If you're an IT Pro or Developer blogger, a user groups lead or if you run an IT Departments, then Microsoft Broadcaster will be of interest to you. You probable spend a few hours a month looking for content, and there is a LOT of content out there. Microsoft Broadcaster makes life easy as it enables you to download key Technical content ( Webcasts, podcasts, white papers) aggregated across Microsoft assets that are relevant to the IT Pro and Developer adoption lifecycle and to embed them in your own sites/blogs/internal training for richer content postings.

Key Features of Microsoft Broadcaster include:

• Permission and ability to download and embed content on your sites without sending traffic away from your site.
• Customize by product e.g. Windows®, SharePoint®, Microsoft Office 
• Customize content by keyword
• Customize content by form factor e.g. webcasts, videos, podcasts
• Set alerts for content updates

DreamSpark is a fantastic resource for students. As the tagline states, DreamSpark is about giving students Microsoft professional tools at no charge. If you are a high school student or teacher, you may want to take a closer look at DreamSpark here.

I just heard that DreamSpark has partnered with Windows Marketplace for Mobile and students can now get the same tools the professional developers and designers have and sell mobile applications and make money! To help get you started, we're waiving the $99 registration fee and giving you the first 5 application submissions for free!

By the way, have a look at this clip where a fellow developer tells a great story about the app he's working on.

The tagline for this post is relatively lame, but you can consider it a lead in to one of my big journeys for the coming year.  In a recent conference where I had the privilege to spend a lot of time with trainers and partners, we talked a lot about Author Enablement (what might have the tagline, but it is way too pretentious...).

There are a number of forums and places online today where content authors, publishers and those who have a vested interest in the quality of their work can meet and discuss the quality of courseware in general and Community Courseware in particular.  While at this conference we brainstormed a number of ways that the resources available (or referred to) on the Authoring Resources page of the Microsoft Learning Courseware Library site could be more rich.  They included:

• Videos (3-7 minutes each) on:
  • How to write solid course objectives
  • Figuring out how long a course should be
  • How to prioritize feedback
  • Update and revision strategies
  • How to get good quality OOB (Out Of the Box)
  • NOTE: these would be interviews with Microsoft Learning professionals, master trainers and existing Community authors.
• Lists of relevant online resources
• A Publisher's/Author's Forum as part of the existing Born To Learn forums
• More blog posts on:
  • How do you start?
  • Straddling the box of ILT (Instructor Led Training) - that is, how to think about innovating while keeping a solid eye on what your customers' expect.
  • Strategies on ramping up on technologies

This is a pretty good start.  What else would you like to see covered, and in what kind of context (video, forum, blog/comments, etc.)?

If you’re thinking about going to TechEd Europe, now is the time to save money while committing to your ongoing professional development. Register for TechEd Europe 2010 by 31 August and receive a €200 discount off the €1895 price! The event is scheduled for 8-12 November in Berlin, Germany. Also, if you book your hotel room by 31 August, you’ll receive a free public transportation (BVG) travel pass, valid for 6 days.

If you had to list your continuing education efforts on a resume today, would you feel like you’d invested enough in your future? Does your professional development history show enthusiasm for your field through continued learning? Are you up to date on the latest technologies? Are you ready to be a technology leader?

If the answer to any of the questions above is no, or sort of, then invest in your career and attend TechEd Europe. You will walk away smarter.

This week, York was the place to be for our Microsoft Certified Trainers. 130 MCTs from 30 countries gathered and shared their tips and tricks, content, leads as they prepared for a new wave of technical training. The event was set up by two MCTs, Andrew Bettany and Daniel Sorlov, and it was a true Labor of Love. Great content, energizing and expert speakers and a keen eye for detail ensured that we all learned a lot during 3 intense days of trainer preparation. The event once again demonstrated the incredible

I would like to thank the University of York for hosting us and of course we are all also very grateful towards all speakers that gave us their time and expertise. MCTs that did not attend; stay tuned as you will see the recorded sessions show up on your MCT Readiness site soon!

Over the past year, Microsoft Learning has been working with 27 fabulous managers of IT and Developer teams across Europe and North America as part of our IT Manager Advisory Council.

The primary objective of this group is to provide input and feedback around key Microsoft Learning strategies and products and to help us build solid recognition at a manager level around the value of Microsoft Certification and learning. Members share their insight and experiences as IT managers. They are the voice of the community as we develop offers, tools and materials exclusively for the IT Manager audience.

