Introduction to Microsoft Educator Academy

Investing in teachers’ growth to help them be more effective is key to improving student learning. The reason: that teacher quality has more impact on students than any school education program or policy does, and in fact, teacher effectiveness is the largest factor influencing student outcomes, outside of family background. To transform education, it’s critical that all teachers, leaders, and staff have the ability and capacity to continually evolve their methods and adopt new technologies as lifelong learners. Microsoft has developed many resources for educators and other school staff, whether they're classroom teachers, school leaders, or in other roles. If an educator or school leader is new to Microsoft teaching and learning tools, this session will help get them started. Focused on best practices and some basics for facilitating a blended or hybrid learning environment, this is the first step in a professional growth journey. Participants will spend the day getting excited about the many tools Microsoft has to offer students and teachers. Teachers will reflect and create a customized toolkit of resources to increase engagement, and efficiency and develop modern skills for a global classroom/society. Throughout the day participants will engage in a series of immersive learning activities that will build a strong understanding of how to use technology to improve instruction and meet the learning needs of their students. Note: This is an introductory course intended to expose teachers to Microsoft offerings for education. This is not a deep-dive instruction into any one tool. Additional training and resources will be provided throughout the day for educators who would like to learn more about the topics presented in this one-day training.