[LIBRARYDIR] info on MS IT Academy from training

[Martin, Jeff]

Jennifer,

 

May I forward this message more widely to other lists for public and
tribal libraries?

 

Jeff

 

From: librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu
[mailto:librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Jennifer Dysart
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 10:38 AM
To: LMDC open (librarydir at lists.ctc.edu)
Subject: [LIBRARYDIR] info on MS IT Academy from training

 

I attended the in-person training at the state library yesterday, and
thought this info might be helpful.  A lot of the training was focused
on benefits to the libraries and library staff (as opposed to
concentrating on direct benefits to our patrons).  The admin site is
still in a beta state; it will be 1-2 weeks before we can log into the
new site and do the work in the way we will moving forward.

 

First major benefit to patrons:  a series of online courses for digital
literacy.  These are actually independent of MS IT Academy, free and
available to all public without logging in.  They are available now at
www.microsoft.com/digitalliteracy.

 

The bulk of the benefit to patrons are the e-Learning courses.  Patrons
must use a MS account to log into MS IT Academy, and they must have an
access code ("enrollment key") that they get from us.

 

A one-page quick start guide will be available as soon as the site's out
of beta, but here's my quick notes on how we will get a student onto the
eLearning courses:  

*         Staff members log into the admin site ("E-Learner
Administrator site, but they also called it the "Member Site."
http://www.microsoft.com/itacademy ).  

*         You generate a code to give to students (formerly called the
"access code," but now called the "enrollment key" with the new beta
system.  This can create some terminology confusion). 

o   To generate the code, you create something called a "Learning Plan."
There are 250 different class areas, and you select which areas will
show up on their front page.  The students can browse all of the classes
and take whatever, but the "Learning Plan" puts some classes on the
front page as default.

o   When you generate the Learning Plan, you say how many students are
going to use that code--up to 500 people.  

o   Important:  you only have to generate one code for every 500
students if you want!  If you wanted to help an individual, you could
set up a code for 1 person and carefully select classes to show up on
their home screen.  No need to, though.  I plan to generate a code for
500 users and pop it into our wiki, so librarians don't even have to go
to the admin site.  I'll generate a new code when we get close to 500
users signed up with the first code.

*         You give the student 

1) the "Learner Site" URL (beta, but I think will be
http://itacademy.microsoft.com.), 

2) the access code/enrollment key, and 

3) the fact that they have to log in with a Microsoft account (could be
hotmail, a "live" account, or, for us, their MS school email)

 

Things available to staff (accessed through the "Member Site"), and what
the bulk of the training concentrated on:

*         Managing the E-learning codes (generate a code for 1 person or
up to 500 people)

*         Pre-made lesson plans for workshops or classes.  I get the
idea that the lesson plans give you a script, powerpoint, and when to
put the students into the elearning classes as part of the workshop.

*         Access to Safari's online reference collection of Microsoft
books.  This isn't for the public--there are 5 subscriptions available
for your library.  They agreed that it would be appropriate to sign up a
generic reference desk persona, but the login is for library staff, not
the general public.

*         Access to the free certifications available for our staff (not
for the public).

*         Access to the software available for library computers (50 lab
licenses for MS Office to go on computers where people will be using IT
Academy)

*         Marketing materials and other miscellaneous stuff.

 

Hope that's not TMI.

Jennifer

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ctc.edu/pipermail/librarydir_lists.ctc.edu/attachments/20131010/f46064f8/attachment.html>