NZ Education Blog
Updates from Microsoft Education NZ about events, advice and information for educators.
Use PowerShell To Manage Microsoft Teams
The above image may not mean much to many users, but to those responsible for ICT administration it...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/21/2017
Measuring And Driving Usage Of Teams For Education
If you value it, you measure it. If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. The above two quotes...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/15/2017
Video: Simplifying Attendance With Flow & PowerBI
I love PowerBI and have blogged about it quite a bit here already, as well as led some projects...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/15/2017
The Future Of OneNote In Education
Mike Tholfsen – The Future of OneNote in Education from Jared DeCamp on Vimeo. For anyone that...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/14/2017
Top 5 Education Posts of 2017
The year has rushed past and I've been looking through the statistics of this blog and found some...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/13/2017
Connecting Communities Across Languages
Technology can break down barriers in many different ways and I’ve blogged previously about...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/12/2017
Minecraft: Education Edition and STEAM Training
Minecraft: Education Edition is an excellent platform to deliver game based learning in your...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/11/2017
Microsoft Whiteboard Finally Arrives (In Preview)
Way back in February of this year I was introduced to a Preview version of Microsoft Whiteboard, an...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/08/2017
Teaching With Ink Strategies
The “power of the pen” is already well established as an effective technique to improve student...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/04/2017
Tracking Office365 ProPlus Activation In Your School
I confess that I’m a bit of a reporting nerd when it comes to technology. I love to see a great...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 12/01/2017
Using e-Discovery In Microsoft Teams
https://youtu.be/OF65_p_07cE?t=4m25s With many schools trialing Microsoft Teams in anticipation of...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 11/28/2017
Minecraft: Education Edition Roadshow Across New Zealand
Join the Microsoft Education Team for a presentation on how you can incorporate Minecraft: EE into...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 11/07/2017
Differences In OneNote - Cross Platform Support
One of the coolest things about Microsoft OneNote is that it is on virtually any platform or...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 10/30/2017
Windows 10 Fall Creators Update - What's New?
This week saw the major announcement of the latest iteration of Windows 10 operating system called...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 10/20/2017
STEM Jobs Of Tomorrow
Both the Education and the Technology sectors are full of buzz words and acronyms,...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 10/09/2017
Helping The Blind To See - A.I. The All Seeing Eye
[caption id="attachment_8647" align="alignleft" width="300"] The Eye of Sauron from Lord Of The...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 09/19/2017
Diagnosing Dyslexia - Earlier Intervention Through Technology
Technology has made a lot of promises to us over the years, with two of the big ones I commonly hear...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 09/18/2017
3 Minute Guide To Minecraft: Education Edition
I have had numerous educators asking me about Minecraft: Education Edition and how they can use this...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 09/14/2017
Microsoft Teams Adds Guest Access
A really exciting announcement this morning from the MSFT General Manager Lori Wright – Guest Access...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 09/12/2017
Cloud Migration Success: Moving Orere School To The Microsoft Cloud
It's always exciting to see our Education Partners delivering awesome solutions to schools that...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 09/11/2017
Co-Authoring In Excel Desktop App Now Available
I think we have all been waiting a LONG time for this one, so when I saw it announced earlier this...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 09/01/2017
Te Reo and Binary Combine to Win Prime Minister’s Supreme Award
Dr Te Taka Keegan Talks about Māori, Microsoft, and Sharing the Love New Zealand’s top teaching...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 08/31/2017
Measuring The Impact Of PowerBI: Usage Analytics By User
Having led the design and launch of a major PowerBI project in K-12 in a former life, one of the...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 08/31/2017
Solving Rooming & Timetabling Problems With Azure IoT
If you have worked in schools for long enough, you will know there is always a premium placed on...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 08/25/2017
Configure Single Sign On (SSO) From Azure Activity Directory Into Google Suite In Only 2 Minutes
It’s a reality that many schools are running both Office365 (with Azure Activity Directory) and G...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 08/24/2017
Using AzureAD Groups To Quickly Populate Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is the new digital classroom platform from Microsoft and I’ve already reviewed the...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 08/09/2017
Aotearoa Awaits – Māori In Minecraft
The following Minecraft content has been posted with the permission of it’s creator Lt_Peanut. It...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 08/08/2017
Microsoft Education Cloud Solution: End To End Guide For Deployment
2017 has been the year that has seen the various pieces of Microsoft’s Education offerings come...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 08/03/2017
Nayland College Case Study: $150,000 Savings Moving To Microsoft Cloud Platforms
This blog is re-posted content from the original Microsoft Case Study that you can read by clicking...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 07/25/2017
Autopilot – Even Easier Device Enrollment & Deployment In Windows 10 Out Of The Box
With Windows 10 Creators Update you can now configure and deploy devices even easier, thanks to...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 06/30/2017
Microsoft Teams For Education Is Here – And It Is Awesome
Big news from over the weekend is that Microsoft Teams, already available in commercial Office365...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 06/26/2017
Planning To Deploy MS Teams? Check This Resource First
With many businesses already deploying Microsoft Teams, and many educational institutes looking to...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 06/20/2017
Windows 10 S Has Arrived With Launch of Surface Laptop
The Windows 10 official blog has posted a new overview this morning of Windows 10 S and has placed a...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 06/16/2017
Guest Post: Integrating technology in class for great results: 6 tips from an expert
For many teachers, effectively integrating technology into their classes is the start of a journey...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 06/14/2017
School Is Finishing – How Do I Keep A Copy Of My OneNote Class NoteBooks?
One of the most common questions that I get asked my students and teachers is “How do I keep my...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 06/09/2017
Azure AD B2B – Simplifying Collaboration With Users Outside Your Organisation
Collaboration is a buzz word that is hard to avoid in virtually every sphere of life these days,...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 05/25/2017
Microsoft Release New Surface Pro
Overnight Microsoft announced the new Surface Pro device, replacing the previous model Surface Pro...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 05/24/2017
OneDrive Files On Demand - Perfect For BYOD
Over the last couple of years it has been evident that increasing numbers of BYOD laptops have...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 05/15/2017
Digital Inking - Improves Teaching & Learning
I have visited a number of schools and demonstrated many of the natural hand gestures for editing...
Author: Sam McNeill Date: 05/09/2017