Microsoft has announced five new education leadership courses in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Michigan and The University of Queensland. The courses will be offered via edX, an online learning platform created by Harvard and MIT, and are set to start running in early 2017.
On Microsoft"s TechNet blog, the Microsoft in Education team explained that the courses "are designed to help guide K-12 school principals and headmasters, superintendents and school leaders through the challenges – and opportunities – of education transformation."
MIT will be leading the "Launching Innovation in School" and "Design Thinking for Leading and Learning in K-12 Education" courses. University of Michigan will also run two classes, entitled "Leading Ambitious Teaching and "Learning, Leading Change: Go Beyond Gamification with Gameful Learning." The University of Queensland rounds out the offerings with a "Deep Learning Through Transformative Pedagogy" program.
The courses run anywhere from between 4 to 8 weeks and only require a few hours of commitment per week. Interested educators can read about the full details of these courses and register for them on the edX website. While signing up for any of the programs is free, participants do have the option to pay for a verified certificate of completion for $49. However, the certificate for the “Leading Ambitious Teaching and Learning” course will cost $199.
This seems to be Microsoft"s latest push to increase productivity and efficiency in educational institutes. The company recently announced new classroom-focused tools for students, which aimed to improve collaboration in Office 365. In addition, Redmond will release Minecraft: Education Edition on November 1, which will add classroom modes and features to the platform.
Source: TechNet Blog