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Keeping up with Microsoft

So on Fridays, I sit in the Lounge at School so that folks can get assistance with things. It's good because just seeing me will prompt them "Oh, I had a question for you!"  Today, someone sat down with a coffee and asked me "So, if you have a question, who do you ask?"
The question serendipitously coincided with my Feedly highlighting a new post from Richard Byrne, an avid tech blogger (who I recommend following). He gave a good run-down of Twitter accounts to follow to keep up with tips & changes with Google.  Since I'm committed to blogging every day this month, I thought I would respond with whom I follow on Twitter from Microsoft.


@Microsoft - the primary Microsoft Account.  I don't actually follow it; I rely on the rest of my Twitter folk to provide an important filtering action to let me know what's important.


@MSFTEnable - one of the most impressive things I learned at Ignite2016 (the all-Microsoft conference held annually) was that everything that gets put out by Microsoft goes through the Accessibility office.  I won't tell his story but reading Satya Nadella's "Hit Refresh", it is clear that Accessibility is the lens through which Microsoft sees their applications and services. 
I do follow them and deliberately put them up here at the top.  Accessibility improvements help not just for identified students and many of our employees and parents have appreciated me makign them aware of the Learning Tools and accessibility options built into Windows10.




 

@MicrosoftEduCA
@MicrosoftEdu
@MicrosoftEdUK
@MSAUEdu
@MS_eduIRL

The official Education accounts from Microsoft, by country.  Now, I follow them all because, well, linguistically and pedagogically we get along :)  And, much of what I find on Twitter is serendipitous, and subscribing to them all, I'm more likely to see something given the different times I am free to "watch" Twitter.



@OneNoteEDU

If there's one central pedagogical instrument Microsoft has, it's OneNote and they dedicate an account to it for Education.

@OneNoteC

While not an official Microsoft account, OneNote Central is not just Education based.  She is the clearinghouse for all content related to OneNote and its associated programs.  And Education has a lot to share, and a lot to learn, from professionals and creatives in other fields who are using OneNote.  The account finds OneNote products, content & postings from around the world.



@Office365

Office365 (the cloud based Office system that has Word, Excel, PowerPoint along with OneDrive and a variety of other tools).  Remember the Office365 is free for teachers and students.



@MicrosoftTeams

How Microsoft has pulled all of the things you do in productivity in Office365 together with conversation and collaboration.



@MSFTMechanics

Tweets often contain videos and links to other content to highlight all the new products and services that come out of Microsoft.


@HoloLens

Augmented & Mixed Realities are a great opportunity for educators to deepen a student's experience.


@MSFTResearch

What pushes the boundaries.

#MIEExpert - Not a Twitter Account but a Hashtag.

As I mentioned above, filtering of content by others is an effective way to discover information without being overwhelmed.  By following or searching the #MIEExpert hashtag, you'll find lots of content around Microsoft tools in education from teachers actually using them in the classroom. 








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