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On June 28th, at the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) annual conference, Microsoft announced the availability of the Microsoft Office Specialist 2010 training and certification program.  By earning a Microsoft Office certification credential, you can prove your expertise in using the latest Microsoft Office programs. Certification can help differentiate those in today’s competitive job market and broaden academic opportunities by displaying advanced skills. For more information on the training and certification please visit here.

On July 7th, Microsoft launched the Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) certification. 

The MTA is a new, entry-level certification designed to help individuals take the first step toward a career as an IT professional or developer.  The certification helps schools teach and validate fundamental technology knowledge, provides students with a foundation for their careers, and helps them gain the confidence they need to succeed in advanced studies. It also helps institutions stand out with an innovative technology curriculum while offering students an opportunity to earn a Microsoft Certification right in the classroom.

More information on the MTA can be found here.

Microsoft Learning has brought back their Second Shot promotion that allows an individual to retake a certification exam for free if they fail the first time, reducing the anxiety associated with not passing an exam and giving individuals another chance at achieving Microsoft Certified Professional status.

You must take both the first and (if necessary) second retake exam after January 13, 2010 and before June 30, 2010 to be eligible for this offer, which is available worldwide except in India and China. To obtain a Second Shot voucher, you must register and obtain a voucher code before registering for your test through Prometric. Note that only one Second Shot voucher is available per purchased exam.

For more information, check out Microsoft’s  Professional Career Portal or the Microsoft Student Career Portal (for student priced exams. Students are eligible for 55% off selected exams).

Microsoft is currently offering a promotion where you can save 15 to 20 percent off select Technology Specialist exams and 25 percent off select Microsoft Certified Professional exams.

To be eligible for this special offer, you must register with Prometric and obtain a discount code.

Register for your discounted voucher code (Prometric.com)

This offer is available worldwide and customers must register, schedule, and purchase their discounted exams by December 31, 2009. This offer does not include the popular second chance retake option. The discount does not apply to academic priced exams.

For further details and a complete list of eligible exams, go to Microsoft’s web site:

Career Campaign: Certification Exam Offer

Finalists from countries around the world will soon compete in the World Wide Imagine Cup 2009 finals, July 3-7 in Cairo, Egypt. As the world’s premier student technology competition, some of the world’s best and the brightest leverage technology to develop innovative solutions for real world problems including famine, healthcare and education.

Of the 149 teams advancing to the worldwide competition, 10 percent attend schools that are members of the Microsoft IT Academy program that enables academic institutions including colleges, universities and primary and secondary schools to purchase the latest software tools and Microsoft curriculum at affordable prices.

This year, Microsoft Learning extended several of IT Academy program tools to registered participants in the Imagine Cup 2009 competition.  Students responded with enthusiasm, with more than 3,500 tapping Learning Plans to help them meet their goals, more than 9,500 students logged almost 2,000 hours using e-reference libraries from Microsoft Press to dive deeply into the technologies in play. 

Winners of the U.S. Imagine Cup Finals (from left to right) Mark, Jimmy and, Luke Dickinson. Team Name: MultiPointWeb

For an article about students and faculty participants from this year’s competition, check out “Microsoft Gives Students the Tools to Build Skills and Make a Difference.” It provides insight into how the Microsoft ITA program is helping students develop skills that not only enable them to compete at a global level, but also compete in the real world of work.

You can follow the Imagine Cup on:

Recently I took my first Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) test. I found the experience to be quite different from taking an IT Professional test, so I thought that I would share my experience. Throughout my description, I am going to compare my experience with Prometric testing, since that is what I am used to. However, if you are just interested in MCAS certification, you can ignore the comparisons and still find out how to take a MCAS exam.

First of all, what is a Microsoft Certified Application Specialist certification test. An MCAS test will test you on Microsoft Office applications or on Windows Vista. It is certification for the office worker. There are tests available for:

• Word 2007
• Excel 2007
• PowerPoint 2007
• Outlook 2007
• Access 2007
• Windows Vista

MCAS tests are administered by Certiport, not Prometric. Registration for the test is completely online. In order to take a test, you must first purchase a voucher to take the test. That voucher is good for any of the tests for Vista or Office 2007. You must purchase a different voucher if you want to test on previous versions of Office. At this time, each test voucher costs $89.

