If you haven't met Tim Vander Kooi (Chairman of the North America IT Pro user group community, GITCA), you should consider joining this webcast next month. Tim is extremely knowledgeable, and personable. These webcasts are hugely popular, and you get to submit questions, in advance, that you'd like answered during the webcast. Here's the info:
Join this live webcast with Tim Vander Kooi and Microsoft’s Harold Wong, May 23rd @ 10:00(pst) as they discuss the impact that the cloud is having on IT pros as they learn new skills, spend more time innovating and less time maintaining. Register today.
Why Enroll, other than it being free?
The Microsoft Virtual Academy helps you to improve your IT skill set and advance your career with a free, easy to access training portal that allows you to learn at your own pace, focusing on Microsoft technologies.
What Do I get for enrolment?
• Free training to make you become the Cloud-Hero in my Organization
• Help mastering your Training Path and get the recognition
• Connect with other IT Pros and discuss The Cloud
Where do I Enrol?
• www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com
We're in the countdown to TechEd North America on May 16, and to celebrate going into the homestretch, we're hosting a free Cram 4 Exam for Developers. On Monday May 2, join Microsoft Certified Trainer Susan Ibach for a Cram 4 Exam on 70-536 - TS: Microsoft .NET Framework - Application Development Foundation. That's right, Susan is taking on this wide-ranging exam and she'll talk you through all of it!
Susan's been in the software industry since 1993 and is a long-time MCT Ambassador for TechEd. She was also on the winning IT Grand Prix team last year with Christopher Harrison, but the best thing about Susan is that as of April 7th, she joined Microsoft Canada as a Developer Evangelist!
This means that if you're a Canadian developer, Susan is your new best friend and what better way to get to know her than to attend this free Cram 4 Exam session?
Register Now! Monday, May 2, 2011Start Time: 8am Pacific Time (What time is this in my region?)
Hello CRM MCTs--
Exam #MB2-867 has been recently posted on the Microsoft Learning Site:
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Installation & Deployment Exam
This certification exam measures your ability to understand and articulate how to install and deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 including planning the installation, installing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Server, installing and deploying the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Email Router, installing and deploying the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Client for Microsoft Office Outlook, configuring Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, and upgrading to and redeploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.
Windows Server professionals,
What is the most common mistake or troubleshooting scenario when configuring Active Directory objects?
Help us keep it real on our exams! Take one of our quick surveys on Windows Server 2008. At the end of each month, we’ll give away exam vouchers (good for any Microsoft exam at a Prometric test center in 2011). Selection is by random drawing, so the more surveys you answer, the better your chance of winning!
Check out our weekly posts, or visit any of the following pages for survey links and results:
For today's quick survey on Active Directory objects, click here.
MSL | FAST University offers SharePoint Server 2010 specialty training for IT Professionals. The training covers a variety of Enterprise Search topics:
For additional information please contact [email protected].
By David Codrington
Last week we posted the first 11 pages of Climbing Mt. PowerShell. Today the adventure continues with 11 new pages.
These pages have some great information on PowerShell scripting features. You can read about arguments, input, comparison operators, conditional statements, loops, and working with files and folders. We've also got an example called "Reading a Text File into an Array," where we show how Get-Content can be used to read a text file into an array. This makes it easy to provide a list of items for the script to operate on. Towards the end of today's content, we get into working with network tasks. We also have two full comic panels!
Stay tuned. We'll be back very soon with the last few pages - and the full PDF download. In the meantime you can check out the Script Center for tons of great info on PowerShell.
Many thanks to those who have provided feedback. If you have feedback for us, please leave comments or drop us a line.
A Microsoft Certification is always a good idea, whether you're at a tech student at university, IT college, working in an IT department, or looking to switch into the IT field. Competition for jobs is fierce, but a Microsoft Certification will help set you apart from all the other applicants and will help your resume rise to the top of the pile!