Members make an 18-24 month commitment to participate on the IT Manager Advisory Council. Each Team hosts an in-person meeting at their regional TechEd and members participate in quarterly Live Meetings. They also provide a quick touch point and monthly feedback regarding ongoing initiatives.

To date, we’ve had very lively discussions regarding topics that range from the value of Microsoft Certification within an organization, to the value of a certified training partner, to how managers leverage social media, and much more.

Our members:

Team Europe
David Anders, Manager IT, FDP-Bundestagsfraktion
Nikolaos Balotis, Athens Stock Exchange
Simon Davis, Team Manager, Remsdaq Limited
Birgir Gunnlaugsson, IT Manager, N1hf
Steve Meyns, CIO - IT Manager, Skynet
Lorenz Mueller, Manager, CIO
Thomas Mueller-Lynch, Team Manager, Siemens
Ole Pallesen Jensen, Systems Architect, ZitCom A/S
Marcus Robinson, Managing Director, MRICT
Jakob Schwartz, Systems Architect, ZitCom A/S
Martin Strickler, Head of IT, Uster Technologies AG
Lucy Waide, Director of ICT, Stephen Perse Foundation
Udo Wiegaertner, Director, conplement AG

Team Americas
Hector Curiel, CXO, Computotal CSI
Teresa Davis, Supervisor IT Systems & Infrastructure, LCRA
Shelley Fedigan, President & CEO, Advanced Technologies Experts, Inc.
Suzanne George, MOSS Development, Silicon Laboratories
Nicolas Husson, Principal Consultant, NH Consulting
David Levin, Systems Integration Manager, CompuCom
Lee McGovern, Vice President, Markit
David Nudelman, CIO, Acecla Technology Ltd.
Phil Olea, CXO, Phil Olea Technologies
Daniel Panessiti, Sr. Consultant, Accenture
Andres Pino, President & CEO, IT College
Douglas Spindler, Technology Instructor, Diablo Valley College
Andrew West, Director of Information Technology, Algiers Charter Schools Association
Bob Willer, Vice President, Technology, Student Voice

You can find more information about the IT Manager Advisory Council on our IT Manager Portal page.

If you are interested in being considered for a position on the IT Manager Advisory Council, please complete the application form located on the portal.

And if you have a comment or question for the Advisory Council, please share it below or send us an email.

Are you the “security guy/gal” in your company? Did you implement a multi-factor authentication protocol for your refrigerator? If security is what you “do” I have a favor to ask. Our friends over at CompTIA are developing a new advanced security certification exam to follow their Security+ exam and they’re looking for your input on the exam objectives. This is very similar to what MSL does with our “blueprinting” exercise when we develop an exam. It should take only 10 minutes to complete and can be found here:

https://s-xut5m-345723.sgizmo.com

As an added bonus, CompTIA is giving away a CompTIA T-shirt to every 10th person who completes the survey!

[cue the fast talking announcer]  CompTIA values your privacy. Results are completely anonymous and the data will only be viewed in the aggregate. The survey will be open until September 8, 2010. Please contact research@comptia.org if you have any trouble with the survey.

Thanks in advance for helping our friends out!

If you work for a partner you’re probably aware of the new program requirements that we touched on a few weeks ago here. You and your co-workers may also be sweating having to get caught up on the latest technologies prior to your re-enrollment date in order for your company to maintain your competencies. To help make this process a little easier for you, we created a special Competency Exam Pack offer – you can save up to 30% plus get free retakes on each exam:

 ·       3-Pack – Save 20% plus a free retake on each exam

·         5-Pack – Save 25% plus a free retake on each exam

·         8-Pack – Save 30% plus a free retake on each exam

Perhaps the best part of these Competency Exam Packs is that you can split them up amongst different people within your organization. For example, do you want to help your company become one of the first to earn a Gold competency under the new program? You will likely need 4 people MCITP certified – so an 8-pack is a great offer for you (2 exams per person, plus free retakes). If you’re just looking to re-enroll in your existing competencies, the 3-pack is great for 1 competency, 5-pack for 2 and 8-pack for 3.

How do you get started? Visit our Prometric offer page for full terms and conditions and an FAQ to help answer those tricky questions. Once you’ve purchased your Exam Pack, you’ll get an email within 2 business days with your voucher codes. We’ll be selling these packs until December 31, 2010 and all exams need to be taken by June 30, 2011. All IT Pro, Developer and Dynamics exam qualify at worldwide prometric testing centers.

