Teachers familiar with innovative Microsoft education products, including those made widely available within Office 365, are, unsurprisingly, always ready to speak enthusiastically about them.
“I just love ‘OneNote’,” they say, or, “You’ll find that ‘Sway’ is just what you’re looking for,” or, “You could use Skype to put your class in touch with someone who lives in that country.”
All of which is fine, except that every one of those passing remarks begs a whole lot of questions. “What exactly does it do for you? How do you use it? How can I find out more about it?”
The answers are all out there – great resources, explanations and classroom-ready suggestions provided by practising educators – but it’s not always been easy for the busy teacher, already working pretty hard to stay afloat, to search around and find them.
Microsoft’s education team globally has become increasingly aware of this and has been working to re-organise and make more readily available, the accumulated experience and wisdom of Microsoft-aware teachers across the world, including existing communities of Microsoft Expert Educators and the Showcase Schools. The task has been to take these rich resources – lesson plans, video tutorials, Skype field trips, expert talks and other practical resources – and make everything available under the general heading of “The Microsoft Educator Community” (MEC).
What is the MEC?
The MEC is a global network (a million and a half, no less) of teachers and school leaders who share one valuable quality – all are willing to share their hard-won knowledge, experience and resources. Not only that, they and the results of their efforts are now easily within reach via an attractive and intuitive portal.
The landing page of the portal, navigated with clearly labelled tiles rather than menus, offers alternative ways of heading further into its content, with sections labelled:
- “School leaders” – separated out with material particularly appropriate to their needs.
- “Educators” – mainly practising teachers.
- “Students” – opportunities for students.
- “Products” – offering information previously available from separate Microsoft sites and sources.
- “Training and events” – a calendar, linked to the IT Academy and other training providers.
- “Stories” – what’s happening in individual schools.
- “How to buy” – licensing, free products and services.
So, if I am that aforementioned teacher who wants to learn what “Sway” is all about, I will enter the portal as an educator (“Welcome educator”, it says), select the tile called “Get trained”, and go to “Get quick videos” (I could go for “Courses”, but I’ll probably think that will come later). Among the offerings is a four-minute video called, “Create and share ideas using Sway”, presented by a fellow teacher – a Microsoft Innovative Expert Educator called Koen Timmers from Belgium. With a bit of pausing, replaying and trying things out for myself, I will soon be hooked on creating my own Sway, and if I want any more information I’ll go to “Courses” and find it.
As time goes on I, with my students, will find more ways in which “Sway” (that’s just one product among many) can open up new learning paths. Then – and this is why MEC is a “community” – I will post videos, ideas and lesson plans of my own. At the same time, I have searched for other teachers across the world whose ideas and methods I can also take on board.
There’s so much more behind the site – lessons, discussions, resources, and the already familiar “Skype in the classroom” is now integrated with MEC, under a single sign-in, creating a gateway to great educational experiences across the world.
MEC is a powerful tool for continued professional development (CPD), not just a library of resources.
All of that, though, is just a start. At one level it’s easy to see MEC as a source of helpful ideas – a library to be browsed and explored as part of a search for resources that will support what you are planning to do.
The real value, in fact, goes much further than that. MEC, in the right hands, with support from school leaders, will become a powerful and much-needed source of educator professional development.
Much needed, because at the individual level, a teacher can plan methodically to acquire and improve their skills as a leader of learning, becoming an expert across the range of Microsoft technologies and devices, learning from videos, courses, relevant online lessons, and, crucially, from other MEC members. If they have just a vague idea of something they want to do, then they will probably find a teacher who has brought that very idea to life and posted a video about it. As time goes on, the teacher will enhance their experience by posting their own lessons, plans, videos and observing how other teachers across the world adopt and use them.
As you work through activities on the site, you will earn points and badges for each course successfully completed and for a variety of other activities as well, giving your CV a chance to shine.
At the whole-school or departmental level, a leader or CPD co-ordinator can encourage colleagues, pointing them to those parts of the portal that are appropriate, gradually removing technological resistance and fear by putting them in touch online with real fellow professionals who are a step further along.
What sets MEC apart?
MEC has some particular advantages as a source of CPD:
- It is separated from the school’s hierarchy and structure, and so is non-threatening and reassuring.
- It is owned by the teacher, as a member of the MEC.
- It is largely delivered by fellow educators, who, the evidence tells us, are the people from whom teachers are most likely to learn.
- It is highly interactive – a collaborative learning community, not a passive group of learners.
- It offers a wide choice of starting points – material which is age related, or subject related, or both, for example.
- It is available anytime, anywhere, can be repeated, slowed down or approached from different directions.
- It can be accredited with a system of “Microsoft innovative educator” badges.
- Crucially, it’s free.
Sign up. Learn. Contribute. Improve your practice.
But don’t take my word for it. Get on the website, sign up and explore. But remember this is a community. The site is gradually expanding and being populated. Just because something is not there today, doesn’t mean it won’t be there tomorrow. And ultimately, of course, you may well be able to fill some gaps yourself.
