Microsoft Office

Second time around for this bit of news, but very apropos in today’s business climate.

Microsoft Corp. announced a new initiative, Elevate America, which will provide up to 2 million people over the next three years with the technology training needed to succeed in the 21st-century economy.

Microsoft has worked for years with other businesses and community-based partners to broaden access to job opportunities through information technology education and training. Elevate America expands these efforts and provides immediate support in response to the current economic crisis in partnership with others in the public and private sector.

Elevate America has two main offerings, one available immediately and one that will be provided in partnership with state governments including those of Florida, New York and Washington.

Elevate America helps individuals understand what types of technical skills they need for the jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities of today and tomorrow, and resources to help acquire these skills. The Web site provides access to several Microsoft online training programs, including how to use the Internet, send e-mail and create a résumé, as well as more advanced programs on using specific Microsoft applications.

In order to provide a broader range of training programs and certification exams, Microsoft will also partner with state and local governments, which in turn will make these resources available to their citizens. Pamela Passman, corporate vice president of Microsoft Global Corporate Affairs, today announced that Florida, New York and Washington will be the first states to provide Elevate America to their residents. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire says that programs such as Elevate America are critical to providing support to Washington families and helping the economy recover.

Elevate America is an extension of Microsoft’s long-standing commitment to provide skills training and certification through schools, government programs and community-based organizations. The Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Program is an example of how Microsoft is already working to bridge the technology skills gap and equip more people with skills relevant to today’s work force. More than half of today’s jobs require some technology skills, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that will reach 77 percent in the next decade.

“Millions of Americans don’t have the technology skills needed in today’s economy. Through Elevate America, we want to help workers get the skills they need to succeed,” Passman said. “We are also providing a full range of work force development resources for state and local governments so they can offer specialized training for their workers.”

Short-Term Needs and Long-Term Investments

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more people than ever are pursuing Microsoft technical certifications. As part of the Elevate America effort, Microsoft is providing 1 million Microsoft Learning vouchers for free access to Microsoft eLearning courses and select certification exams.* This comprehensive offering also includes the following:

• Expanded access to basic technology literacy and skills training

• Basic-level information technology training resources through Microsoft Unlimited Potential and Digital Literacy curricula

• Intermediate technology skills training courses, online and instructor-led, plus selected certification exams

• Vouchers for eLearning course collections offered by Microsoft

• Vouchers for certification exams leading to Microsoft business certification

• Grants of cash and software to community partners to build in-classroom training capacity

• Discounted membership rates for institutions participating in the Microsoft IT Academy program

• Access to a new Web portal that will help guide individuals to training and resources that position them for success in the economy today, and tomorrow

FEllow MOONies (MicrosOft OneNoteies), here’s part of an article from the OneNote and Education blog that has highlighted a study by a Finnish Educator.

Since it was launched in October 2003, the electronic notebook, OneNote, has been one of Microsoft’s best kept secrets.

Fortunately, more and more people now seem to be introduced to the program – fortunately, for OneNote is a very strong learning tool that may be completely personalized in accordance with to the users’ needs, not least their learning styles needs. The comprehensive tutorials that come with the program very instructively show its immense possibilities and flexibility, and in order for the users to make qualified choices among the many features, they would be well advised to use their learning styles. As the above table shows, quite a few learning styles elements are directly addressed in OneNote and the rest of them are indirectly addressed.

The Analytic and the Global Learners

The OneNote interface (and the interface of other MS Office programs as well) supports both analytic and global processors. Analytic learners are often not visual-picture oriented, and they should therefore stick to the text based dropdown menus and remove the icons. Globals, on the other hand, tend to be strongly visual picture learners and should wallow in toolbars with icons, even if this makes the working screen somewhat smaller.

Analytic learners can easily develop the very structure they need and prefer in order to build up knowledge. The flexible OneNote search feature prevents the analytic learners from getting lost in tiny details, and the use of hyperlinks between notebooks, sections, and subsections obviously has the same effect.