And just in time for all the college students graduating this May, not only do you get over 50% off the standard exam price, if you take your certification test before June 30th, you can take advantage of the FREE Exam Retake offer -if you don't pass your the first try, try again! To take advantage of this offer before it expires -- grab a voucher code at www.microsoft.com/learning/studentdiscounts. Act now, offer ends June 30, 2011 and Microsoft Certification exam prices increase July 1.
I am pleased to announce the release of the English ILT course: 10550A - Programming in Visual Basic with Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010.
This course fulfills our commitment to the Visual Basic developer community by offering a course that is specifically catered towards the design and development needs of Visual Basic enthusiasts. Visual Basic programmers comprise nearly 50% of the developer audience targeted by Microsoft Learning. This VB course will provide a C# equivalent entry point for developers interested in the VB programming language.
Here's more details on the course:
Course Description
This course teaches you Visual Basic language syntax, program structure, and implementation by using Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 and the Microsoft .NET Framework 4. This course provides a solid foundation in Visual Basic to the level necessary to enable students to attend other courses in the Technical Specialist tracks.
Audience
This course is intended for experienced developers who already have programming experience in Visual Basic, C, C++, C#, or Java, and understand the concepts of Object Oriented Programming. These developers will be likely to develop enterprise business solutions. These professional developers will be attending the course so that they can quickly ramp up on Visual Basic Programming in the .NET Framework. The course focuses on Visual Basic program structure, language syntax, and implementation details with the .NET Framework 4.0. This course also focuses on new enhancement in the Visual Basic 2010 language using Visual Studio 2010.
Student Prerequisites
This course requires that you meet the following prerequisites:
· This course is targeted at developers who already have Visual Basic knowledge.
· This course is not for new developers; at least 12 months experience working with an Object Oriented
· language is expected.
· Creating classes
· Inheritance and abstraction
· Polymorphism
· Interfaces
· Delegates
· Events
· Exceptions
· Experience with the Microsoft .NET Framework
· Knowledge of the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE).
Course Objectives
After completing this course, students will be able to:
· Describe the purpose of the .NET Framework, and explain how to use Microsoft Visual Basic® and
· Visual Studio 2010 to build .NET Framework applications.
· Describe the syntax of basic Visual Basic programming constructs.
· Describe how to create and call methods.
· Describe how to catch, handle, and throw exceptions.
· xiv About This Course
· Describe how to perform basic file I/O operations in a Visual Basic application.
· Describe how to create and use new types (enumerations, classes, and structures), and explain the
· differences between reference types and value types.
· Describe how to control the visibility and lifetime of members in a type.
· Describe how to use inheritance to create new reference types.
· Describe how to manage the lifetime of objects and control the use of resources.
· Describe how to create properties and indexers to encapsulate data, and explain how to define
· operators for this data.
· Describe how to decouple an operation from the method that implements it, and explain how to use
· these decoupled operations to handle asynchronous events.
· Describe the purpose of collections, and explain how to use generics to implement type-safe
· collection classes, structures, interfaces, and methods.
· Describe how to implement custom collection classes that support enumeration.
· Describe how to query in-memory data by using Language-Integrated Query (LINQ) queries.
· Describe how to integrate code written by using a dynamic language such as Ruby and Python, or
· technologies such as Component Object Model (COM), into a Visual Basic application.
Course Outline
This section provides an outline of the course:
Module 1, "Introducing Visual Basic and the .NET Framework," provides an overview of the .NET Framework and shows how you can start to build your own .NET Framework applications by using Visual Basic and Visual Studio 2010.
Module 2, "Using Visual Basic Programming Constructs," provides an introduction to Visual Basic programming language syntax and introduces many of the basic Visual Basic language data types and
programming constructs.
Module 3, "Declaring and Calling Methods," introduces the concept of methods and describes how, in object-oriented languages such as Visual Basic, a method is a unit of code that is designed to perform a discrete piece of work. This module shows you how to declare and call methods by using Visual Basic.
