The Best Practice winners in the four main competition categories are Mandeep Atwal of England, Innovation in Community; Mark Sparvell of Australia, Innovation in Collaboration; Autumne Streeval and Harriet Armstrong of the United States, Innovation in Content; and Moliehi Sekese of Lesotho, Educators Choice. The 2009 Worldwide IEF award ceremony, held tonight in Salvador, Brazil, was attended by 400 educators, school leaders, government officials and others from more than 60 countries.

"The Innovative Teacher Awards exemplify the dedication and imagination of the world's most forward-thinking educators," said Michael Golden, corporate vice president of Education at Microsoft. "The energy and entrepreneurism of the winning teachers demonstrate the infinite possibilities that technology can create to improve learning opportunities and inspire future generations toward greater academic achievement. Microsoft remains committed to supporting the community in this quest. I'd like to extend warm congratulations to everyone who participated in this and the regional events that led up to today's celebration."

The following are the top three finalists in each category, in finishing order:

Innovation in Community

    --  Best Practice: Mandeep Atwal (England), "Young Voices"
    --  First Runner-Up: Ollie Bray (Scotland), "Thinking outside the XBOX"

    --  Second Runner-Up: Lucrecio Filho de Oliveira (Brazil), Projeto
        "Barreiro"

Innovation in Collaboration

    --  Best Practice: Mark Sparvell (Australia), "Connecting Hearts Heads and
        Hands"
    --  First Runner-Up: Karina Batat (Israel), "The Traveling Mascot"
    --  Second Runner-Up (Tie): Myreia Gussinye (Mexico), "Tolerant"

    --  Second Runner-Up (Tie): Xiaoyong Tang (China), "Exploration of Ant
        Behavior"

Innovation in Content

    --  Best Practice: Autumne Streeval and Harriet Armstrong (United States),
        "US Industrial Revolution Tic Tac Toe"
    --  First Runner-Up: Damien Lebegue (France), "Differentiated/adapted
        Teaching in PE"

    --  Second Runner-Up: Alex Vieira dos Santos (Brazil), "Fontes De Energia"

Educators Choice

    --  Best Practice: Moliehi Sekese (Lesotho), "Indigenous Plants"
    --  First Runner-Up: Janjira Phongchoo (Thailand), "MS Excel Game Building
        Techniques"

    --  Second Runner-Up: Isabel Schapdryver (Belgium), "Secondhandshop"

"Winning the Educators Choice award is certainly a great honor," said Moliehi Sekese of Lesotho who won for her project Indigenous Plants. "Just being here and seeing how teachers from all over the world are enriching the lives of students is ultimately even more rewarding."

Since 2003, the Partners in Learning award competition has been recognizing individuals with the Worldwide Innovative Education Awards for excellence in teaching. Teachers participate in country-level and regional events. Winners move up to the Worldwide competition.

The judging community includes education experts from all over the world. At the event 36 judges representing 23 countries spend nearly 20 hours talking to the teachers and learning about their projects; then in a private room they discuss, debate and share with one another until the winners are finally selected.

"Every year the submissions seem to get better and better, and this year is no exception," said Judge Eduardo O.C. Chaves of Brazil. "The level of sophistication of these entries shows that teachers are continuing to innovate and expand the ways they use technology to help students all over the world realize their potential."

Next year's Innovative Teacher Awards results will be announced at the 2010 Worldwide IEF, which will take place in Cape Town, South Africa. Country- and regional-level competitions will take place beginning in November 2009. Interested teachers should contact their local Microsoft office for more information or look online at http://www.microsoft.com/education/pil/partnersInLearning.aspx.

At the event, school leaders from 12 Mentor and 30 Pathfinder Schools also participated in a three-day workshop and were recognized for their leadership in driving system-level educational reform.

About the Innovative Education Forum

The Innovative Education Forum is an annual worldwide event. Regional forums are held around the world to create communities of teachers who can share ideas and best practices with their peers and facilitate the creation of collective knowledge. Subsets of regional forum participants are selected to represent their country at the Worldwide Innovative Education Forum.

About Microsoft Education

We believe that technology can expand the power of education and unlock the potential of students, educators and schools. Microsoft partners with education communities around the world to deliver relevant solutions, services and programs that focus on improved personalized learning outcomes.

About Unlimited Potential

Microsoft, through its Unlimited Potential vision, is committed to making technology more affordable, relevant and accessible for the 5 billion people around the world who do not yet enjoy its benefits. The company aims to do so by helping to transform education and foster a culture of innovation, and through these means enable better jobs and opportunities. By working with governments, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations and industry partners, Microsoft hopes to reach its first major milestone -- to reach the next 1 billion people who are not yet realizing the benefits of technology -- by 2015.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

http://www.microsoft.com

A CDC executive said that the acquisition would help its company better serve its over 6,000 customers all over the world, such as Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) itself. However, the deal's completion is subject to a certain number of conditions and procedures.

