On 19 October 2011 over a hundred educators, teachers, technical trainers, decision makers all descended on Microsoft HQ UK in Reading. The one thing that bound all these people together – they all represented UK Microsoft IT Academes from all corners of the UK.
The event was hosted by Greg Pearson (UK Lead, Microsoft Learning). The day was filled with sharing best practice and giving glimpses of the future of Microsoft certification and technologies. Here are some key points from the event:
Key Note
Karen Price OBE (CEO e-skills UK) and Stephen Uden (Head of Skills and Economic Affairs, Microsoft) presented the Key Note. They highlighted how the rate of unemployment (especially youth unemployment) has increased dramatically. Another grim aspect is that the number of young people taking ICT related A Levels had decreased by 14% in the last year. There were plenty of statistics that can be found at:
http://www.e-skills.com/technologyinsights2011
There were a certain number of initiatives that have been launched in order to ensure that the next generation IT workforce will be ready:
A brand new IT GCSE: http://www.e-skills.com/behindthescreen
This will change the focus from the GCSE which has become all about using Office to actually doing coding, understand cyber security and generally getting “behind the screen”.
Computer Club for Girls: http://www.e-skills.com/education/teachers/online-club-cc4g/
To encourage more women to enter the IT industry.
Also some bodies have been set up to “up-skill” the IT workforce:
The National Skills Academy for IT: http://www.itskillsacademy.ac.uk/
Skills Framework for the Information Age: http://www.sfia.org.uk/
ITA Benefits and Certifications
After all this, Greg once more took the stage and ran through the benefits of the ITA programme which can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/itacademy/default.aspx
Greg also highlighted how the “Cloud” is going to drive forward the Microsoft certification track. A summary of current certifications can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-cloud.aspx
Greg mentioned that approximately 10,000 MTA exams were delivered worldwide in the last year – the coolest point of this statistic is that over 4000 of those exams were delivered by Zenos!
Some key dates were mentioned at the ITA summit regarding new MTA certifications:
Mobile Development Fundamentals (98-373)
- Release: 30 November 2011
- ERK & SSG: January 2012
Gaming Development Fundamentals (98-374)
- Release: 17 November 2011
- ERK & SSG: January 2012
Office 365 coming in June 2012
OCR
Simon Garratt (Qualifications Manager, OCR) gave an update of how they have incorporated MS Certifications as part of their Competency Diplomas – to the point an entire Competency Diploma can be gained by completing a MCDBA – a bit of a tall order!
Lync Demonstration
Ewan Dalton (Partner Group Technology Manager, Microsoft) gave a great demonstration of using Lync in an enterprise. Educational institutions can get this as part of Office 365 for education:
http://www.microsoft.com/liveatedu/learn-about-office-365.aspx
City and Guilds
Ken Gaines (ICT Portfolio Management, City and Guilds) mirrored the talk from OCR and said that they have also incorporated MS certifications completely into their qualifications portfolio.
Best Practice
Best practice case studies were given by:
Alan Stevens, Headmaster at Sawtry College
Julian Brunger, MCT at Walsall College
Richard Seaton, Senior Lecturer at the Open University
You can watch video case studies for Sawtry and Walsall here:
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/schools/curriculum-resources/IT-academy/the-programme.aspx
Microsoft Evangelist
Lee Stott (Academic Developer Evangelist) gave a great overview of a range of technologies that can be used in teaching and learning. Lee talked about a range of technologies including:
Kinect: http://kinectforwindows.org/
Gadgeteer: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/gadgeteer/
Windows Phone: http://create.msdn.com/en-US/home/getting_started
Windows 8: http://www.buildwindows.com/
Microsoft Academic Service Partners
If you need help with harnessing your benefits then in the UK you have access to:
Prodigy Learning: http://www.prodigyuk.co.uk/
IT Skills Management Company: http://www.itskillsman.co.uk/
More information
If you want to know more about the topics discussed at the event, you can view all the presentations at:
http://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/presentations
