Maryland partners with Microsoft to offer Microsoft Office to students for FREE

June of last year President Obama announced the ConnectEd initiative, which was created to rich education for grades Kindergarten through 12th grade. The program was created with the idea that it would provide teachers and students with the best technology and training. Well yesterday the Maryland State Department of Education announced in response to this that it will be piloting the Microsoft IT Academy program in 25 schools statewide. This is a partnership between the state and Microsoft. The 25 IT Academies will be spread out over 10 county school systems. The Microsoft IT Academy program is filled with training, tools, and other resources so that students will learn advanced computer skills and be more technical going forward. I remember the most I got in school was keyboarding (aka don't look at the keys when you type). In addition, all Maryland students will also get Office 365 ProPlus for free on up to five computers (PC or Mac) as well as Office apps on mobile devices. Thereby ensuring that all kids have access to the software that can help them complete their work. As a parent and a techie, this makes me very happy. Good job MSDE and Microsoft! You can access the site to sign up and download Office 365 here: https://marylandaccess.education/ ~ChicDivaGeek