Note that at this point, all we have done is purchase a voucher. We still have not scheduled the test. To schedule the test, you must call the testing center directly. To find a testing center, go to http://www.certiport.com/Portal/Pages/LocatorView.aspx. Make sure that when you call the testing center that you specify that you are taking a Certiport test. This is because some Certiport testing centers are also Prometric and/or VUE testing centers which expect you to call the vendor to schedule a test. The testing center may charge you a proctoring fee to take the test. This fee will vary from center to center and is in addition to the test voucher fee.

My test consisted of 26 mini tests where I was given one or two tasks to do. The time allowed for the entire exam was 59 minutes. To get a feel for how a test looks, go to this web page: Test Demo The sample tests use Adobe Shockwave. The actual test uses a live version of the application that you are being tested on. (note: the only exception is the Vista test). Even though the sample tests are for Word 2002 and Excel 2002, the test format is still the same. The top portion of the window is a live version of the application, while the bottom portion shows the tasks that you must accomplish.

During the actual test you can skip a section. That section will be presented to you again after you have gone through all of the sections once, if you have remaining time. Unlike the Microsoft IT Professional tests available through Prometric, you cannot go back to a previous question once you click on the next button. My tip is if you get stuck on a section, skip it and go on to the next section. That way if you have time, you can try it again. Tasks are marked as correct if you have achieved the end result of the objective. For example, if the objective was to bold some text, it would not matter how you went about bolding the text. One test candidate may have made the text bold by right-clicking on the selected text. Another test candidate may have selected the text and pressed CTRL-B. Both test candidates would have the objective marked correct. The test would just check that after you hit the next button, the requested text was bold.

For help in studying for the MCAS certification, I highly recommend The Microsoft Certified Application Specialist Study Guide. This book is a study guide for every MCAS test except for Windows Vista. I found this book valuable because it highlighted the features of the program that are tested, but I do not use on a regular basis. If you need a book that will teach you the programs beyond just the test objectives, I highly recommend the Microsoft Press Step by Step series. For MCAS Applications, the books are:

• Microsoft® Office Word 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft® Office Excel® 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft® Office Access(TM) 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft Windows Vista Step by Step

You can become a Microsoft Office 2007 Master by passing the tests for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

For more information on the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist, please check the following links:

Microsoft Business Certification (Microsoft.com)

Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (Certiport.com)

Microsoft Office 2007 Master (Certiport.com)

If you have been following me on Twitter (which you will see on the bottom right of this page), you will know that I have been attending ComputerWorld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference. (By the way, to see twitter posts relating to the conference, search on #p100)This has been a different kind of conference for me as the focus is the business of IT and not just the technology itself. The conference is in line with my studies, which is working toward a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems.

I have seen some great presentations from various CIO’s. The panel sessions yesterday were very valuable to me. The morning panel session focused on the economy and how it affecting doing IT. I especially like hearing from Viji Murali, Vice President for Information Services and Chief Information Officer, Washington State University and also one of this year’s Premier 100 IT Leaders. Since Ms. Murali is also from a public university, her comments had more relevance to my own environment. It seems that Washington and Florida (as well as most public universities) are all facing the same kind of budget crunch, as state funding dwindles in this economy.

The cloud computing panel yesterday afternoon will be helpful to me as I need to write a paper on the topic for one of my classes. I think the most important point that the panel agreed on was that cloud computing shows promise, but it is still in its embryonic stages. Cloud computing is good for projects that do not require much security.

My highlight from yesterday was a presentation by H. James Dallas. The presentation was entitled “The Need to Lead.” The presentation was Mr. Dallas’ advice to CIO’s based on his years of wisdom. His advice was good for anyone that wants to be a leader in IT.

I just wanted to post a blog update on the conference. I have taken a lot of notes and may try to post some of the ideas that I have recorded in my notes later. I will also publish a summary of today. But for now, back to the conference . . .