Due to the rapid rate of technological change, the average life of a skill today is less than five years, making continuous workforce training even more critical. If businesses want to stay competitive, they need the right technology. It isn’t enough just to use technology in its original form; companies are now developing new capabilities from available technology. This puts extra pressure on IT professionals, as every process of digitalization starts with the IT team working on it. With technology’s rapid development, it’s not easy to keep track of all the news and improvements, so IT professionals constantly need to upgrade their knowledge and Improve their skill sets. Microsoft offers free training and preparation for certification for IT pros to fuel their careers.
Benefits for IT pros to upskill
For tech professionals, whether they manage, sell, or code, their careers benefit significantly when they upgrade their digital skills, for example, in job search and getting their resume on top of the pile. 60% of IT hiring managers stated that applications with IT certifications are significantly more likely to be reviewed. Impressive 56% of candidates who earned IT certifications increased their chances of advancing and being promoted in their current roles by acquiring new skills and knowledge. Adding a Microsoft Certification to the resume can make IT experts stand out and deliver them the edge they need to get their next job or even a new career. Another benefit is a potential paycheck increase: about 28% of technical professionals say getting certified has led to salary or wage increases, and 21% report job promotions. What’s more, certified IT professionals get promoted more than 50% faster than noncertified IT professionals. Tech certifications increase the rate of promotions, and over time, this adds up to big dividends for the career. If upgrading digital skills with Microsoft, the IT pros also get recognition from an industry leader. Businesses rely on Microsoft technologies and services to keep mission-critical applications and processes up and running. In fact, more than half of IT decision-makers worldwide say they expect their organization to invest in Microsoft technology. That means there is a high demand for professionals skilled in Microsoft technologies, and a Microsoft Certification validates IT professionals’ ability to perform in a modern digital business.
Upcoming Microsoft Virtual Training Days
Microsoft Virtual Training Days offer free classes for everyone. Fundamentals classes for beginners cover foundational concepts, terms, and capabilities, while technical courses provide a journey to certification for advanced users. In the upcoming months, IT pros may discover their potential and maximize their time with accelerated virtual event offerings covering a range of technical courses for Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Business Applications (Dynamics 365 and Power Platform), and Security.
Virtual training events on Microsoft Azure provide knowledge on how to get the most from Azure. All interested candidates can choose from a range of skill levels and course topics, such as understanding cloud fundamentals and the Azure cloud platform, developing Cloud native apps, migrating to the cloud, modernizing web apps, and building data warehouses. These courses will prepare you for the Microsoft AI Fundamentals certification exam, Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification, or Microsoft Data Fundamentals certification exam. After the training, access to the test is free.
Digital transformation describes the move from on-premises to cloud-based digital operations. For most companies, this is a significant change on many different levels. With security being a top concern for companies, staying on top of today’s fast-moving landscape and protecting sensitive data wherever it lives or travels is key. Microsoft Security Virtual Training Day events can help IT experts gain the technical skills and knowledge needed to enable employees to work securely and work from anywhere and harness powerful Microsoft security capabilities to keep their company’s information and remote access secure and protected against threats. The training will prepare enrolled people for Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals exam.
Microsoft Business Applications | Dynamics 365 and Power Platform
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Virtual Training Days provide knowledge for creating a comprehensive business platform that goes beyond customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP). For example, on Power Platform Fundamentals, all interested participants can learn how to connect the data to analyze real-time business performance, act on data and insights with custom-built apps, and automate workflows. Dynamics 365 CRM Fundamentals teaches how to connect customer data, streamline business processes, and help you better manage your client relationships. Dynamics 365 Manage Finance & Operations provides info on how to enhance decision-making to help protect revenue, mitigate risks, and reduce costs. Also, available training about Power Platform Rapidly Building Apps or Automate Business Processes training to optimize your workflows with Microsoft AI Builder and Power Automate.
