Overview
Participate in a unique professional development experience that will provide you and your organization with tools and resources to create and support innovative environments. Based on key learnings of Microsoft initiatives and our Partners in Learning program (which has already reached nearly 3.5 million educators in more than 100 countries), this program will give you new ideas to implement in your organizations, district, classroom, or workplace.
You'll have ample opportunity to participate in, investigate, and debate different theories and practices that can lead to more effective organizations. We limit each two-day session to 40 or fewer participants to ensure an environment in which everyone can contribute, offer unique perspectives, and learn from one another.For questions about Microsoft Institute registrations or upcoming events, email msinstit@microsoft.com. |
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Upcoming dates
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| Who should attend |
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Leaders from learning organizations (including K-12, Higher Education, Government, and Public Sector) who can consider how the tools and resources we will discuss can improve your learning environment. The ideal group is a multifunctional team of implementers, teachers, school leaders, administrators, superintendents, officials, school board members, and technical stakeholders who can discuss the affects the changes will make.
The Microsoft Institute will expose you to new tools and educational resources that have been developed through the Partners in Learning projects as well as our experience in education, government, and innovation. You will be exposed to new technologies and learn how to implement them. You will get glimpses into how we run our business and think about managing innovation. | Agenda |
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Each Microsoft Institute will vary slightly, but the sample agenda below gives an example of the topics we will discuss and the approximate structure of each day.
Day 1:
| Time |
Activity/Session |
Description |
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| 9:00 A.M. |
Breakfast |
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| 9:30 A.M. |
Welcome and overview |
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| 9:45 A.M. |
Leading with Vision |
Is your
organization ready to innovate? Is your team prepared for the significant tasks
ahead? Turning your vision into reality is challenging work. Understanding how
to prepare your climate, culture, and community for change is a critical first
step in the process. This session provides participants the opportunity to
investigate their readiness for change and to develop strategies to support
successful outcomes. |
| 11:00 A.M. |
Break |
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| 11:15 A.M. |
Pathway
to Personalization |
Are you ready to embrace next-generation models for teaching and learning? Have you started down the “pathway to personalization”? There is a great deal of hype around this topic and many buzzwords, such as competency-based progression, adaptive content, and the gamification of learning. These critical trends are both influenced and enabled by emerging consumer technologies and cloud services that are “already doing it.” Effective Institutions see beyond the acquisition of and association with these technologies, and they focus on the broad process changes, professional development, and community engagement required to successfully adopt these models. |
| 12:30 P.M. |
Lunch |
Attendees are randomly assigned to groups to facilitate networking and the sharing of ideas. |
| 1:15 P.M. |
Immersive Learning |
What are the key principles of powerful learning? Do these principles change when blending online resources or online learning with face-to-face learning? How is personalized learning or gaming perceived by various stakeholders in your district? During this discussion, hear views on the importance of engaging and active learning and see examples of how this can be incorporated into your learning environment. |
| 2:45 P.M. |
Break |
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| 3:00 P.M. |
The Economics of Education |
For states, increasing digital inclusion can accelerate the growth of a high-employment economy by increasing local and global competitiveness. Public/private partnerships (PPPs) can create meaningful and effective solutions to education, economic, and social challenges by making technology and workforce development a right for all―not a privilege for some. |
| 4:15 P.M. |
Wrap-up and reflection
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| 4:45 P.M. |
Reception
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Day 2:| Time |
Activity/Session |
Description |
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| 9:00 A.M. |
Breakfast |
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| 9:15 A.M. |
Welcome and overview |
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| 9:30 A.M. |
Next Gen People |
Developing your workforce cannot be left to chance. This session introduces resources that can be leveraged to support self-guided professional development. Based on a competency model, attendees gain access to free tools that can be deployed immediately to enable employees to take control of their career planning and to help your organization reduce unwanted turnover. |
| 11:00 A.M. |
Break |
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| 11:15 A.M. |
Cloud Computing in Education |
Learn about cloud computing specifically for the education market, and understand how you can leverage available tools and resources today. |
