How to create a culture of teamwork in the classroom using Office 365, without the drama
By Mostafa El Baradei, Office 365 Product Manager for Microsoft Middle East and Africa’
Increasingly, children from a young age are swiping, poking and punching – on keyboards and computer screens that is. We knew when designing Office 365 and Office 2016 apps that they would be natural tools for the younger generation to learn and share. There is no better place for collaboration than a school classroom. So if you’re a teacher – here are some of the best Office features to introduce teamwork into your classroom – without any hitting, pinching or tears.
Working across all devices, OneNote is a great tool for taking notes and sharing ideas. Teachers are using it to collaborate with students, as well as have an individual connection with each student to monitor their progress. This makes teaching more personalised and interactive.
When it comes to planning assignments and lessons for students, it’s common practice for teachers across disciplines to collaborate. With the new co-authoring tool across Word, PowerPoint and OneNote, this becomes so much easier. Each teacher can be at their own device and can see one another typing in real time. It’s a whole new way of doing the often dreaded teachers’ prep.
Co-authoring is an equally useful tool for students, who no longer need to stay after school to work together, but can work together on a project from home. Added to this, Windows 10 offers Office Mobile apps meaning that students don’t need to have a laptop or a tablet, because they can use their phones like a PC to view, edit, create or even present.
Once they’ve done the research and put in the hard work, Sway is a great way to transform projects into shareable, interactive stories. Sway makes it quick and easy for students to create and share polished, interactive reports and presentations. Interactive content such as videos and charts bring presentations to life.
Office Mix is another great way to turn PowerPoints into an interactive online presentation. Teachers can also use Office Mix to take a PowerPoint document, and mix it into an interactive, playable document that can be viewed on almost any device, anywhere with an internet connection.
How to get Office for your institution now
Microsoft has made the Office 365 ProPlus Benefit available across the Middle East and Africa. With Office 365 ProPlus, students and teachers within a qualifying institution can install the latest version of Officen on up to 5 PCs or Macs at no additional cost, providing them access to familiar applications like Word, PowerPoint and OneNote.
To check if you’re eligible:
• Students-Go to aka.ms/officeforfree and enter a school-provided email address.
• Teachers-Go to aka.ms/officeforfree and enter your school-provided email address.
Students and teachers getting Office at no additional cost is a benefit Microsoft provides to education institutions that buy Office for faculty and staff.
How to create a culture of teamwork in the classroom using Office 365, without the drama