Just become a Microsoft IT Academy

[featured_spectre]

I didn't see a mention of SSAT on your post

[plexer]

No there wasn't on my post as I was confusing a price for some enhnaced support package with the subscription price to become an academy however you stated that

 

MS simply don't do it for any less than £550 for standard and £1100 for advanced.

 

Which according to Slyv3rs post they do

 

BEn

[GREED]

It would appear there are a few companies out there that are mis-selling this product, we were told we could get a 15% discount for being a registered charity, but this is just not the case... rubbish

[plexer]

Just looked on the SSAT site and found a pdf about it £560 + vat according to that.

 

I've just printed off the pdf to give to the head

 

Ben

[GREED]

Just looked on the SSAT site and found a pdf about it £560 + vat according to that.

 

I've just printed off the pdf to give to the head

 

Ben

 

That will be the basic then? Office apps only really?

[plexer]

https://www.ssatrust.org.uk/membership/Documents/Microsoft%20IT%20Academy%20brochure.pdf

 

Ben

[plexer]

The annual membership fee for the Microsoft IT Academy Program (exclusively available to SSAT member schools) is just

£560 + VAT – a saving of £324 on the current official Microsoft IT Academy Advanced level membership fee.

 

From the pdf.

 

Ben

[GREED]

Interesting!

[Sylv3r]

I thought it was £560 inclusive of VAT. Maybes, I am wrong unless the price has gone up. We have signed up as part of the SSAT agreement and get the advanced membership and pay no where near the £1,100 quoted.

[Soulfish]

There was a really good discussion/presentation at the Microsoft Edugeek conference from Terry Killer at Microsoft (see IT Academy.pdf - Windows Live for the slides). The idea of site-licenses for the exam fees was also a very appealing idea, and makes the idea of offering MS certs to students/staff much more appealing!

[DAZZD88]

Hi Guys, apologies for bumping the thread but this was recently mentioned to use by a NM at another school we've recently had contact with. After reading through this thread and noticing that you can get it cheap by being an SSAT (which we are...yey) I think it's definitely something we will look at buying into. What are the pros and cons of it all?

 

PS I liked neph's idea of staff having to do the Digital Literacy Cert before being allowed a laptop. Having a minimum skill level before being given a laptop is something I've wanted in place for a while.

[featured_spectre]

If you get your Senior Leadership on side then yeah a minimum skills requirement is a good idea. I wanted everyone at my place to have a basic knowledge of computers, operating systems, security etc and to be fair, since they went through it we have had less problems both with staff and pupils (Granted we dont teach it until Year 7 and space it out over 2 years).

 

Best thing I can suggest you do to get them onside is explain the benefits of a more secure laptop/better understanding by the staff to not go on suspect sites and they will know the basics behind the system. I also found the staffs level of knowledge of the cables and basics increased (rather than them saying the whiteboard cable, they actually said the VGA cable had problems or knowing what I mean when I say RAM etc!).

 

Throw in the fact that you can get the students to leave with the digital literacy cert as well (along with anything else you pick from the academy course) and you can use a lot of the courseware as CPD for a vast majority of staff (EG Microsoft Office Software for teachers and admins, MCITP for yourself) and you can get the exam costs at discount then that certainly butters their muffins so to speak.