Module 4, "Handling Exceptions," introduces the importance of exception handling and explains why applications should be designed with exception handling in mind. This module explains how you can implement effective exception handling in your applications and describes how to use exceptions in your methods to indicate an error condition to the code that calls your methods.
Module 5, "Reading and Writing Files," explains how the ability to access and manipulate files on the file system is a common requirement for many applications. This module shows you how to read and write to files by using the classes in the .NET Framework. It also describes the different approaches that you can take and explains how to read and write different formats of data.
Module 6, "Creating New Types," explains how to build your own types that model items in the real world and describes how to implement the business logic for these items that your applications require. This module explains the differences between reference types and value types.
Module 7, "Encapsulating Data and Methods," describes how to use the access modifiers that Visual Basic provides to enable you to implement encapsulation. This module also introduces the Shared access modifier, which enables you to define members that can be shared over multiple instances of the same type.
Module 8, "Inheriting from Classes and Implementing Interfaces," explains that inheritance is a key concept in an object-oriented language and describes how you can use inheritance, interfaces, and
abstract classes to develop object hierarchies. This module also explains how you can use these object hierarchies to help reduce bugs by defining clear contracts for the functionality that a class should expose and providing default implementations where you can sensibly abstract code into a base type.
Module 9, "Managing the Lifetime of Objects and Controlling Resources," introduces the concept of resource management and discusses its importance. This module explains how the .NET Framework simplifies resource management by automatically reclaiming the resources for a managed object when an application no longer references it. This module also explains that the garbage collector does not control unmanaged resources and describes the steps that you can take to dispose of such resources.
Module 10, "Encapsulating Data and Defining Overloaded Operators," introduces properties and indexers. These are elements of Visual Basic that enable you to encapsulate data and expose data
appropriately and efficiently. This module also describes how to implement operators for your types by using overloading.
Module 11, "Decoupling Methods and Handling Events," explains how to decouple an operation from the method that implements it and describes how to use anonymous methods to implement decoupled operations. This module also explains how to use events to inform consuming applications of a change or notable occurrence in a type.
Module 12, "Using Collections and Building Generic Types," introduces the concept of collection classes and explains that you can use them with greater flexibility than a simple array. This module also
introduces generics and explains how to use generic classes to maintain type integrity and avoid the issues that are associated with a lack of type safety.
Module 13, "Building and Enumerating Custom Collection Classes," explains how to use the collection classes that the .NET Framework base class library includes. This module also describes how to build custom collection classes.
Module 14, "Using LINQ to Query Data," explains how you can use LINQ to abstract the mechanism that an application uses to query data from the application code. This module describes built-in Visual Basic LINQ extension methods and LINQ query operators. This module also describes how to build LINQ queries dynamically by using expression trees.
Module 15, "Integrating Visual Basic Code with Dynamic Languages and COM Components," explains how the .NET Framework 4 enables you to invoke code and components that were written by using other languages from your Visual Basic code. It describes how the dynamic language runtime (DLR) enables you to reuse code built by using a wide range of scripting languages, such as Ruby and Python. This module also describes how to invoke COM components from a Visual Basic application.
-Amith Vincent
Just one week after TechEd, Microsoft Learning is hosting an exclusive three-day Jump Start class specially tailored for IT Professionals looking for real-world proof of how cloud-based Office 365 enables you to solve more problems from more places. Registration for "Microsoft Office 365 for IT Professionals" is officially open! This course will be delivered via virtual classroom on May 24-26, 2011 from 10:00am-4:00pm PDT. Over 2,300 people attended our last Jump Start, "Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals," so please register today.
This fast-paced, demo-rich online course will feature expert instruction and real-world demonstrations of the Office 365 platform, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online. Attendees are in for a treat because Microsoft Technical Evangelist, Adam Carter (Bomb) will be team teaching this course with the best of the best. Throughout the course, leading experts for each technology -- Mike Kostersitz, Office 365 Program Manager; Naomi Alpern, Senior Consultant Exchange Online; Jeff James, Solutions Architect; Ziv Fass, Senior Product Manager; Mark Kashman, Senior Technical Product Manager; Matt Burnett, Senior Consultant SharePoint Online -- will be joining Adam to share the latest with Office 365.