The virtual events can prepare all enrolled candidates with the technical skills and tools needed to harness Microsoft 365’s capabilities to enable remote collaboration and build integrations and workflows that Improve productivity across the organization, enabling employees to work securely and achieve more from anywhere. The available courses cover such areas as managing the frontline workforce with the configuration of first-party apps and policies, managing frontline identities and planning for a successful rollout; building Microsoft Teams integrations and workflows; managing windows and Surface services, and utilization of the latest endpoint management capabilities in support of remote, on-premises, and hybrid work; deploying Microsoft Teams Phone and Microsoft Viva employee experience platform.
The full schedule of virtual courses can be discovered here: Microsoft Virtual Training Days
While upskilling, consider also obtaining Microsoft Certification. With a Microsoft Certification, you validate your skills and ability and showcase your energy and commitment to learning new technologies.
TL;DR: As of Nov. 6, you can get the Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows and the Premium Microsoft Office Training Bundle for just $79.99 instead of $1,949 — that's a 95% discount.
One of the first things you should buy your college student is a laptop. Next, that computer needs to be outfitted with essential productivity software your student knows how to use. College can be demanding, so knowing how to save time using everyday software could be a massive boon for college-aged kids. You can purchase a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows for $79.99, and it even comes with a comprehensive Office training bundle.
A gift your college student could use every day
This license provides unlimited access to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneNote, Publisher, and Access. Not only are these programs helpful for everyday word processing and responding to emails, but Pearson suggests that "employers expect employees to have a working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint." So as your kids get acquainted with these tools in school, they can be one step closer to succeeding in the workplace after graduation.
Learning Office's advanced functions could also save students time, especially when working in Excel and PowerPoint. That's where the eight learning courses come into play. The classes are led by experts with years of experience in their respective industries. For instance, Microsoft Excel: Data Analysis With Pivot Tables is led by Chris Dutton, an analytics consultant and certified Microsoft Excel Expert.
The bundle offers a course for each app in Professional 2021. For example, if your student needs to analyze vast data sets for science or statistics classes, the aforementioned Pivot Table course could prove valuable. But if they need to share information with fellow students, PowerPoint From Beginner To Advanced Level can teach them how to create engaging, animated presentations.
Get your college student a lifetime license to Microsoft Office
If you want to get your college student a gift that saves them time and makes school more manageable, you can purchase lifetime access to Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows and the Premium Microsoft Office Training Bundle for just $79.99 (reg. $1,949).
Prices subject to change.
Credit: Microsoft
$79.99 at the Mashable Shop
Course Outlines and Syllabi
Course Outlines
A one-page course outline is required by university policy for every course offered by the Faculty of Health Sciences. Instructors will receive an email reminder through TRACS to upload their course outlines. Outlines must be available to students at least two weeks prior to the start of the registration period or two months before the semester begins (March, July and November). Note that the one-page outline is different than the syllabus. See below for syllabus information.
Instructors upload their course outlines online. Please follow these instructions:
| 1. Log in to outlines.sfu.ca. 2. Select semester, course and section. Click the round icon. 3. Input data to the fields. (This can be done by free-format typing or cutting & pasting) 4. Save. 5. Scroll back up to the top of the page to confirm that the outline was saved successfully. (See green box) 6. Once the outline is finalized, click “Continue”, go to the next page, and click “Submit”. 7. The system will automatically advise the program assistant that the outline is ready to be activated. |
Before your outline is activated online, the program assistant will review to ensure that all required fields are complete.
If you have taught the course before, you may want to use the previous outline as a starting point and make any desired changes. The course content should correspond to the SFU Calendar description. If it does not conform closely, you must apply for approval before any changes can be published. Contact the appropriate program assistant, depending on whether you are teaching an undergraduate or graduate course, if you have not taught a course before and would like a copy of a previous course outline for your reference, or if you would like to apply for approval to upload content that does not closely conform to the SFU Calendar description.