The Jiangsu Microsoft Technology Center is the only technology base of Microsoft (China) Co., Ltd. in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, mainly offering information technologies and R&D outsourcing services to customers in the cities of Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou, and Huaian.

On the other hand, CDC Global Services is set to build similar technology centers in many Chinese cities in the several years to come, with more than 5,000 technicians.

Source: www.enet.com.cn (November 06, 2009)

Microsoft Sites Captures Nearly 15 Percent Share of Attention Worldwide

In September 2009, nearly 27 billion hours were spent on the Internet globally by a record online population of 1.2 billion Internet users age 15 and older. Microsoft Sites accounted for 14.5 percent of total minutes spent online in September, making it the most engaging global property, with Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger representing nearly 70 percent of time spent on the property during the month. Google Sites captured 9.3 percent of total minutes (2.5 billion hours), with YouTube accounting for nearly half of total time spent (1.2 billion hours) at the property. Yahoo! Sites ranked as the third most engaging Web property at 1.7 billion hours, followed by Facebook.com at 1.4 billion hours. Facebook's share of attention reached 5.1 percent in September, an increase of 2.9 percentage points from the previous year, as its continued growth in popularity precipitated this surge in share.

    Top Global Properties Based on Total Hours
    September 2009 vs. September 2008
    Total Audience Age 15+ at Home/Work Locations*
    Source: comScore World Metrix
    -----------------------------
                                           Total Hours (MM)
                                           ---------------
                                  Sep-2008        Sep-2009      % Change
                                  --------        --------      --------
    Total Internet : Total
     Audience                       21,746          26,988            24
    ----------------------          ------          ------           ---
    Microsoft Sites                  2,734           3,920            43
    ---------------                  -----           -----           ---
    Google Sites                     1,703           2,512            48
    ------------                     -----           -----           ---
    Yahoo! Sites                     1,975           1,699           -14
    ------------                     -----           -----           ---
    Facebook.com                       474           1,387           193
    ------------                       ---           -----           ---
    Tencent Inc.                       589             893            52
    ------------                       ---             ---           ---
    AOL LLC                            584             513           -12
    -------                            ---             ---           ---
    eBay                               231             239             3
    ----                               ---             ---           ---
    Fox Interactive Media              361             204           -44
    ---------------------              ---             ---           ---
    Baidu.com Inc.                     175             163            -7
    --------------                     ---             ---           ---
    Lycos Sites                         59             107            81
    -----------                        ---             ---           ---

    *Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or
    access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Global Regions Exhibit Different Preferences at Top Online Brands

A regional analysis of the top global properties in time spent by their visitors revealed different preferences across global markets. Microsoft Sites held the largest share of time spent among the top worldwide properties in Europe (16.8 percent), Latin America (35.9 percent) and the Middle East - Africa (33.1 percent). Yahoo! Sites captured the largest share of time in North America with 11.2 percent share, while also attracting a notable 7.9-percent share of time spent in the Asia Pacific region. Google Sites commanded a strong share of time spent in Latin America (19.4 percent), Middle East - Africa (9.7 percent), Europe (9.6 percent) and North America (9.1 percent). China's Tencent Inc. captured the largest share of visitors' time in Asia Pacific with a 10.7-percent share, but had negligible engagement in other worldwide regions.

    Share of Time Spent at Top 5 Global Properties Based on Total Minutes
    September 2009
    Total Audience Age 15+ at Home/Work Locations*
    Source: comScore World Metrix
    -----------------------------

                       Share (%) of Total Time Spent Online in Region
                       ----------------------------------------------
                                                                      Middle
                                North              Asia      Latin    East -
                   Worldwide   America   Europe   Pacific   America   Africa
                   ---------   -------   ------   -------   -------   ------
    Microsoft Sites  14.5%       8.6%     16.8%     6.4%      35.9%    33.1%
    ---------------  ----        ---      ----      ---       ----     ----
    Google Sites      9.3%       9.1%      9.6%     6.4%      19.4%     9.7%
    ------------      ---        ---       ---      ---       ----      ---
    Yahoo! Sites      6.3%      11.2%      2.0%     7.9%       2.1%     4.9%
    ------------      ---       ----       ---      ---        ---      ---
    Facebook.com      5.1%       6.0%      6.6%     2.4%       5.0%     8.0%
    ------------      ---        ---       ---      ---        ---      ---
    Tencent Inc.      3.3%       0.0%      0.0%    10.7%       0.0%     0.0%
    ------------      ---        ---       ---     ----        ---      ---

    *Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or
    access from mobile phones or PDAs.

"The Internet continues to be a dynamic and growing environment around the world with the global online population climbing more than 20 percent in the last year," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "With the U.S. economy only now emerging from a recession, many multinational corporations have shifted the focus of their growth strategies towards developing markets and the Internet represents an important aspect of those strategies. Understanding the global Internet landscape is the first step towards executing effective marketing strategies in these growing markets."

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

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SOURCE comScore, Inc.

http://www.comscore.com