The session was “interesting” and I enjoyed delivering it and sharing my passion for the upcoming Windows 8 OS.  As part of the session, I demonstrated the User Interface and did this by using the WebEx Share Application feature to share a Remote Desktop session to a purpose built Windows 8 laptop.

The technical set-up was quite cool, considering that there was a Hyper-V server in the background in case any of the three laptops that were being used failed.

The aim of the session was to “humanise” the transition to a new OS and provide a platform to ask questions. As a backup, I had uploaded my slide deck to SlideShare, which can be viewed below. Enjoy!

Enjoy the video:

If you want to run the MTA programme at your institution, please visit Prodigy Learning (UK/Ireland) and Certiport (US and beyond). If you want to study towards the MTA and other great qualifications and are aged 16-24, please visit Zenos.

One of the things that all IT Professionals advise when facing a serious malware infection is to disconnect the system and do an off-line virus scan. However, with so many different tools out there, it’s difficult to decide which is the best.  If you have been using MDOP, you may be aware of the Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper. A beta version of this tool is available publicly on the Microsoft Connect website.

The first step of using this tool is to download the appropriate version (either x86 or x64) from the Connect Website: http://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeper

This tool then allows you to create the media required to troubleshoot the system. It can be either a USB flash stick, CD/DVD or even an ISO file.

When creating the media, the tool downloads the latest definitions from the Microsoft website.  The resulting file size for an ISO is no more than 250MB.

Once you have the MSSS media, you boot using it and it runs a scan to detect for malware using the Windows Defender Interface.

A full scan can take over 1 hour and it is best to have something else to do during this scanning phase. Once the scan is over you can simply remove it using the interface.

Simple but effective!

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

When you speak to technology educators the aspect of using simple tried and tested tools of Saturday night evening entertainment in your classroom seems to never have been considered.

By employing the vehicle of a game where the learners are more concerned about the rules and the objective of scoring points, the focus is taken away from the strenuous nature of learning CompTIA A+ facts by rote, and instead you’re learning to WIN!

A game that I love using is the word game of “Shiritori” – something that I adapted from my time in Japan (see a video of its use in a Japanese classroom: http://youtu.be/4sEhxaYCsPI)

Below are my slides from my session, if you wish to share your own tips, please feel free to comment.