Refer to this link to search for the archived course outlines: http://www.sfu.ca/outlines.html. The system has archived outlines starting from Fall 2015 onwards.
Course Syllabi and Syllabus Policies
Refer to the Policies and Procedures Related to Syllabi Review, Development and Distribution (this link requires your ID to login) for more guidance about drafting a syllabi and to locate a syllabi template.
All HSCI courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels must have a detailed syllabus that delineates course objectives and means of assessment. Attached to this policy is a template to help you design of a syllabus so that it outlines the appropriate level of detail in terms of content, objectives, and assessment tools. The recommended text in regards to grading distributions, student conduct, and other policies are also provided.
All new and substantively updated/revised courses must be reviewed as indicated below. Syllabi submitted for review do not need to be in the final draft. The GSC and UGSC are generally concerned with the review of the following: 1) the statement of learning objectives; 2) an outline of topics; and 3) a list of required readings/texts.
You will receive an email from the TRACS system to upload your syllabus, in accordance with the following schedule:
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Deadlines |
Fall Semester (September – December) |
Spring Semester (January – April) |
Summer Intersession (May – June) |
Summer Semester (May – August) |
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August 15 |
December 15 |
April 1 |
April 15 |
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First day of semester |
First day of semester |
First day of semester |
First day of semester |
For new or substantially revised courses, feedback will be provided to instructors three weeks prior to the start of the term. Notably for graduate courses, where accreditation requirements demand that courses meet certain core competency requirements, it is expected that faculty will comply with requests for revision.
The course syllabus represents a contract between the instructor and student. It is important that it clearly outlines expectations, grading and attendance policies, and appropriate student conduct guidelines to all students enrolled in the course.
A syllabus does not need to be provided in hard copy and can be distributed through Canvas or through other online formats. The scheduling of courses may be changed after the start of a term, but once the syllabus has been circulated to students, it is strongly advised not to make further changes to: a) grading policies; b) policies regarding student conduct and academic honesty; or c) the timing of key exams.
For more resources and guidelines, refer to the links below:
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has outlined key digital imperatives that will help organisations to tackle global challenges such as the transition to new energy sources and the inequities that exist in the world today.
Speaking at the Microsoft Asia-Pacific Innovators Forum in Singapore today, Nadella said these imperatives include the shift to cloud, leveraging data and artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber security, among others.
Effectively laying out how Microsoft’s enterprise offerings – from cloud services and productivity and collaboration software to developer and security tools – can address each of the imperatives, Nadella said organisations that want to “do more with less” will need to think about those imperatives deeply.
At the event, which was attended by Microsoft partners, customers and government officials, Nadella spoke at length about the role of cloud computing in paving the way for the world’s energy transition.
“It’s the most effective use of energy to deploy a unit of compute, especially at a time like this when demand and supply have to be matched,” said Nadella. “You don’t want to waste any capital, and this is the best way to match demand and supply.”
But moving to cloud is not just about lifting and shifting existing applications – organisations have to start building cloud-native applications to be more energy efficient, he said. Citing research from Gartner, he noted that by 2025, 95% of applications will be cloud native.
Against this backdrop, Nadella was bullish about the overall growth of Azure cloud services, with more datacentres being planned for the region. This comes at a time when cloud capabilities are increasingly distributed across datacentres, multiple clouds and edge environments, which he said can be managed with the Azure Arc management platform.
Nadella singled out Malaysian oil and gas giant Petronas as an example of an organisation in Asia-Pacific that has been using Azure’s distributed cloud computing fabric. “They have massive commitments to their own energy transition plans, and they have needs from HPC [high-performance computing] to their back-office needs,” he said.
On data and AI, Nadella cited Gartner’s research, which expects 10% of the world’s data to be generated by generative AI models by 2025, driving new applications that will require a robust data platform.