Education institutions worldwide embrace Microsoft Live@edu to enrich student experience, enhance learning outcomes and fuel productivity; new Microsoft Outlook Live delivers new e-mail functionality based on the popular Outlook interface.

several universities and institutions of higher learning have recently signed on to Microsoft Live@edu, signifying continued worldwide growth of this service. With enhanced collaboration and communications features, Live@edu is a no-charge suite that enhances student productivity in both the classroom and their personal lives. In addition, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Exchange Labs, which currently delivers rich e-mail functionality as a service to 3.5 million Live@edu users, will be renamed Outlook Live. The Outlook Live service will also be extended to support faculty and staff members at no charge.

“Live@edu’s impressive growth trajectory demonstrates that it’s an attractive offering with institutions of higher learning,” said Anna Kinney, senior product manager for Microsoft Live@edu. “Today’s new enhancements and extension to include faculty and staff members will make Live@edu even more compelling for today’s budget-conscious campuses.”

Booming Enrollment

The growth in universities, colleges and schools embracing Live@edu includes the following recent landmark customer wins:

• University of Queensland. The university has created 83,000 accounts on Live@edu for student use and plans to create an additional 100,000 accounts for use by alumni in the near future.

• Ohio State University. The U.S.’s largest public university, counting more than 61,000 students.

• Ministry of Education of Peru. Paving the way for the activation of up to 4 million students and 150,000 teachers on Live@edu.

• University of New South Wales. Recognized as one of Australia’s leading teaching and research institutions with more than 44,500 students and 6,000 faculty members.

• University of Ulster. One of the largest universities in Ireland with more than 25,000 students, 1,100 of them studying fully online from over 55 different countries.

• Government of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Live@edu will be made available to more than 6 million students of the state.

At the University of Queensland, students, faculty members and administrators are using Live@edu to augment instruction, improve communications and foster greater collaboration.

Attend a Webinar, fill out a questionnaire and get a free copy of OneNote 2007 (and become a MOONIE, that is, MicrosOft OneNote).

From Mike Tholfsen’s Blog:

Next Tuesday, (January 20th, 2009 from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm PST) Microsoft Solution Specialist Tony Franklin will be presenting a Teacher Tech Tuesday webinar on OneNote 2007 in the classroom. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Tony a few different times, including the Philadelphia School of the Future and the Freedom Writer Teacher event. Tony works extensively with the Philadelphia School of the Future and has been a proponent of OneNote and education for many years. I highly encourage you to sign up for this free webinar and engage with Tony for his presentation.

Microsoft will also be giving a free a copy of OneNote 2007 for any teacher that views the webinar and completes the survey at the end! If you missed the last one, now’s you’re chance to get a copy of OneNote. More details on how you get your free copy are listed below.

So round up as many teachers as you can and watch this webinar on Tuesday.

Go HERE to register. Get as many of your fellow Teachers to participate! Encourage everyone to become a MOONie.

Get tips on how OneNote can help you organize class materials and class work, create collaborative work environments, and share workspaces. In this webinar we will cover:

- Getting Started with OneNote
- How to get organized with OneNote
- Organizing class materials & class work
- Creating collaborative work environments

Holly Thomas, of Inside Office Online, posted about a great creativity test, the Epstein Creativity Competencies Inventory for Individuals (ECCI-i).

It’s a short survey, about 25 or so questions, that scores you in four ares, Preserves New Ideas, Seeks Challenges, Broadens Skills and Knowledge, Changes Physical and Social Environment. Then after you submit the questionnaire, you are given scores in each area and a cumulative score. Mine was 63%. Apparantly I need to seek more challenges and change my environment more. It’s a great venue to get yourself thinking of your environment and life; how you interact with it.

This past year, I’ve relocated across the country from Nebraska to Washington State, moved from Tacoma to Seattle. That’s changing my physical environment. Had to furnish my apt, talked to new and interesting people. Maybe I need to get out more?