Meeting the new requirements doesn’t need to be a chore – get it done and start showcasing your credentials on the latest and greatest technologies!

It's easy to get into a discussion about quality.  Everyone strives to deliver or wants be the recipient of the highest possible quality product, regardless of what it is - courseware, automobile, Internet service, t-shirt or sandwich.  When I get into the discussions with educators, content developers, training partners and students, I've found that setting up the conversation by defining what we're talking about is one of the biggest challenges.

As you are most likely aware, perfection in anything is actually impossible, if only because what is perfect for you may not be perfect for me.  Hence the need to provide guidelines, measures and, if at all possible, examples that can assist in the discussion.  When the conversation is about courseware, this is really difficult sometimes, if only because some of the things that are part of a quality course are more art than science.

For example, doing a spell check and a grammar check is fairly simple....or so you'd think.  If you type like I do (fast and with plenty of mistakes because I'm focusing on what I'm GOING to write instead of focusing on what I'm ACTUALLY WRITING RIGHT NOW) it's easy to type "that" when I mean "than".  Spell check won't catch it, grammar check might not catch it and my eyes are unlikely to catch it.  Unless I have an EXTREME editor go over my work, it will likely slip through.  And that's supposed to be the easy stuff...

I read a lot of technical reviews of the Community courses on the Microsoft Learning Courseware library.  About two thirds of them consist of some variation on "This course is OK" or "This course is horrible".  Nothing else there; nothing actionable for the author to fix, so usually nothing happens.

Other reviews are quite granular and very, very helpful to the authors who use that feedback to put together the revision plan for their courses.  There are other "middle ground" reviews that provide more feedback than "This isn't a good course", but not by much.  The kinds of comments I read like this include (these are actual reviews):

• The slides need work
• The labs need work
• Looks like a good SharePoint course
• The content is weak
• This course is too busy
• Very basic
• Good
• Awful
• Not catastrophic
• Do not see a way to deliver after reading

....and so on.  You get the idea.

In several large meetings with members of the technical training community this summer, we've spent a lot of time discussing the quality of Community courseware in particular and training content in general.  Obviously, the better the working material, the more time the trainer can spend delivering a significant learning experience to the students and the less time she or he has to spend figuring work-arounds.  Those conversations are the basis for the building of this foundational conversation on:

• What is quality, really? What is solid enough for an excellent learning experience without being prohibitively expensive for authors in either time or other resources?
• What are the basics you expect? Not the "nice-to-haves" but the things that enable a professional educator to provide solid learning.
• Where do you see the opportunities to innovate while at the same time providing what is required for a significant learning experience? Innovations can break old models....

That's a start.  I'll be posting in these areas and others throughout the year, but this is a conversation, not a monologue.  Here is a good place to start.

If you’re an aspiring IT Pro, there are a number of ways you can enter the IT job market.  The most common entry-level position is known as the Consumer Support Technician (CST).

The CST job role (also referred to as Help Desk, Desktop or End User Support) is typically found in a small to medium-sized organization, or in a larger enterprise as tier-1-level support. In the CST role, you will provide assistance to users of a wide range of desktop operating systems, applications, and mobile devices. In doing so, you’ll gain expertise in network, virus, malicious software and hardware support issues. This experience serves as valuable preparation for your next step as an administrator or enterprise-level support technician.

So where do you start? If you are completely new to the IT field, start by obtaining the key skills needed for the CST position. Microsoft offers comprehensive learning plans to help you acquire CST skills on Windows operating systems (Windows 7, Vista and XP). 

Once you’ve received training, you can prove your expertise by taking a Microsoft Certification exam, and you’ll have Microsoft’s endorsement to show potential employers. Earning a Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Customer Support Technician credential proves that you have demonstrated proficiency in the on-the-job skills required to succeed in a Windows-based CST position, and differentiates you from the rest of the non-certified pack. In fact, certification is typically a requirement or key hiring criterion for many IT job roles.

But don’t stop there: continue to look for opportunities to obtain real-world experience in configuring and troubleshooting desktop operating systems, applications, hardware and networks. As IT continues to grow into increasingly larger areas of business and everyday life, staying current on security issues will be key – and demand for consumer support will likely grow as a result.  

So what are you waiting for?...

