Microsoft and ISTE partner for better school planning and access to professional learning resources

Microsoft’s latest move in expanding its education initiatives is a new collaboration with the International Society for Technology in Education (ITSE), that will see the two organization combine and expand a number of initiatives for school planning and professional development resources.

Specifically, the collaboration, announced at today’s ISTE 2016, will have ITSE and Microsoft combine their capabilities in education and technology to provide educators with three resources to develop a technology-enhanced academic environment: ITSE and Microsoft Blueprint for School Transformation, leadership courses, and necessary tools.

“This new collaboration between ISTE and Microsoft springs from our shared, genuine commitment to have a real impact on learners around the globe,” “It will leverage our respective strengths and allow our substantive work on student empowerment, digital citizenship, education leadership and professional learning to be multiplied.”

– Brian Lewis, CEO, ITSE

The blueprint is a combination of ISTE Essential Conditions and Microsoft Transformational Frameworks. The former is a set of 14 critical elements for effectively using technology for education, such as shared vision, empowered leaders, and consistent and adequate funding; the latter are 10 critical components of school transformation like partnerships and capacity building for change. There is a lot of common language in these two frameworks, as expected of the alignment, and together they would provide the directions for future shared works.

“Microsoft’s focus on supporting education transformation has great synergy with the work of ISTE,” “We are proud of the collaboration announced today and the opportunity we have together to empower students, educators and school leaders globally to achieve more.”

– Anthony Salcito, vice president of Worldwide Education, Microsoft

The leadership courses are established as part of a new partnership between Microsoft, nonprofit e-learning platform edX, and experts from leading edX partner global universities, with support and guidance from both Redmond and ISTE. Enrolment for the first course will open on edX in September 2016, with the course beginning in December; more courses will be available starting March 2017. Additionally, Microsoft and ISTE are also partnering to provide tools like ISTE Lead & Transform Diagnostic Tool to the network of more than 600 schools in the Microsoft’s Showcase School program.

Overall, this partnership – between a premier nonprofit organization for empowering educators, and a productivity-focused technology company with a mission to “empower” – sounds like a perfect match to bring about the future of learning. Stay tuned for more exciting news about Microsoft’s works in advancing education.