The Microsoft in Education team has some exciting news. They have launched a new community home: the Microsoft Educator Community. This new site is a central destination where one will have access to over 1.5 million educators around the world, a fresh selection of professional development courses and resources, thousands of inspiring lesson plans, and access to live lessons and virtual field trips.
The new community site is a combined experience of the Microsoft Educator Network and Skype in the Classroom. Some additional changes with the new site are:
- A more visual, clear, and friendly design based on educator feedback
- Simple navigation to easily find useful information
- Interactive training (ranging from basic to advanced) with more badges
- Access to guest speakers, virtual field trips, and more educators globally
- Ability to easily create, consume, and share lessons, discussions, and more
- A single location to find information and resources on technology use in the classroom
Below are a few steps that will help kick-start engagement with the new educator community:
- Sign-up on the new site by creating a profile. Current Microsoft Educator Network members may be prompted to provide the necessary verification to pull your profile data over.
- Update your profile to depict your expertise and make it easier for other community members to find and connect with you
- Choose from a variety of training options around technology use in the classroom
- Create a lesson or browse existing lessons plans, virtual field trips, or live lessons. We have moved select learning activities (now called lesson plans) and tutorials (now called video tutorials) over from the Microsoft Educator Network. Learning activities and tutorials that are not part of the initial move would need to be brought over to the new site by individual lesson owners.
- Engage with the community by searching for educators, starting a discussion, or participating in Mystery Skype
- Earn badges by completing training, sharing your expertise, or being active in the community
- Share the new site with your peers, school, and other educators
Visit Microsoft’s educator community today!