| 12:45 P.M. |
Lunch |
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| 1:30 P.M. |
Free Tools for Educators |
Take advantage of creative tools for working with digital media in the education environment. Explore historical sites in 3D with Microsoft Photosynth, or create a movie in minutes with Windows Live Movie Maker. Discuss how tools such as these can be leveraged to engage your learners and educators. |
| 2:30 P.M. |
Break |
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| 2:45–3:15 P.M. |
Reflection/Q&A |
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Facilitators | |
| Tony Franklin National Education Technologist, Microsoft For nine years, Tony has been at Microsoft as an advocate of technology integration combined with effective professional development for teachers. This year, he is focusing his efforts on conversations with districts and states on the economic impact of digital inclusion in the United States and on the advantages of getting the 9 million disconnected U.S. students and families online. | | Rod Gode Director of Specialist Sales, Microsoft Rod joined the Microsoft public sector pre-sales engineering team in 1997. Today, he leads the 20 technology and solution specialists who work closely with K-12 and higher education customers as they evaluate Microsoft solutions. Rod graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara in 1990 with a degree in computer science. | | Allyson Knox Academic Program Manager, Microsoft Allyson is responsible for Microsoft’s partnerships in the Eastern Region, Michigan, and a cluster of projects throughout the country focused on scaling-up education innovations called the Mid-Tier grants. | | Rob Curtin U.S. Education, Chief Applications Officer, Microsoft Rob is responsible for connecting the Microsoft ecosystem of campus, cloud, and consumer solutions to help improve student success. He works with partners and institutions to give teachers 21st-century tools. Rob has been deploying technology to help education for more than 20 years. | | Andrew Ko U.S. Education, Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation, Microsoft Andrew was responsible for the largest education cloud implementation and school district–wide portal at Microsoft. He has a diverse background, including technology strategy, management consulting, financial accounting, and corporate restructuring, serving in positions across the United States and in international markets. |
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| Session presentations |
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Is your organization ready to innovate? Is your team prepared for the significant tasks ahead? Turning your vision into reality is challenging work. Understanding how to prepare your climate, culture and community for change is a critical first step in the process. This session provides participants the opportunity to investigate their readiness for change and develop strategies to support successful outcomes. |
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The ability to scale existing strong practices and design new programs that are scalable from the outset has never been more important. The speed at which reform is needed and demanded requires this. This session introduces a five-dimensional framework that can facilitate scaling success and illustrates how to use technology to achieve scale. |
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This session introduces participants to data analysis tools and techniques to aid in identifying students showing the early warning signs that lead to dropping out of school. Whether you are just beginning to tackle this problem or have systems in place to catch struggling students, you will leave with a better idea of how to find your at risk population before it’s too late. |
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Hiring and developing people cannot be left to chance. This session will expose tools and resources that can be leveraged to bring rigor to the hiring process and to support self-guided professional development. Based on a competency model, attendees will gain access to free tools that can be deployed immediately to increase offer acceptance rates and reduce unwanted turnover. |
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What are the key principles of powerful learning? Do these principles change when blending online resources or online learning with face-to-face learning? How do you support educators to blend online resources and online courses into their existing face-to-face instruction? By examining three models supported by Microsoft’s US Partners in Learning (Career Forward, InterroBang, and Problem-Solving with Smithsonian Experts) we will explore these topics and how your organization can plan to integrate more online resources into the classroom. |
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Learn about the vision, outcomes, and challenges of Sunshine Connections, a Florida program developed in partnership with Partners in Learning. |
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Innovation without process can yield outcomes that have little chance of duplication or scale. This session will help attendees reflect on the processes within their organization that support or inhibit success. Attendees will be introduced to innovation processes that can garner greater effectiveness and impact. |
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The School of One illustrates that truly personalized learning is possible. Learn about the daily playlist approach, lessons learned, plans for the future, and what you can take away from this fascinating model. |
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