REGISTER NOW!
Day One — “Office 365 Platform” | May 24, 2011 | 10am-4pm PDTMicrosoft Office 365 Overview for IT ProsDeploying Clients for Office 365Administration & Automation using PowerShellIdentity and Access SolutionsDirectory Synchronization
Day Two — “Exchange Online” | May 25, 2011 | 10am-4pm PDTExchange Online Overview for IT ProsExchange Online AdministrationStaged Exchange Online MigrationHybrid Options with Exchange Server & Exchange OnlineExchange Online Archiving & Compliance
Day Three — “Lync & SharePoint Online” | May 26, 2011 | 10am-4pm PDTLync Online Overview & Configuration for IT ProsSharePoint Online OverviewSharePoint Online AdministrationSharePoint Online Extensibility & CustomizationOffice 365 Deployment Overview
Please help us spread the word! Post this tweet: Microsoft Office 365 for IT Pros Jump Start! May 24-26 Register Now http://bit.ly/Office365-JUMP @MSLearning @msonline #azure #cloud
One of my goals this year was to understand what item types are the most effective psychometrically--which ones are neither too easy nor too difficult, which ones are the best differentiators between qualified and unqualified candidates, which ones are perceived by candidates as better assessments of real world skills, etc. In other words, what are the best item types, psychometrically speaking, that have ever been included on our exams? As many of you know, we have been gravitating toward multiple choice items. Because many candidates believe that multiple choice items are not real world assessments of their skills, I wondered if other item types were as good as multiple choice items psychometrically. To be very clear, multiple choice items appear on so many exams because they work psychometrically. Well-written multiple choice items are good differentiators between qualified and unqualified candidates and are valid and reliable measures of the content domain. But, many candidates seem to prefer other item types. So, the question was "Can we reintroduce a variety of item types into our exams without jeopardizing the psychometric characteristics and quality of our exams?"
To do this, I tracked down item level data from exams delivered over the last 6 years, married that to the item type, and worked my statistical magic to learn what we could learn about the psychometric performance of each item type. Here's a list of the item types that I were included in my analysis: Active Screen, Simulation, Build List, Create a Tree, Drag & Drop, Hot Area, Lab Tasks, MC choose 1, MC choose 2, MC choose 3, MC choose 4, MC choose 5, choose all that apply (I suspect some of you haven't ever seen some of these items!).
I compared the psychometric performance across item types. Because I'm a data junkie, I also compared the average psychometric performance of multiple choice items to that of the average psychometric performance of our innovative item types (active screen, simulation, build list, etc.) and looked at these comparisons by audience (ITPro and Developer).
What did I learn?
So, what does this mean to you?
Based on this analysis, you will see a larger variety of item types on our exams--more drag and drop, more active screens, more build lists, etc.
The bigger takeaway for you is that we are re-introducing "choose all that apply" items. I don't want to bury the lead, so to speak...these item types are coming back. As I mentioned, I was very surpised to learn that "choose all that apply" kept popping up as a desirable item type, but based on the data that I have, this item type works well psychometrically. I continue to be surprised by this result, but it is what it is. Of course, I will keep my eye on the psychometric performance of "choose all that apply items" as we incorporate more of them into our exams, and I have other data analyses planned that will provide even better insight into the psychometric performance about these items (I didn't have the level of data needed to run these analyses for the research that I've done so far, but let me tell you, these analyses are very, very cool, and I can't wait to get my hands on that data!). Currently, our plan is to incorporate these item types on all of our certification exams, but as with everything, as we learn more about this item type, we may refine when and where this item type will appear.
So, bring it on. I know you have questions and comments about this.
