Microsoft IT Academy Program Reminder October/November 2013 Dear Virginia Educator,

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1 Microsoft IT Academy Program Reminder October/November 2013 Dear Virginia Educator, You are receiving this program reminder notice because you have participated in a Microsoft IT Academy (ITA) face- to- face training and/or virtual training. In this month s reminder notice, we want to bring to your attention the following announcements and benefits: Featured School/Send us your Story: find out who is finding success for their students and how you can tell us your story. Ten Schools Awarded for Certification Success at VACTEA Semester One Contest Reminder: New Sign-In Criteria for First-Time IT Academy Member Site Users DreamSpark Developer and Designer Software Benefit New! Digital Literacy Productivity Programs Virtual Training Calendar Virtual Training Session Recordings Below, you will find a snapshot of these benefits and other resources available to you through the ITA program. You can also go the ITA member site and click on My Academy for deeper look into all the member benefits! Click this link: us/itacademy/members. Featured School/Send us your Story: Each month, we feature a story about students succeeding with the IT Academy program or certification. This month we want to share a story from Aric Mills (pictured at right) a graduate of Sherando High School, Frederick County Public Schools, Virginia: When I was in high school, my business teacher convinced me that it would be a good idea to get all of the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certifications and become MOS Certified. After graduating from The College of William and Mary, I was immediately able to find employment as a quality analyst with Rubbermaid Commercial Products LLC, not only because of my college degree, but due largely to the MOS certification that I had obtained in high school. Nearly one and a half years later I was hired by American International Group, Inc. (AIG), also strongly due to having the MOS certification. Without having the MOS certification I would not have been able to land these amazing job opportunities.

2 Do you have a story of how you have helped your students succeed by using the IT Academy program and/or certification? By joining the teachers and faculty who have shared their success stories on the IT Academy blog, you can help inspire a new generation of IT Academy members and students around the world. We want details, such as: How you are benefiting from the program. Individuals within your school who have grown from the program or certification. Educators who are using IT Academy resources in innovative ways. A Wall of Fame snapshot of the year s earned certifications, and a photo for our blog and Facebook page. Videos by IT Academy staff and students showcasing highlights and accomplishment. Contact Liz Butowicz at vaita@microsoft.com to share your story! Ten Schools Awarded for Certification Success at VACTEA During the VACTEA Conference on October 3, 10 schools were recognized for their outstanding student certification success for the 2012/13 school year. Congratulations again to the following schools: Halifax High School/Halifax County Public Schools, Marshall High School/Fairfax County Public Schools, Nansemond River High School/Suffolk City Public Schools, Park View High School/Mecklenburg County Public Schools, Granby High School/Norfolk City Public Schools, Stonewall Jackson High School/Prince William County Public Schools, Bluestone High School/Mecklenburg County Public Schools, Franklin County High School/Franklin County Public Schools, Patriot High School/Prince William County Public Schools, James Wood High School/Frederick County Public Schools. Semester One Contest We hope your Microsoft Office course this year is going well and your students are learning the many features of the Microsoft Office applications. We are delighted to announce a Semester Certification Contest. The basis of the contest will be the school with the highest number of student Microsoft Office Specialist and Microsoft Technology Associate certifications earned during the 1 st semester (July 1, 2013 Jan 10, 2014) based on the ratio of number of students certified:number of students enrolled in the CTE Priority Courses. The school will be recognized and presented an award: EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION You can see by the chart to the right that testing has begun and there is a lot of opportunity to fill the gap between our certification goal and where we are today. As an ongoing update, we will publish the certification goals and actual numbers each month. Remember to teach it, test it to ensure your students success with certification testing.

3 Reminder: New Sign-In Criteria for First-Time IT Academy Member Site Users: all new IT Academy member site users will need the following information the first time they sign into the site: The ITA membership ID provided in the program welcome send to the program administrator, A new ITA program key, provided to all program administrators in an during the first week of September. ITA program administrators: Please distribute the required membership ID and program key to all new ITA member site users at your school. If you have questions, please contact your ITA Regional Support Center. Note The above criteria apply only to first- time site users. Those who have previously accessed the member site will be able to do so seamlessly using existing credentials. DreamSpark Developer and Designer Software Benefit: The DreamSpark Standard benefit is available to your school as a part of the IT Academy program subscription. DreamSpark licenses your school to distribute development and design software across your school s labs (using lab licenses) and to all students and faculty for installation on their personal PCs. To learn more about your school s DreamSpark benefit, click here. Before you activate this benefit, you will need the school s agreement number and promo code. Please contact vaita@microsoft.com for your school s agreement number, promo code, and activation instructions. games.) New! Digital Literacy Productivity Programs: We are excited to announce a new Digital Literacy course is now available on basic productivity skills for Office As part of the course, you will find games, demos, activities, and interactive guides to help students quickly learn the basics of word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases. Click here to Launch Productivity Programs course (Requires broadband connection. Requires Internet Explorer 10 or higher for Virtual Training Calendar: Three new virtual training sessions are now available for registration. Please review the session descriptions below and click on the link to register for the sessions you would like to attend. DreamSpark: Understanding and Activating Your Benefit November 7 at 6:00 PM (EST) Join this training to learn more about the DreamSpark benefit. With this benefit students and teachers have access to Microsoft s key developer tools and platforms for learning and research purposes. Some of the DreamSpark software titles include Windows Server 2012, SQL Server, Visual Studio 2012 Professional, Expression and the Kinect for Windows SDK. To learn more and understand the step by step activation steps