It’d be interesting to see how other people score and react to the test and their scores. What would you do differently in your creative life for home, work or around town? How do you interact with others? Have you done anything outside your ‘comfort zone’? I really haven’t. Unless you consider being out at night when the criminals and addicts are panhandling.

Learn what Microsoft Office can do to make your everyday life easier.

Microsoft Presspass has a great interview with Michael Schultz, Microsoft Office Live Director of Marketing.

There are millions and millions of people around the world using Microsoft Office to help manage their lives. They use the Office products to help schedule carpools, grocery shopping, design party invitations, write reports, just to name a few of the many helpful ideas Microsoft Office helps.

This week, Presspass (of the Microsoft network) spoke to Michael Shultz at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Schultz talked about how using traditional desktop software in conjunction with services such as the upcoming Office Web applications (lightweight, Web-based versions of Office applications expected to be released as part of the next version of Office) could change how consumers work and play, as well as about how parents, students, and home-based businesses can use Office 2007 to make life easier.

In part, here’s what Shultz and Presspass had to say:

Office 2007 can synchronize with Office Web Online to help search for ideas, products and reports. This can help students with school products, businesses with employees online and many other applications. Office Web applications, such as one being developed for Microsoft Office OneNote (becomea MOONie–MicrosOft OneNote!).

Office 2007 can help with tracking your exercise. Says Schulz: “After each daily run, you can post your time to a personal fitness workspace in Office Live Workspace and compare it to previous times. If you share that workspace with your teammates, they’ll get an e-mail every time you update the workspace and will be able to see how you’re doing, and whether they need to step it up.”

Use one of the many online options to share your information: from Office Online, Web based applications, Groove, Infopath, Outlook, for starters. The options are limitless on how you choose to share your information.

Families, businesses, schools and friends can keep in touch instantly with all the available technology Microsoft Office has to offer.

Microsoft works collaboratively with educators across Higher Education and K-12 to provide software plus services aimed at enhancing the learning environment and streamlining the operations of institutions.

This site is your resource for webcasts, podcasts, and other valuable information to gain insights into how Microsoft and Microsoft Partner solutions can help enable learning in the 21st century.

What’s coming up:

Are you up to date on US Education Market Trends and Microsofts EDU Priorities and Vision?

Live Oct 3 10:00AM-11:00AM Pacific Time

Education is the foundation for success and the link between employability and economic output. Public education is under much pressure for change in order to deliver a 21st Century Workforce able to flourish in the global economy. These trends are driving Microsofts education focus and business opportunities in key areas. This webcast launches our Partner Webinar Series and sets the stage for all future webcasts. In this session, we will scratch the surface on trends Microsoft is seeing and that research groups (e.g., Center for Digital Education) have confirmed. These trends represent the drivers behind substantial business opportunities we see for Microsoft-based solutions and they have played a role in the development of Microsofts education marketing campaigns that will help support the business.

Speakers:
Mary Cullinane—Director, Innovation and Business Development
Anthony Salcito—General Manager

Live@edu Overview
Live Oct 6 9:00AM-10:00AM Pacific Time
Looking for innovative solutions for keeping your students and alumni connected? Learn about Live@edu, Microsoft’s newest platform for delivering student and alumni email, communication and collaboration services. Join us for this one hour presentation on Microsoft’s Live @ EDU offering that offers:

The Apps students want

A co-branded email inbox students can use as their primary account, with additional services like Office Live Workspace, Windows Live SkyDrive, and more of things that encourage collaboration.

Integration with what you have in place

Live@edu works with the devices your students already use, and integrates with the infrastructure you already have.

Reliable Infrastructure

Outsource the time and cost of spam-filtering, server uptime and ongoing maintenance to Microsofts enterprise-class infrastructure.

Safety and Privacy

Keep your students data private and help keep them safer online. All for free to your institution!

Speakers:
Jonny Chambers—Senior Solution Specialist - Live@Edu