Highlighting its continued commitment on worldwide education issues, Microsoft named L. Michael Golden as corporate vice president of the Education Products Group. The newly created role is designed to fuel and to drive forward the Redmond giant's global vision in terms of education. According to the software company, Golden will be responsible with bridging the gap between Microsoft's technology and scholastic systems worldwide.

“Golden brings a wealth of education expertise to Microsoft, including several years of experience in senior education administration as deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Office of Information and Educational Technology. Most recently, Golden was senior vice president of marketing and strategic planning at Pearson School, a global leader in educational publishing, assessment, information and services,” Microsoft revealed.

According to the Redmond giant, Golden will answer directly to Anoop Gupta, corporate vice president, Microsoft Unlimited Potential Group and Education Product Group, Technology Policy and Strategy. From his position, Golden's responsibilities span across the development process of Microsoft educational products, but also beyond, to the business development and marketing.

One of the most recent actions involving a new approach to education comes via an alliance between Microsoft Research and New York University plus a Consortium of University Partners. The Games for Learning Institute (G4LI) was described by Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, as a research endeavor set up to evaluate the potential of games as educational tools. Microsoft has committed no less than $1.5 million to the initiative.

“His broad industry experience and insight into education will be incredibly beneficial as he leads the Education Products Group, a cross-company global team focused on delivering the next generation of technology solutions and products that will help enable global education transformation and empower students of today with 21st century skills. By creating a corporate vice president role to specifically oversee this work, Microsoft is dedicating additional resources to deliver on its global vision for technology in education around the world,” the company added.