013 website.
After some great feedback following the launch of our Windows 8 in education eBook, we are thrilled to announce the launch of our Windows 8 in education UK microsite.
The microsite is designed to help surface, excuse the pun, some key Windows 8 in education assets that look closely at our new OS specifically through an edu lens.
In addition to the eBook, a key new asset that has literally just been added to the microsite is our Windows 8 in education video. The video showcases how both UCL and Hartsbrook E-Act Free School are using Windows 8 to build 21st skills and create more emotional connections with learning.
I was involved in the filming of this video and both institutions are doing some amazing work with Windows 8, and technology in general. I personally loved the impact that Windows 8 had on the primary age students at Hartsbrook, though. Seeing the look on the young students faces when a picture they had just taken on their Windows Phone seamlessly synced to SkyDrive on their Windows 8 classroom PC's was awesome! Charlotte Beckhurst, and the rest of the team at Hartsbrook, are doing some fantastic work and I can't wait to see her share her experiences on our stand at Bett next week.
If you are coming to Bett and want to check out Charlotte's session, our full Learn Live Theatre schedule is available via our Bett 2013 microsite. We hope to see you there!
Windows 8 apps also sit front and centre of our new Windows 8 in education microsite. With a rapidly growing selection of education apps from the likes of Pearson, RM and Autology, the education category in the Windows Store has definitely been one of the most dynamic and innovative areas since launch.
Our app showcases offer a detailed overview of specific apps combined with screencasts, screenshots and information to allow you to learn more about how the app can help directly within your institution.
The intention is not to list every education app in the store, but offer a curated overview of a selection of UK apps available both today and over the coming months.
We will be adding fresh content, especially around new apps, to the site on a regular basis so be sure to come back regularly and keep up to date with what is going on. We hope you find the site useful and informative look forward to sharing additional updates over the coming weeks/months.
If you have a favourite education app, we would love to hear more in the comments below. Also, if you are attending Bett 2013, make sure you pop over and say hi. We are on stands D270 and E270.
Tim
Askham Bryan College is one of the fastest growing land based colleges in the country. The college needed to provide its staff with a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Solution that met the needs and demands of all remote staff. The college approached various resellers for quotes on VDI solutions and costs were around £100,000. The college’s IT Department implemented a Microsoft Remote Desktop 2012 hybrid solution utilizing resources from both VMware and Hyper-V which saved them over £80,000. This not only provided a remote solution but a VDI Platform that would provide a return on investment and an saving on the total cost of ownership over the next five years estimated at £640,000.
Situation
Askham Bryan College currently has 8 centres across the North of England that provides HE and FE courses to approximate 7500 students. It is essential that college staff can access Askham Bryan IT resources whilst moving from sites and when using other academic institutes’ IT resources.
Askham Bryan College is like so many other academic establishments in the UK. We are constantly looking to drive down costs in the current climate and still deliver high quality IT Services for staff and students. The college felt that with all the new technologies hitting the current market, we should not only be looking to save money over the next five year’s but look at providing the college with a state of the art VDI infrastructure and remote access solution at a low cost.
Askham Bryan’s IT Department spent a considerable amount of time researching market leading vendors for a suitable VDI solution and the additional products that can enhance performance and end user experience. The college decided to invest in a Microsoft Remote Desktop (RDS) 2012 solution; this allowed the college to integrate other Microsoft products into the RDS solution through the use of the Microsoft campus agreement.
Solution
Askham Bryan College runs the majority of projects internally, not only to save on consultancy costs but to develop internal technical skills. Ryan Mangan the Head of IT Services designed the solution and built the server platform with Nathan Berry, one of the colleges IT Technician’s.
The Setup for the RDS 2012 solution:
The VMware Virtual setup consisted of two active/active connection brokers configured with a SQL Express 2012 Server. We also built a Remote session host and one webserver/ Remote desktop gateway for external access. The final server we built in the VMware environment was the 2012 KMS server allowing Virtual desktop to obtain licenses without the input from administrators.
The two Hyper-v Hosts were configured to use Cluster shared volumes providing high availability. We installed the Nvidia Quardro 2000 graphics cards into the Hypervisors allowing us to use Remote FX. Both QNAP storage devices were configured to use RAID 6 to provide redundancy and increase performance.
The end result has provided improved performance, reliability and ease of management with reduced costs. All users receive standard desktops which has benefits for both administrators and end-users.
We are currently testing various thin client devices and the use of Windows thin PC on existing hardware. We will shortly be in a position to continue the rollout and plan to replace 60% of the college’s desktops with thin client devices over the next two years. We have also set the foundations for future Brings Your Own Device (BYOD) Projects.
This solution has exceeded all expectations and has been a big success within the college.
We would like to thank PHOENIX SOFTWARE LTD WWW.PHOENIXS.CO.UK for providing the licensing for this project