Microsoft Corp. today announced a new global initiative, Microsoft YouthSpark, that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth in more than 100 countries during the next three years. This companywide initiative includes citizenship and other company programs — both new and enhanced — that empower youth to imagine and realize their full potential by connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship.
Launching the new initiative, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said, “Through Microsoft YouthSpark we are making a commitment to help 300 million young people around the world achieve their dreams by focusing our citizenship efforts and other company resources on connecting young people with opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship. We believe that working with our partners we can help empower young people to change their world, and we are committed to using our technology, talent, time and resources to do that.”
“Our next generation of citizenship will focus on the next generation of people,” said Brad Smith, executive vice president, Microsoft. “The global unemployment rate for workers younger than 25 is 12.7 percent, which is double the rate for the world as a whole. This is indicative of a growing opportunity divide between young people who have the access, skills and opportunities to be successful and those who do not. We must work together to close the opportunity divide for youth and help secure the future of this generation and the future of our global economy.”
The International Youth Foundation Opportunity for Action report, published in March 2012, showed that nearly 75 million young people worldwide were unemployed in 2011. As the global youth population continues to grow — there are more than 2.2 billion people between the ages of 6 and 24 today — the opportunity divide is widening.
Microsoft YouthSpark goes beyond philanthropy and brings together a range of global programs that empower young people with access to technology and a better education and inspire young people to imagine the opportunities they have to realize their potential, including previously mentioned Office 365 for education and Skype in the classroom, as well as the following:
A full list of Microsoft YouthSpark programs can be found at the YouthSpark Hub.
Great news to share! Georgia announced the statewide adoption of Microsoft IT Academy (ITA) Program. Read more in THE Journal.
Microsoft ITA will provide access to technology training and certification and will be available to more than 460,000 students in 463 high schools across the state! Students will get hands-on experience with Microsoft software including office productivity, collaboration, and enterprise applications development software. There are almost 10,000 unfilled jobs requiring Microsoft software skills available in the state of Georgia, and this program is intended to help students gain the skills they need to fill those types of jobs.
Five other states have already implemented statewide Microsoft IT Academy Programs including North Carolina, Washington, Virginia, Hawaii, and Louisiana.
Originally posted on the UK Education Cloud Blog.
Did you know that if your organisation has an Academic Agreement in place with Microsoft, you can have a subscription to the Microsoft IT Academy?
This is a global program what provides resources and curriculum for your institution to deliver inspiring and cutting edge technical courses and skills; and not just to students, but faculty and technical staff too.
For instance, in terms of Office 365 you have all of these resources available with the IT Academy programme:
A table showing the education materials and courses available to the organisation via IT Academy.
The Microsoft IT Academy provides low cost curriculum for all students and staff; it’s comprised of 250 e-learning courses, practice tests, a library of over 500 e-reference books, lesson plans as well as a digital literacy curriculum. As part of the package, IT Academy also provides access to DreamSpark; which has free software for staff and students and includes programs like Visual Studio and Server 2012.
There are also academic discounts available on official courseware and certification licences. Recently, IT Academy has introduced an offer called Second Shot; this allows a student or staff member to retake an exam should fail the first time round.
As an organisation you would receive a Teacher Certification Start kits, which includes 10 Microsoft Office Specialist exam vouchers and 20 Microsoft Technical Associate exam vouchers; meaning a reduction in training costs, professional development opportunities and a chance to learn about different products entirely, permitting you to utilise them completely within your learning environment.
Microsoft is committed to delivering valuable resources that equip students with the best skill set, showing employers that they can stand out from the crowd. In this respect, Microsoft has been working in conjunction with the awarding body AQA, to ensure that its resources available in the IT Academy programme such as MTA, support CS and ICT GCSE courses; and if students follow up the learning with the certification it demonstrates to future employers that they have business ICT skills. The academic impact of a MOS certification can be extremely positive. From a recent Certiport study, 87% of student’s worldwide say they were able to complete assignments in less time and 60% of student’s worldwide are taking on more complex projects.
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Wanted to share this great article with you: Computer whiz earns Microsoft certification, scholarship There are stories like this all around the world, share your local stories!
Article:
KALAMA — Morgan VanRiper is one of only four high school students in Washington who have mastered Microsoft Office and have the software giant’s certification to prove it.
The 15-year-old Kalama High School sophomore was awarded a $1,000 scholarship earlier this week after completing all certificates in a new Microsoft skills program that began during the 2011-12 academic year. The courses teach students how to use Outlook and PowerPoint, show them how to prepare a variety of documents in MS Word and to develop complex Excel spreadsheets.
“I knew the general stuff, but then I started (the program),” she said. “I didn’t know there was so much to it.”
After completing a series of projects and courses, Morgan scored highly enough on her tests to receive all six of Microsoft’s certificates in Word, Excel, Power-Point, Outlook and advanced courses for Word and Excel.
“Once I set a goal, I want to achieve it,” Morgan said about her choice to stick with the program even though she was required to retake some of the tests. “It’s going to help out a lot with school work and in college. … I like to learn stuff, and it was a good opportunity for me to learn more.”
Morgan was the most accomplished Kalama student, but she wasn’t alone in receiving a certificate. The school had the highest percentage of students in the state to gain at least one certification. Out of 324 students enrolled in individual courses, four received one certificate, 38 received two, eight received three, one received four and another five.
Kathy Schmit, career and technical education teacher at Kalama, said she pushed to emphasize teaching software skills to last year’s ninth-graders as a way of preparing them for the rest of high school and beyond.
Schmit said she was motivated by a conversation with a representative of the local business community who lamented that students were being graduated from area high schools without the software proficiencies that would have made them more attractive job applicants.
“They’re coming out knowing how to use their smartphone and text,” she said. “They think they’re technology savvy because they can upload pictures to Facebook, but the things they learn here are things they need to know in the workplace or if they want to move on in their education. It’s huge for them.”
Morgan agreed with Schmit, saying she’s already used the skills she learned to help her father with a project. She also feels her MS Office skills will be a large boost when she attends college to become a dental hygenist.
Schmit said the program is a great opportunity for all Kalama students regardless of their college plans.
“Even if they choose not to go to college, it shows businesses they have these skills. There isn’t a business that doesn’t use Office,” she said. “It is about what you know and whether you can perform, but there are some hoops you have to jump through for some doors to open.”