CRM MCTs--
Check out the new training materials and eLearning for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Customization and Configuration course #80294 on PartnerSource (sign in needed).
AND the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Customization and Configuration exam #MB2-866 is now available on Microsoft Learning.
Other titles recently released are:
AX MCTs--
We're happy to announce that the VM and courseware for What's New in Microsoft Dynamics AX2012 is now available on the MCT Download Center.
If you're going to Tech·Ed 2011, or if you're going to be anywhere near Atlanta on Saturday, May 14, then you simply cannot miss MCT Day Zero. MCT Day Zero is the MCT community's opportunity to learn about upcoming courseware, improve their training skills, and get all manner of information relevant to trainers who specialize in Microsoft technologies.
Some of the sessions on the schedule include:
· Primer in contract law from attorney David M. Lawler
· Courseware quality update and roadmap from MSL's own Matthew Roche
· How to author and use third-party courseware from Rolly Perreaux
· "Building the Better Trainer" soft-skills panel discussion with highly respected and regarded MCTs.
Agenda and Registration at: www.mctdayzero.com.
Join the discussion in the Born to Learn MCT Forum.
Deluxe registration includes an event T-shirt for USD$20-24 (depending on your T-shirt size). To guarantee your T-shirt will be available in time for the event, you must register by APRIL 26.
Basic registration is only USD$10 (you can even attend for FREE if your budget is tight).
And, remember, MCT Day Zero is a community-driven event. It's being organized entirely by MCTs. More volunteers are needed to help work the event, and if you want to help share some of the costs, personal sponsorships are available. If your company would like to reach MCTs with their message and show their support at the same time, a corporate sponsorship is a very affordable way to do that. If you or your company wants to help sponsor the event, or if you just want to volunteer to help, e-mail [email protected].
I just spoke with Stephen Rose from Springboard Series. We have very fond memories of the tours where we traveled together and it's great to hear that the Springboard team are on the road again and that seats are going quickly. So here's a friendly reminder, we don't want our Born to Learn readers to miss out on great content (or nice giveaways!).
The team will cover a lot of content: how to manage the flexible workspace, a first look at Windows Intune and Office 365. some of the new Windows Slates and details around Microsoft’s strategy for Slate devices. They will preview the new tools in the MDOP 2011 suite, a deep dive into managing and deploying Office 2010 and great tips and tricks to help you deploy Windows 7 and move your users from Windows XP with speed and ease. That is a LOT of content and events will run for approximately 6 hours, with great networking opportunities during lunch.
oh, the events are FREE, they will bring plenty of giveaways and lunch is included:-). you can register here, have fun!
The Career Factor participants are thinking about certification a lot these days: Caroline is working to master another Office program, Kevin is considering a different set of exams, and Simon asks if the MCTS is testing the right skills. Catch up on what's happening and let them know what you think!
Watch Career Factor - Like Career Factor on Facebook - Follow Career Factor on Twitter
This week: Chat LIVE with Career Factor
Meet the Career Factor participants and other viewers to chat about résumé and interview tips. Meet us on Twitter: Use the hashtag #cfchat or login to your Twitter account at http://www.tweetchat.com/cfchat.
Last week on Career Factor
Caroline – The Office Competition Contender, CanadaGoal: Compete at the 2011 Certiport Worldwide Competition on OfficeThis week: Caroline has finished her PowerPoint exams and moved on to Access, which she’ll need to master for both the competition and her final exams. The school year has gone by quickly!
Kevin – The Student, TexasGoal: Find a post-college job as an IT ProfessionalThis week: Kevin posted some of the tips he learned from the résumé/CV live session and considered targeting the Microsoft Technology Associate exam series and exploring more training options before returning to the MCTS exam.
Hi, I am Glen (Software) Smith, Microsoft Certified Master for SharePoint and I love teaching.
SharePoint raises its own special challenges for a trainer, it is has massive breadth, and for a new student it can seem counterintuitive at times. In 5 days a trainer can help a lot to make this product accessible.