But rather than stitch together a variety of data solutions, Nadella called for organisations to consider a data fabric, starting with Cosmos DB, a NoSQL and relational database.
“You complement that with Azure SQL, and you have the best sort of online databases, connected in real time to the Synapse analytics engine. And all of it is managed and governed by Purview,” he said.
“Just like how moving to the cloud means you’re not stacking and racking servers, the equivalent of having a limitless data estate is what the Azure data platform provides for you.”
With data platforms as the foundation, Nadella said organisations can start building large AI models and turning them into platforms. “The idea is not for you to start from scratch, so we’re taking everything from our partner OpenAI and exposing them as APIs [application programming interfaces] through Azure OpenAI APIs,” he said.
With $10tn expected to be lost to cyber crime by 2025, Nadella rounded off his keynote by highlighting Microsoft’s efforts to help organisations fend off cyber attacks.
“In order for us to tackle that challenge, we have to take a very end-to-end approach,” he said. “You can’t stitch products together – you have to have a zero-trust architecture that is designed into the products, whether it is identity management, endpoint protection, application security or infrastructure security.
“And then it’s not enough – you need the signals because, after all, it’s an intelligence thing. So, the trillions of events we see every day are being used to make these products more secure.”
Microsoft counts some of the largest companies across the region as clients. These include Thai financial services company SCBX, Sri Lankan conglomerate John Keells Holdings and Zuellig Pharma, one of the biggest healthcare services groups in Asia.
At the forum, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Zuellig Pharma’s head of productivity platforms, said the company first moved to the cloud with Azure, starting with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Since then, it has been running the SAP Hana in-memory database on Azure – a move that has reduced its hosting fees by 40%.
TL;DR: As of Nov. 10, you can get the Microsoft Office Home and Business for Mac 2021 and the Premium Microsoft Office Training Bundle for just $79.99 instead of $1,549 — that's a 94% discount.
Increasingly, software that was once available for a one-time license fee is becoming subscription-based. The individual subscriptions may not cost much each month, but that’s still a payment you’re making every month you want to keep your software, and it adds up if you need a lot of different apps.
If you want to skip subscription fees for one of the most downloaded software sets in the world, then grab a lifetime license to Microsoft Office. For a limited time, Mac users can get six MS Office Home and Business 2021 programs on their computer for life for just $79.99, and they come with online classes to show you how to unlock the advanced features of each program.
Get a lifetime of MS Office on your Mac
This two-part bundle comes with lifetime licenses to six Microsoft Office programs and a corresponding course teaching you how to master each of them. Get unlimited access to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, the basic version of Teams, and OneNote.
If you’ve only touched on the superficial functions of each program, you might be surprised by how much each of them can do. Learn to integrate detailed charts and graphs into your Word documents, create engaging animations in PowerPoint, manage your life and communication with Outlook, and more.
Building a budget for the family? Craft it in Excel, then share it with your partner using Teams. You can even take detailed notes using all the smart tools in OneNote. It’s a lot to learn, but the courses are taught by professionals from organizations like Intellezi. They specialize in tech education, so you’re in good hands.
Save on a lifetime of MS Office and the courses to master it
For a limited time, get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home and Business for Mac 2021 and the Premium Microsoft Office Training Bundle all for $79.99 (reg. $1,549).
Prices subject to change.
Credit: Microsoft
$79.99 at the Mashable Shop
Microsoft Teams is still getting new features: in the past month, Microsoft has rolled out new features for PDFs, Together Mode, chat and collaboration, and its low-code offering, Power Platform.
Microsoft Teams Together Mode, which displays participants in a common virtual room like a lecture hall, now allows meeting organizers to assign seats to participants.
The app also lets users pop out shared meeting content, like a PowerPoint presentation, into a separate window so users can see each other and their content more easily.
