Are you ready to become a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert?

Every year, educators all across the world prepare their applications to self-nominate themselves to become a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert!  This year is no different!  I literally JUST hit submit on my application this year and fingers crossed, I'll be a part of the 2020-2021 year of MIEEs!!!  This (hopefully) will be my 5th year in a row being an MIEE!

Applications are due on July 15th, 2020 for the 2020-2021 school year so you still have time to get it done.  

Why should you become an MIEE?  Let me give you a few reasons that I recommend that you do:

1. When you are accepted as an MIEE, you become a part of a GLOBAL professional learning network like no other I've ever been a part of!  You gain access to educators all across the world that have a plethora of knowledge to offer to any question or idea that you may have.
2. You'll take part in monthly meetings and learn all about the awesomeness that other MIEEs are doing in their schools and districts.  You are also able to present at these monthly meetings if you do so desire to share what you're doing!
3. You'll gain confidence, knowledge and tools to break down the 4 walls of your classroom and bring worldwide learning opportunities to your students!
4. You'll become a risk taker by jumping in and learning!
5. You'll ALWAYS have a friendly face available at any conference you attend!  Just look for the purple capes!

So.....how do you become a part of this AMAZING PLN? 

Already an MIEE?

If you're ALREADY an MIEE, you are able to complete your self-nomination by clicking on the following link and completing your application:  https://microsoftedu.eventcore.com/

Starting from the beginning?

There are a few things you'll need to do to get started.  Follow the steps below to get the party started!

1.  Make sure that you have signed up for your FREE Office 365 account.  All educators and students can sign up for their account using their school email address.  Sign up here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/office

2.  Once you've signed up for your Office 365 account, go the the Microsoft Educator Center (MEC), sign in and complete your profile.  You can access the MEC here:  https://education.microsoft.com/en-us

3.  Once your profile in the MEC is complete, start earning badges by completing "at your fingertips" professional learning through Courses, Learning Paths, or Webinars and Online Events !  The great thing about the MEC is that you can access these learning opportunities in your own space and at your own pace.  There are TONS of courses there, waiting for you, with opportunities to learn all about the Microsoft in Education Suite and how to use these amazing tools in your classrooms with your students and your colleagues. The learning literally never stops!  The team at Microsoft is constantly adding courses to the portal!  There are even lesson plans there, too!  I could do an entire separate post just on the MEC!

To self-nominate to become an MIEE, you'll need to complete a minimum of 2 hours of trainings!  Easy peasy!  You've got this!  You'll earn your Microsoft in Education (MIE) badge in the process of completing these trainings!  You'll be one step closer to earning that extra "E!"  

4.  Once you earned your MIE (this is the first step in becoming an MIEE), you'll need to create either a 2 minute video or a Microsoft Sway (https://sway.office.com/) that answers the following 4 questions:

• Why do you consider yourself to be a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert?
• Describe how you have incorporated Microsoft technologies in innovative ways into your classroom or your work with teachers.  Include artifacts that demonstrate your innovation.  Your examples should show that you have cultivated a strong modern teaching and learning environment.
• How have you positively impacted the learning and growth of your colleagues?  Have you reached beyond your classroom to coach/support other teachers in their growth?  Please share examples.
• If you become a MIEExpert, how do you hope it will impact your current role in the next 12 months?

Make sure that your video or Sway is set to "public viewing."  Not doing so could affect your application being scored!

5.  Now you're ready to complete your self-nomination form!!!  Here's the link to submit your application: https://microsoftedu.eventcore.com/

As a reminder, your self-nomination is due on July 15, 2020!!!

The Microsoft Team will announce the 2020-2021 class of MIEExperts during the last week of August 2020!

If you have questions, let me know!  I've got your back!

Microsoft Educator Community

Did you know that there is a portal full of FREE Microsoft resources for you to utilize?  How about that you could receive FREE, at your leisure professional development on all things Microsoft?  Well, you can!  The Microsoft Educator Community is chalk FULL of FREE resources, courses and quick tips to help take your knowledge of all things Microsoft to the next level!

All you have to do is go to education.microsoft.com and create an account.  From there, the sky is the limit!  You will earn badges and points for each course that you complete.  Once you've created your account, you will land your home page.  Be sure to update and edit your profile, add your picture, and all of the other important information!  To the left of the screen you will see a tab that says "Courses and Resources."

That, my friends is where the magic lives!  Take as many or as few courses as you like.  Watch the Quick Tip Videos.  Immerse yourself in all things Microsoft!  There's a lot to learn here!  Below are the top 3 courses that I would recommend to get you started:

Introduction to OneNote walks you through how to use OneNote.  I love this tool as a means to house all of my notes and ideas for projects that I'm working on.  Once you get really familiar with OneNote, you can take what you know and incorporate it into Class Notebook and Staff Notebook.  More on these will be included in a future post.  Think of OneNote as a virtual book.  You have the overall book, then you have chapters in the book, followed by pages in those chapters.  Each of them is represented by a tab (you can change the color of the tabs) and in those tabs you can add text, images, videos, audio, etc.  The GREAT thing about this tool is that you are able to collaborate online with other people that you share your Notebook with.  This means that you and your teachers or your students could all be in the Notebook at the same time, working together on the same project!  How cool is that?

Introduction to to Sway is another great course to take!  Sway might just be my all time favorite Microsoft tool!  It's super easy to use.  Sway allows you to create a presentation that flows either vertically or horizontally based upon your preference.  You can include headings, text, videos, images, etc all into a sliding presentation.  With Sway, you never have to leave the tool to do your web searches as everything is "in-app."  You can search for your images through Bing, right in Sway!  In addition, you can search and add Tweets to your Sway right from the menu bar.  The possibilities are endless!  Here is the link to a sway that I created and submitted for the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert program this year.  You'll notice that I added a Mix (below) into my Sway for an added pop.  As with OneNote, you are able to share your Sway with others and even add them as collaborators so you can work on presentations with others at the same time.

https://sway.com/j30bAQd9bnxbJIc3?ref=Link

Introduction to Office Mix.  Mix is an awesome tool that allow you to add your voice and even your live video right into your Power Point presentations!  It "mixes" your presentations up!  I added a Mix to my Sway example above.  Check it out!  Mix is a free add-in for Power Point and it allows you to be able to make your presentations interactive by adding quizzes and questions throughout the presentation.  You are able to export these "mixed" Power Points as an mp4 video so it can be viewed as a video rather than a click through Power Point.

Be sure to check out some of the amazing resources and tools in the Educator Community.  Again, they're all free!  In the coming weeks, I'm going to further discuss some of the programs and certifications that are available through Microsoft, BUT...you have to earn some badges and point first!