Other Key Resources and Links:

·   Desktop Support Technician Salary info

·   Consumer Support Technician Job Role

·   MSL Windows Client Training Portal

·   Special Offers page

I woke up to the sweet smell of another course, in the "baking" for some time now, being released to manufacting (RTM). Once again this news brings cheer to the developer audience because this time what's up in the offering is the 3-day ILT course on Developing Windows® Communication Foundation Solutions with Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010: 10263A. In this course, students will learn to develop Windows Communication Foundation applications using .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010. And that's not all - Service Oriented Application design considerations will also be included as part of this training. What's more? - This course will help students prepare for the certification exam 70-513. 

The subject matter expertise for this title came from the SELA group who are known for their techinal acumen in the developer space. What was an added advantage was that they provided content development support as well. This is first time we both (MSL and SELA) were in a content development partnership for MOC. We believe we have a great offering for you that will match your expectations. If it does, does not, or exceeds we'd like to hear from you via the MTM tool.

Erik Eckel recently blogged about the ten IT certifications that he believes “hold the most value today.” He provides an interesting perspective on what is valued and why. From my perspective, this list is awesome because he listed MCITP and MCTS certifications as the top two certifications to hold. But, what I particularly liked (and of course, I loved the fact that our certifications were at the top of the list!) was his rationale for why our certifications are valuable, especially his thoughts about value of our MCTS certifications. 

As you can expect, this blog resulted in a lot of comments about the accuracy of the list. Given that you’re reading this blog, you probably have a Microsoft certification or are interested in one, so I’m curious what you think. Check it out, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this list.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=1751&tag=tr-left

By the way, someone who uses “double-blind” and “Baysian probability” in a blog post is totally awesome!

Heads up if you are planning your next career/certificatoin steps right now: Microsoft Certification Packs with Free Second Shots can help you get your Certification, validate your knowledge, launch your career, or move to your next position. Purchase packs of one to five exams along with free re-takes on every exam purchased and save up to 20%.

That's right, using a Certification Pack you can take a Second Shot at each exam you take; should you fail the exam you can simply try again without any additional cost. And the certification packs also include a discount. See the table below which can help you choose the exam pack that is right for you:

*If you prefer to purchase just one exam with a Second Shot offer, note that an additional 15 percent will be added to the price of the exam. For instance, with the cost of an exam at US$125, you can purchase one exam plus a Second Shot at US$143.75.

So how do you get the most out of this offer? Well, here's my quick and dirty FAQ and please find more details on this exciting offer here.  Basically, if you start planning your next steps in certification today you will have 10 months; if you register and buy a certification pack now, you should plan to sit for all exams in the packs by 6/30/2011. The offer is available worldwide through Prometric; certification packs can be bought in one single purchase where you pay for the pack upfront. Exams within packs cannot be split-up amongst multiple customers. All Microsoft Certification exams with a prefix of '070' or 'MB-X' are eligible.

Carpe Cert Pack :-)!

Beginning Sunday, August 22, 2010, at 8 AM Eastern Standard Time, Prometric’s scheduling and registration system will be down for a planned system validation. The system will be unavailable for approximately 8 hours. During the outage, you will not be able to register for any exams.

While registration will not be possible during the outage, sites will be able to deliver exams as long as the appointments were scheduled in advance, meaning that walk in registrations may not be possible at most test centers during this outage. If you’re planning to take an exam during this time, register now!

Just a few weeks ago, Microsoft hosted Windows Phone 7 Jump Start, a free training event on how to develop awesome apps and games for Windows Phone 7. It was a great success with around 1,000 developers participating in 12 hours of demos, labs, and good ol' fashion fun. (We even gave away an executive jet! Well, a lego one anyway.)

While the feedback was very positive, there were plenty of you who weren't able to make it due to timing conflicts. And then there were some of you who just wanted access to the training sessions for reference. Well, your wish is our command! We've posted all 12 training sessions online for your viewing in spectacular HD. For those who might be going through the training for the first time, we still have all the corresponding training materials and lab files freely available here.

See below for a description of each of the 12 training sessions plus a direct link to each of the videos. If you'd prefer, you can subscribe via Zune Marketplace, iTunes, or watch them all on Zune.net.

As always, feedback is welcome. Based on the feedback heard so far, we plan to offer a repeat live training event soon, which will include some new updates and additional content. Stay tuned for details.