Also: Four ways to get noticed in the changing world of work
There are also updates for live translated captions that are tied to Microsoft's new Teams Premium accounts. Microsoft last month announced the Teams Premium add-on, which costs $10 per user per month that will deliver users more AI and security capabilities to assist with meeting organization, company branding, personalized highlights, search for transcripts, live translations for captions for 40 languages, and meeting security.
Teams Premium features will begin to roll out in December 2022 as a part of Teams Premium preview, with general availability scheduled for February 2023.
Live translated captions is "temporarily available for all customers", but after February 2023 it will require a Microsoft Teams Premium license. But the license appears to be tied to the meeting organizer.
"If an organizer has Teams Premium, all meeting attendees can enjoy live translated captions," Microsoft's Holly Lehman notes in a blogpost.
Teams has a new companion mode for Teams on Android that gives attendees quick access to chat, reactions, and Microsoft Whiteboard. This feature is already available for iPhone users.
Call history details are improving too, which should help when users need to access call recordings and transcriptions from the details section.
Microsoft has added a few more Teams-certified devices, including Crestron Flex Displays, Sony YY2969 Earbuds, and the Neat Frame video device.
For PDFs, Microsoft is letting admins set Adobe Acrobat as the default app in Teams admin center to view and edit PDF files in Teams. It notes that end users can view, search, comment and annotate PDF files without an Acrobat subscription or an Adobe ID. It's in public preview now.
Also: Metaverse and immersive experiences: How one company is getting started on the journey
Teams now supports users as they're creating short video clips that recipients can respond to with their own clip or a comment in chat. It's on the desktop app now and will be in public preview on iOS and Android by the end of the year.
The Power Platform updates let admins manage previously purchased third-party app subscriptions from the Teams Admin Center. This should help with visibility into invoices. Microsoft is also working to Improve app updates, and aligning Teams VoIP Call capabilities with Teams Meetings.
Microsoft also has updates specific to education, frontline workers, and government users.
At a higher level, Microsoft recently re-categorized its apps around four cloud-centric tiers. Its "user experience" tier includes Microsoft Office apps, Teams, and custom apps. Then there's Developer Tools, which includes Visual Studio GitHub, and Power Platform. It also offers Data and Insights, covering Graph, Dataverse, and Azure data. Behind all this in the cloud sits its security, compliance and identity services tied to Microsoft Defender and Azure Active Directory.
Microsoft execs nowadays define Collaborative Apps as apps inside Teams or Teams components inside customers' apps. The company is aligning its Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 franchises. Collaborative Apps also include Dynamics 365, which can be Dynamics or Dynamics components inside customer apps.
REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 29, 2022 — Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.68 per share. The dividend is payable March 9, 2023, to shareholders of record on Feb. 16, 2023. The ex-dividend date will be Feb. 15, 2023.
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
For more information, financial analysts and investors only:
Investor Relations, Microsoft, (425) 706-4400
For more information, press only:
Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications, (425) 638-7777, [email protected]
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 since have changed. Shareholder and financial information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor.
The latest development in the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition saga is an interesting one, as the Federal Trade Commission in the United States has made a pivotal move to “seek to block” the deal from going through. As the FTC puts it, such a buyout would enable Microsoft to “harm competition in high-performance gaming consoles and subscription services by denying or degrading rivals’ access to its popular content.”
Do not pass “go”
In a press release posted to its official website, the FTC outlines that it believes the groundbreaking $69 billion USD deal would deliver Microsoft an inequitable advantage in the gaming space. So much so, that it would then have the ability to “suppress competitors.” Although Sony is not mentioned by name once in the FTC’s statement, it no doubt is referring primarily to that entity. Sony itself has been very public about its sharp disapproval for the deal to go through.
Much of what the FTC goes on to say in its release are similar to comments made by Sony. Holly Vedova, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, states that “Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals.” Vedova continues, saying that the FTC “[seeks] to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.”