Tip 1. Add value with real life examples from your consulting experience.
The course as a Technical Specialist course concentrates on the “how”, leaving the following course (MOC 10231 ITPro) to concentrate on the “why”. However, grasping the “how” is made easier if one understands why certain technical decisions were made, and this task it made easier by anecdotes and even “horror stories” of what happens when best practices are ignored (naturally with names changed to protect the people involved!).
Tip 2.Teach for the future.
SharePoint is a living product and its documentation is not cast in stone. The course does an excellent job of navigating the MSDN/TechNet documentation even where contradictions exist. I was impressed how the High Availability part navigated thru some of the issues that I blogged about here:
http://software-smith.blogspot.com/2011/01/recipe-sharepoint-2010.html
Similarly I was impressed with the handling of Remote Blob storage, especially the explanation of the FILESTREAM provider being a simple provider not a high performance provider. That SharePoint backup of RBS using FILESTREAM does backup the blobs was also handled correctly, I have not often seen the correct information published! The SQL backup command also does so. The lab has a small bug that can be quickly fixed by renaming rbs.msi to rbs_x64.msi.
It is good to teach the students how to find the latest information, and use it when making decisions. Some students will rush thru the labs, others will take more time, making sure they completely understand each step. It is good to have extra challenges ready for the “speed kings” where they learn to find the answers on TechNet. This also helps others not to feel unduly pressured if they take longer. The faster the machines are for the labs, the better for the class.
Tip 3. Create a relaxed atmosphere.
Adding humor to the mix, helps create the relaxed atmosphere in which we learn best. Even mistakes in the course can be used to bring across teaching points, a technical publication of this breadth cannot entirely avoid mistakes. I could not resist a grin where it is stated that V1 and V2 of SharePoint had no command line interface, and that Stsadm was a new feature added in SharePoint 2007! The name alone betrays its heritage (2003) without having to bring back (repressed) memories of owsadmin from 2001.
Tip 4. Mind the Gaps.
The course is not designed to teach to the test, it is not an exam cram. There are naturally going to be gaps, you may want to point your students to the objectives for the exams, so that they cover these objectives completely in their exam preparation. It would be not possible in 5 days to cover everything they may need in real life so you may have to point your students at addition material (for example Content Management and Workflows). My personal wish would be for some of the topics in the last modules to be handled in more detail, but as my students can likely testify, I am quite happy to elaborate on the joys and pitfalls of Alternate Access Mappings without much prompting.
The course was not made as a delta for those who had SharePoint 2007 experience. This was a good decision, but naturally in a class where many have SharePoint 2007 experience; it will help if the instructor makes the differences clear.
Tip 5. Keep on learning.
Pretending to know everything about SharePoint is not a good idea. SharePoint Masters continually learn about the product, the MCM motto is “Know what you know, know what you don’t know, and never confuse the two.” I am learning every week and I learn from each class, the students have often different backgrounds and experience, and no two people will respond to the same information the same way.
Feel free to contact me “glen” at “software-smith.com” for consulting or training needs, or to peruse the following sites:
http://software-smith.blogspot.com/
www.software-smith.com
If you’re a developer, you’ve probably visited the MSDN site numerous times. The Microsoft SharePoint 2010 site on MSDN has a wealth of resources for honing your skills and exploring new features of SharePoint.
Perhaps, you’re new to SharePoint, and want an interactive learning experience. If so, consider classroom training, which enables you to interact with a Microsoft Certified Trainer and other students.
Browse through the Microsoft Training Catalog for classroom training or locate a training center in your area.
If you’re considering getting certified, start by first taking a practice test. These tests help you identify gaps in your knowledge and provide direction – based on your budget and timeframe – for obtaining additional training. In additional practice tests offer a peek at the type of questions you might find on a Microsoft Certification exam.
MeasureUp offers six practice tests for SharePoint Server 2010 for both Visual Basic and C#.