How to Receive the Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Certification in 1 hour

The Microsoft Educator Community (MEC) is an entirely free Professional Development hub to learn about the latest in educational research as well as tools to implement best practices. The community offers points and micro-credentials or badges for completing courses, and a way to connect with educators around the globe who are eager to inspire and be inspired. https://education.microsoft.com/

One of the first steps you can take is to earn the Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) certification, which can be gained by earning 1000 points through any of the available courses — and there are a ton to choose from. I personally have gained about 70,000 points so far, but for some reason, a glitch in the system has wiped out my entire progress, and it is currently in the process of being reconstructed. This was possible because I was able to save a transcript of my progress as a pdf file (phew!). My personal transcript as of December 2017 is here.

One thing I have found frustrating is that some of the multiple choice questions are incorrect, or the questions and answers are poorly written which cause confusion. However, my overall experience has been that I have learned A LOT.

In order to gain 1,000 points to receive your MIE certification, you need to commit an estimated time of 2 hours to go through courses and complete assessments at the end. However, if it is on a topic you are familiar with, you may skip through some of the content, or view some of the videos at an accelerated speed, or even skip straight to the assessment. In this sense, you may be able to obtain your certification in less than an hour.