4 please join us for this session. Registration Link: Click here key not required Getting Started with the Microsoft IT Academy in Virginia November 12 and 14 at 4:00 PM (EST) Join this session to learn all about the Microsoft IT Academy (ITA) and the many tools and benefits now available to you! During this Live Meeting webinar, Jason Majors from Escambia High School in Florida and Liz Butowicz from the Microsoft IT Academy program team will give you a high- level overview of the program, demonstrate how to access the benefits along with a tour of the IT Academy websites, and a brief demonstration on how to set up an e- Learning course. Registration Link: Click here key not required Using Microsoft Official Academic Courseware (MOAC) in the classroom November 21 and 26, 4:30 PM (EST) MOAC offers a comprehensive solution for teaching Microsoft Office and Microsoft Technology Associate courses. The MOAC series provides e- books, lab manuals and instructor resources everything instructors need to plan, prepare and teach in the classroom. Designed specifically for an academic setting, MOAC fits with classes taught over a period of 6-16 weeks. During this Live Meeting webinar, Jason Majors from Escambia High School in Florida will review how to access your MOAC Instructor resource materials from the Wiley site and integrate the curriculum into your classroom. Registration Link: Click here key not required Microsoft IT Academy Webinar Series 11:00am- noon Eastern, second Thursday of every month November 14: Delivering immersive learning experiences for your students December 12: Advancing your skills through professional development January 9: Boosting students' confidence and motivation to achieve their academic goals February 13: Top Ten Classroom Enhancements March 13: Instruction Innovation: Next Generation Classrooms April 10: Countdown to Graduation - Motivating your students to go the last mile May 08: The Road Ahead - Taking technology to the next level June 12: Deploying IT Academy A guide for Benefits Administrators Click the following link to register: November Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday DreamSpark: Understanding and Activating 8 9

5 Getting Started with the Microsoft IT Academy in Virginia (4:00pm EST) and Activating Your Benefit (6:00pm PST) Delivering immersive learning experiences for your students (11:00am EST) Getting Started with the Microsoft IT Academy in Virginia (4:00pm EST) Using Microsoft Official Academic Courseware (MOAC) in the classroom (4:30 pm EST) Using Microsoft Official Academic Courseware (MOAC) in the classroom (4:30 pm EST) Virtual Training Session Recordings: Please review the session descriptions below and click on the link to listen to the session you would like to watch. Getting Started with the Microsoft IT Academy Program Listen to this session to learn all about the Microsoft IT Academy (ITA) program and the many tools and benefits now available to you! During this recorded webinar, we will give you a high- level overview of the program, demonstrate how to access the benefits along with a tour of the IT Academy websites, and a brief demonstration on how to set up an e- Learning course. Recording Link : Click Here key not required

6 Getting Started Teacher First Steps Planning your MSITA Curriculum Learn best practices for using Microsoft IT Academy (MSITA) program curriculum in the classroom. Learn where to locate and how to use all of the needed resources for your first day and first semester teaching MSITA. The session will cover the steps for getting started and strategies for certification testing. We will discuss how to access and utilize MOAC (Microsoft Official Academic Courseware), Lesson Plans, E- Learning, Projects and other resources. Teachers will leave this session with an understanding of how to pace learning in the classroom, and how to find the right balance of resources to achieve optimal student performance. Recording Link: Click Here key not required Microsoft IT Academy: IT Readiness During this session we discuss the requirements necessary to run the software and E- Learning courses associated with IT Academy (ITA) program, the following items are discussed in detail: Downloading and setting up the lab licenses in the classroom; identifying, communicating, and mitigating any known firewalls that prevent access to the ITA E- Learning courses; unblocking key URL s necessary to successfully run the IT Academy E- Learning courses and identifying the Live ID identity creation process. Recording Link: Click Here key not required MTA (Microsoft Technology Associate): Preparing your Students for Certification Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) was designed specifically for high school students as a recommended entry point into IT certification and job preparation. Providing your students MTA curriculum and the chance to earn a certification allows them to take their first step toward a career in technology. MTA is an industry- recognized certification for those pursuing a career path in IT infrastructure, database design, or software development using Microsoft technologies. Recording Link: Click here key not required Support: If you are looking for additional information regarding the ITA and need answers to your questions, please contact our RSC (Regional Service Center) and speak to one of our Agents: Country or region Phone number Fax number address United States and Canada acadsupp@microsoft.com There are many more valuable opportunities available to you as IT Academy members: A Microsoft IT Academy SkyDrive site has been created especially for you! Here is where you will find all the IT Academy program how to documents, certification information, virtual training schedule and recordings, along with training PowerPoint slides. Click here to go to the ITA SkyDrive. Please take time to visit the Microsoft IT Academy member site: us/itacademy/members.

7 Sincerely, Liz Butowicz Virginia ITA Deployment Manager