As our client you know that Backup4all is an excellent program. We know it too and find it particularly satisfying when we get some recognition, from laudatory client emails to online mentions or magazine listings. Recently Backup4all was included in … Continue reading →

The post Backup4all featured on PC Revue appeared first on The Backup4all Blog.

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 2 , 201 2 — Microsoft Corp. today announced 16 educators from California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Texas and Washington have been selected as winners of the Partners in Learning U.S. Forum. The annual event recognizes innovative teachers and school leaders who creatively and effectively use technology in their curriculum to help improve the way kids learn and increase student success. Out of thousands that applied, 100 educators from 25 states attended the event to compete for the opportunity to represent the United States at the Partners in Learning Global Forum this November.

“These winning educators are catalysts for change and are the best in the nation at embracing technology to inspire and engage students and help transform education in their local communities,” said Andrew Ko, general manager, U.S. Partners in Learning, Microsoft. “They all are incredibly passionate and driven to make an impact on each and every student they teach. Their creative project-based-learning classroom activities show real impact on student learning and success and should be scaled out as best practices in their own school districts and across the country.”

Winning Educators

Winning projects immerse students in active, hands-on learning, guiding them to employ collaboration and creative problem-solving skills. The 11 outstanding projects focus on encouraging entrepreneurial thinking in students, virtual learning for students with learning differences, creative uses of gaming to enhance critical thinking and service learning projects in which students engage with their community. The projects exhibit the educators’ abilities to exceed strict academic standards while making learning fun and effective for their students.

The following are Partners in Learning 2012 U.S. Forum winners:

Collaboration

• First Place: Jamie Ewing; Mount View Elementary, Seattle, Wash.

• Runner-up: Julie Hembree; AG Bell Elementary, Kirkland, Wash.

Knowledge Building & Critical Thinking

• First Place: Jennifer Bevill; LSU Laboratory School, Baton Rouge, La.

• Runner-up: Cheryl Arnett and Melany Neton; Sunset Elementary School, Craig, Colo.

Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom

• First Place: Pauline Roberts and Rick Joseph; Birmingham Covington School, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

• TIE Runner-up: Sarah Collins and Jo Spark; Moody Elementary, Moody, Texas

• TIE Runner-up: Jolie Barker; Slaughter Elementary, McKinney, Texas

Cutting - Edge Use of Technology for Learning

• First Place: Robin Lowell and Sherry Hahn; Washington State School for the Blind, Vancouver, Wash.

• Runner-up: June Teisan and Alexandra Beels; Harper Woods Secondary School, Harper Woods, Mich.

Educator as Innovator and Change Agent

• First Place: Gregg Witkin; Boynton Continuation High School, San Jose, Calif.

Educator’s Choice

• First Place: Todd LaVogue; Roosevelt Community Middle School, West Palm Beach, Fla.

The winning projects were scored based on a comprehensive judging rubric that incorporated research-based criteria for 21st century teaching and learning. Full descriptions of the winning projects can be found on the Microsoft TeachTec blog. A distinguished panel of judges — including representatives from the Arizona House of Representatives, Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education from Washington, D.C, Chicago Public Schools and International Society for Technology in Education, as well as other U.S. superintendents and university and education leaders — evaluated the educator projects.

The winning educators will advance to the Partners in Learning Global Forum, which will take place in Prague Nov. 28 through Dec. 1. This ninth annual Partners in Learning Global Forum is the culmination of local and regional events that reach nearly 200,000 participants from more than 115 countries. 

Hosted by Microsoft Partners in Learning, the Partners in Learning U.S. Forum is one of a series of regional forums taking place around the world. This annual event is designed to promote the sharing and scaling of exceptional practices of learning that incorporate technology in the classroom, to recognize and celebrate leading educators and innovative schools in the United States, and to offer educators opportunities for professional development and collaborate with and learn from peers across the country.

Current news on Microsoft educator events, competitions and news in the U.S. is available on Facebook, Twitter (@TeachTec and #PiLUS) and the TeachTec blog.

About Microsoft Partners in Learning

Microsoft Partners in Learning is a 10-year, nearly $500 million commitment by Microsoft to help education systems around the world. Since its inception in 2003, the Partners in Learning program has reached more than 210 million teachers and students in 119 countries. Partners in Learning helps educators and school leaders connect, collaborate, create and share so students can realize their greatest potential. The online Partners in Learning Network is one of the world’s largest global professional networks for educators, connecting millions of teachers and school leaders around the world in a community of professional development.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 2, 2012 — Luxury audio and video systems maker Bang & Olufsen has adopted Microsoft Office 365 to unify its email, calendaring, collaboration and communication. The company wanted to upgrade its email system from the limitations of Lotus Notes to a less-expensive, easier-to-scale cloud solution: Office 365. The company now has all 2,000 employees using Office 365.

“We investigated whether we should continue relying on internal servers or go with a cloud solution. And we realized that we could save money by going to the cloud with Office 365,” said Ole Damsgaard, senior director of IT & Shared Service Centre at Bang & Olufsen. “It was easy to integrate Office 365 into our existing work environment and for our employees to start using it right away because they already know tools like Outlook and other Microsoft products.”

Founded in 1925 in Struer, Denmark, Bang & Olufsen is world-renowned for its high-end TVs, loudspeakers, MP3 player docks and audio systems that are often built into luxury vehicles, including those made by Audi, BMW, Mercedes-AMG and Aston Martin.

Internal competition for limited IT resources kept pushing an email upgrade to the back burner. However, Damsgaard knew the company needed an up-to-date, top-of-the line email, conferencing and file-sharing solution.

“We’re always in competition with other projects for funding,” Damsgaard said. “We have a limited amount of resources and money. Often, upgrading our software is secondary to meeting other business objectives.”

About 75 percent of Bang & Olufsen’s employees work remotely. However, the email solution they were using, Lotus Notes, was only accessible to the 150 employees who had company-provided smartphones. The other 1,350 mobile workers were left without access.

Recommended by Proactive, Bang & Olufsen’s IT provider, Office 365 was determined to be a cost-effective solution at a time when Bang & Olufsen had to decide between building its own IT environment — complete with on-premises servers — or moving to the cloud.

With Office 365, Bang & Olufsen will reduce travel and IT costs, improve access and ease of use, and enjoy email, calendars and conferencing that work better together:

• Less spending on travel and IT. Compared with an internally hosted solution, Bang & Olufsen is saving 82 percent on IT operations by using Office 365.

• Improved remote accessibility. With Office 365, employees can access email from virtually any smartphone, a remote PC or other mobile devices.

• Familiar, easy-to-use interface. Learning how to use Lotus Notes presented a challenge to most new Bang & Olufsen employees. Today, new staff members are typically already familiar with their Outlook email and require little to no training to use Office 365.

• Seamless integration among services. With Office 365, an employee can quickly check a colleague’s calendar for availability, email an invitation and then click the URL in the invite to start the meeting.

“Our employees are used to using Outlook and other Microsoft products. It was easy to integrate Office 365 into our existing work environment and for our workers to start using it right away because they already know the tools,” Damsgaard said. “And now, everybody who has a smartphone can very easily access their emails and calendars.”

More Microsoft customer success stories are available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/customerspotlight.

More information on Microsoft Office 365 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/office.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.