© Provided by PC Invasion Xbox App and Windows PC
Image via Microsoft
The FTC release goes on to bring up how Microsoft has already amassed an incredibly large means of accessing costumers, such as the Xbox Cloud Gaming service, Xbox Game Pass, and the Xbox Series X|S family of consoles.
Of course, Microsoft Windows, though not mentioned in the article, is another avenue for the company — though it’s one that is now also being utilized by Sony for the purpose of game releases both natively and in cloud form.
As the FTC sees it, Activision Blizzard’s current strategy involves it reaching the highest number of customers possible, as it has its IP spread across a wide variety of platforms. Thus, the FTC believes that Microsoft pulling the company under its umbrella would force it to cut ties with non-Microsoft platforms.
No fly zone
For now, this stance taken by the FTC is a formal complaint. It describes such a “complaint” as being made when “it has reason to believe that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest.”
As a result, this marks the very beginning of what will eventually turn into a case that is taken to a court of law before a judge.
Image via Activision Blizzard
A call from the Green Team
Despite this decisive blow made against it by the FTC, neither Microsoft nor Activision Blizzard are seeking to back down. In statements made to The Verge, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chair and president, said that “we continue to believe that this deal will expand competition and create more opportunities for gamers and game developers.” Rather work in its own favor, Smith claims that Microsoft is “committed…to addressing competition concerns.”
On the Activision Blizzard side of things, its CEO Bobby Kotick sent out a company-wide letter telling staff he firmly believes that this deal will close. He also stated that “the allegation that this deal is anti-competitive doesn’t align with the facts and we believe we’ll win this challenge.”
As of now, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are now formally locked in battle with regulators in the US, UK, and EU. It’s been nearly a year since the buyout was announced, and a resolution has just been put that much further off.
The training will be deliver until 31 March 2023
The Government has confirmed the winners of the Home Decarbonisation Skills Training competition. The £9.2m funding offers subsidised or free training for existing or new workers in sectors that can help with household energy efficiency.
The new funding will provide training for 8,900 courses across accredited centres in England. It will primarily focus on heat pump and energy efficiency installers.
The funding is available to existing workers in the sector who want to retain or upskill, as well as entry-level workers.
The training will be delivered until 31 March 2023. It builds on the 2021 funding phase for the same competition, which saw £6m in Government spending used for almost 7,000 training opportunities.
Business and Energy Minister Lord Callanan said: “The green energy sector is driving growth and creating jobs right across the country, and this funding will make sure we have enough tradespeople trained up and able to take advantage of these opportunities.
“We are making homes greener and cheaper to keep warm and training thousands more skilled installers will ensure we keep accelerating the pace of creating cleaner and more energy efficient buildings.”
The announcement comes after the Government finally signed on a public information campaign for improving home energy efficiency backed with £18m. It has also confirmed the details of the next phase of the ECO scheme, ECO+.
In a move that has been advocated by environmentalists, groups representing vulnerable demographics and even the UK Government’s own climate advisors, the UK Government confirmed a campaign advising members of the public on saving energy at home “without sacrificing comfort”.
Tips provided will include draught-proofing windows and doors; adjusting the temperature on radiators in empty rooms and reducing boiler flow temperatures to 60C. Boiler flow temperatures indicate how hot water becomes before it is sent to radiators. This latter change, BEIS claims, could save the average home £160 per year.
BEIS has also outlined details about the next phase of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme. The scheme obliges medium and large energy suppliers to fund the installation of energy efficiency improvements in British households, prioritizing those most in need, including pensioners, low-income families with young children and those on means-tested benefits.
BEIS has confirmed that the new ECO phase, ECO+, will be available to a wider range of groups, with the aim of helping all who do not currently have access to any other government funding to Improve home energy efficiency. It will include £1bn of funding – 80% of which will be made available to homes in lower council tax brackets with an EPC rating of ‘D’ or below.
ECO+ will run for up to three years from next spring. BEIS estimates that it will save the average home around £310 on annual energy bills.
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