Here are the sessions:
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 1 of 12): Introduction

A quick tour of Windows Phone 7 and how you write programs for it. We take a look at the platform capabilities and the software development options.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 2 of 12): Building a Silverlight Application, Part 1

Building an application from scratch. How you can take a simple idea for a program and build the user interface, followed by the program behaviors that sit behind it. We take a look at databinding on Windows Phone and how best to structure your application to make best use of it.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 3 of 12): Building a Silverlight Application, Part 2

Making more complex applications. You also get an overview of how the built in controls work, and how to tailor the user input to match your requirements. We also take a look at page navigation within a multi-form Silverlight application on the phone and how to use the navigation inputs for best effect.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 4 of 12): Building Games for the Windows Phone 7 Platform

Using Silverlight as a platform for game creation. We show how to get a draw/update behavior into your Silverlight games and give you a fully worked game to chew on. We also illustrate how a Silverlight game can leverage the XNA libraries to add sound effects to a game.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 5 of 12): Building XNA Games for the Windows Phone 7 Platform, Part 1

Getting Started with  XNA on Windows Phone. We talk about what makes the Windows Phone such a good platform for XNA development and how you create XNA games for it. We take a look at how games can manage the orientation of a phone and give you some tips on getting the best performance. Then we move on to take a look at the accelerometer input and how to make games that use this.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 6 of 12): Building XNA Games for the Windows Phone 7 Platform, Part 2

Using the Windows Phone platform features in your XNA games. We continue with our look at Windows Phone features that make the platform so interesting to game developers. We cover the use of the touch screen, sound creation and finally give you some coverage of how to access the Zune media content in the device. Then we round off with a little look at how you can get text input from users by means of the Guide support in XNA.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 7 of 12): Advanced Application Development, Part 1

Application Lifecycle. A look at the execution model on the phone, and how to create solutions that give a great user experience in the face of phone calls, termination and even total shutdown of the device itself. We show how to respond to messages to make your application give the appearance of being “always on” and the data persistence facilities that you will need to make this work.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 8 of 12): Advanced Application Development, Part 2

Launchers and Choosers plus Using Isolated Storage. In this session we take a look at “Launchers and Choosers”, how your application can use the built in phone behaviors to place calls, take pictures and select contacts, making it part of how the phone works. We also show how your application can store data in its own isolated storage on the phone device.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 9 of 12): Advanced Application Development, Part 3

Storing Data and Using the Network. In this session we look at the connectedness of Windows Phone and how you can make this work for you. We demonstrate connected applications and how the notification service is used to allow external systems to give your application a wake-up call. 
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 10 of 12): Marketing Your Windows Phone 7 Application

Using Windows Marketplace. In this session we explain how to join the Marketplace and get your applications out there. We take a look at how your solutions are packaged and deployed and how you go about registering a device for development and then using that with Visual Studio 2010 to test your applications.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 11 of 12): Working with Media

Using XNA in 3D and with Media. In this session we take a quick look at how the Windows Phone works as an excellent platform for 3D games in XNA. We also explore how an XNA game can make use of the media stored in the phone, including photographs taken by the user and media loaded onto it from Zune.
 
Windows Phone 7 Jump Start (Session 12 of 12): Final Silverlight Topics and Wrap-Up

Taking Silverlight to the max. We start with a look at the Application bar, a crucial component in Windows Phone applications. We then move on to the Expression Blend tool, and how to create compelling user experiences with it. Finally we round off the session by showing how easy it is to use the map services in your phone and demonstrate some of the really cool navigation tools that are coming.
 
Here are the bios for our fearless session leaders:

Rob Miles
Rob Miles is a lecturer and Microsoft MVP based at Hull University in the UK. He teaches Programming, Software Engineering, Embedded Development and students. He has been working with XNA since before it was released and has been a big fan of Windows Phone 7 ever since he found out he could run his XNA and Silverlight programs on it. He writes a regular blog on programming and other forms of wit at www.robmiles.com and can be found on twitter with the unsurprising name of RobMiles.
 
Andy Wigley
Andy Wigley is a device application development MVP and co-founder of UK-based mobile consultancy firm, Appa Mundi. He is the co-author of a number of Microsoft Press books, including the Mobile Development Handbook and the .NET Compact Framework Core Reference and is a regular speaker at major conferences such as Tech Ed. He lives in the mountains of Snowdonia, North Wales where a strong mobile phone signal is a total luxury which has helped him to hone his skills developing offline mobile apps. You can read his blog, and those of his Appamundi colleagues at http://mobileworld.appamundi.com/blogs.