Welcome to the weekly IT Academy update for the week of January 7th. We’re kicking off the new year with a roundup of education-related news from Microsoft, including events and opportunities you may have missed over the holidays.  

    • What do new HTML Standards mean for developers? On December 17th, the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, announced the publishing of the complete definitions of the HTML5 and Canvas 2D specifications. Learn how the changes create opportunities for your aspiring developers to build rich content experiences for the web, tablets and desktop. Read more.
    • Only a few more weeks remain until the Windows 8 Student Holiday App Challenge is over! Students have until January 20 to publish an app to the Windows Store and win a $100 gift card. 
    • 500 teachers from around the world met at in Prague, Czech Republic to share their successes in using project-based learning (PBS) in the classroom at this year’s Partners in Learning Global Forum. Microsoft plans to invest $250 million over the next five years in the Partners in Learning global initiative to support programs like the Learning Global Forum that encourage the use of technology as a catalyst for student learning. 
    • Microsoft is hosting a series of EduTech Family Summits focusing on how students can prepare for academic and career success. Summits are open to educators, parents and community members. Register here for the Boston event on January 26. Next up: NYC, DC, Chicago, Vegas and Dallas.
    • Catch up on Imagine Cup 2013, the international competition that invites students to use their technology skills and passions to solve tough problems and win prizes. Imagine Cup TV Episode Four is now available on-demand.
    • See how one educator in Nantes, France leverages the power of serious games to advance innovation in education and improve his students' learning outcomes. Jean-Pierre Gallerand, a 2012 Partners in Learning Global Forum finalist for Serious Games in Biology and Microsoft Innovative Educator, shares his life’s work thus far, his plans to adapt it for new computing environments and his views on what it takes to create motivated student scientists.

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