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Behind the Screen is the working title of e-skills UK , a new project to create a computing GCSE. Working with teachers, students, universities and employees, this GCSE has been designed to equip students and young people with a wide range of skills from programming to game design. With more IT employers...

During a regular catch-up with my colleague, Greg Pearson, he shared some interesting stats around the global IT industry and how this relates to job growth, with a particular emphasis on the tech sector. I thought it might be worth sharing some of these stats on the blog. It definitely got me thinking...

With the current employment climate still proving to be difficult for many young adults to find jobs, having a skill set other than qualifications gained from school and college is becoming more important in order to have a C.V that stands out above the rest. I have recently written a blog on student...

Further to yesterdays exciting announcement at BETT 2012 by Michael Gove around reforming and updating the computer science curriculum in GCSE's, schools have now been freed up to use curriculum and resources to prepare and inspire students for the digital age. With this in mind, teachers now have a...

Whilst most of us are now on holiday, my colleague Greg Pearson, UK Lead for Microsoft Learning has picked up this new video success story around our Microsoft Technology Associate Exams (MTA)   for students, with Zenos   which I thought I would share with you for you to then share with your...

Cloud computing promises new career opportunities for IT professionals. In many cases, existing core skill sets transfer directly to cloud technologies. In other instances, IT pros need to develop new skill sets that meet the demand of emerging cloud job roles. Our latest whitepaper, literally hot...

It seems that one of the trendy topics discussed at education conferences these days is the combination of gaming and learning. Most of the time, it’s discussed in the context of the classroom or of students, but I’ve just learnt that we’ve now applied it to product training, in one of our experimental...

If you aren’t yet an IT Academy, then it’s definitely something to look into for 2010.  I’ve written about it before – in this blog post – and I think it is a programme which works very well for secondary schools. (In a nutshell it allows you to offer Microsoft certifications to your students, staff...

If you’re running the ICT systems in your school, and NOT running the curriculum ICT, then you may want to forward this onto the ICT Co-ordinator, or to the Deputy Head in charge of Curriculum Development. Although it’s got ‘IT’ in the title, the IT Academy is actually all about curriculum development...

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have th e Romans ever done for us? If you’re looking for nostalgia, take a look at the Life of Brian script – which doesn’t start with the question...

If your teachers and students (and friends and family) are always asking you how to do something on the computer, even though you know you showed them at least three times already, you won't be alone - statistics from a recent ICM survey carried out on our behalf show that almost half of all adults in...

Following on from my blog article earlier this week about the five-year extension of our Partners in Learning programme , you may want to get hold of a copy of the DVD that we distributed at the BETT show. It's a free DVD full of helpful resources from the programme. We handed out over 15,000 at the...

For the last 5 years we have been running a programme, called Partners in Learning, to extend and expand the development of learning, and especially the ways that ICT can support learning in schools. Globally this programme has invested £125 million into projects run in partnership with governments,...

A colleague and I were engaged in a debate recently, in a team meeting, when we were discussing plans for BETT 2008. For the show we've added three themes to Microsoft's "Realising Potential" message. Those three themes are: Raising Standards Personalising Learning 21st Century Skills ...