Click here to watch the most recent webinar in the series.
Throughout the past year, the Microsoft Education on-demand webinar series, Teaching Happiness, has been exploring the role of educators in preparing students for success after high school graduation.
The
ongoing series produced by Microsoft Education and featuring prominent experts
looks beyond helping students get into college and land jobs and examines the
skills that empower student to lead happy and fulfilling lives. We take a close
look at building social and emotional learning skills in students and how to
use free
tech tools and other Microsoft Education resources to encourage communication,
collaboration, creative thinking and problem solving.
Some
of the topics we’ve explored so far in the series include:
Developing Grit, how teachers can help students develop grit and perseverance through extended learning challenges and tap into student passions to increase student agency.
The Power of Free Play, how building relationships in the classroom is critical, why bringing emotions into the learning process is a good idea, and how allowing tolerable stress into a child’s life can contribute to success.
Modern Mindfulness, the benefits associated with practicing mindfulness during the school day and tips for introducing it to children of all ages.
To kick off the new year, Microsoft Education’s own Mark
Sparvell sat down with best-selling author Shawn Achor to record a special,
two-part series discussing happiness as a precursor to success and how to
improve social and emotional learning in the classroom.
In the second part, Mark and Shawn are joined by Schaumburg, Ill. school superintendent Andy DuRoss to discuss how implementing Happiness Advantage principles can help students become happier and more productive and can improve school culture and climate.
You can find the entire Teaching Happiness series here.
A new season of You Can in :90 is here to show you how to further transform your classroom with Office 365 Education, a free resource for students and educators at eligible institutions. This latest video series offers quick tips on using Microsoft Education tools that can help take your teaching to the next level.
This latest playlist spotlights ways to help you and your colleagues collaborate with ease, save time when grading, and make your classroom more inclusive. Check it all out and be sure to read the other blogs You Can in 90 series here.
You can document the world around you with Office Lens!
Office Lens for iOS and Android now includes all the features you love from Immersive Reader, the powerful and popular learning tool that improves the readability of content. You can take photos of text anywhere and Office Lens will clean up the image and isolate the words, limiting distracting surroundings. Through Immersive Reader you can then change font size, highlight parts of speech, have the document read-aloud and so much more. You can even change the language of the text to any of the 60+ languages available. These accessibility features will help personalize learning for your students and empower them to succeed. Get Office Lens today and share this useful resource with your fellow teachers and students.
If you wanted to transfer a printed
spreadsheet into Excel, you’d have to deal with time consuming re-formatting
and entering all that information. No more. By using the Microsoft Excel app on
iOS or Android, you can now easily take a photo of the spreadsheet and the app
will handle transferring it over into an editable Excel document. This helpful
feature will save you time and make sharing and updating tables easier than
ever.
You can cultivate strong communication skills with Live Presentations in Powerpoint!
Microsoft PowerPoint presentations in your classroom are now more accessible and engaging thanks to Live Presentations. Students can use their personal devices to watch a presentation as it follows along with the teacher or student delivering it. The presenter’s actual spoken words will appear as text next to the slide so students can see as well as hear the important information. And of course, Microsoft aims to create an inclusive learning environment so that text can be translated instantly to the student’s preferred language. Presentations Live will also give users the ability to send emoji feedback as the lesson is happening so the teacher can see what their classroom is enjoying or when questions might arise. Check out more information about Live Presentations here.
Microsoft is proud to offer opportunities for teachers to connect and grow in a professional learning community. The Microsoft Educator Center is a digital hub where you can find content designed to improve your teaching and share resources with other teachers across the world. You can earn and share badges, build your transcript and grow your expertise. What you learn from the courses and quizzes on the hub can help translate into student success in your classroom. Check out the many resources on the Microsoft Education Center here.
You can assign and grade in Microsoft Teams with these 6 Tips!
Assigning and grading projects takes lots of
organization and time. But with Microsoft Teams, there’s a streamlined process
taking you from the start to the very end of an assignment. You can now assign
a project, see which students have viewed it or turned it in, leave feedback,
and score all in one place. You don’t even need to open up new browsers. Inside
Microsoft Teams you are able to read and score a student’s assignment and then
with one click move on to the next one, keeping you efficient and organized. Microsoft
Teams can reduce the time and chaos surrounding grading and increase success in
you and your students.
Immersive Reader is changing the way students and teachers are able to learn and communicate. And Microsoft is so happy to see that other companies are noticing and incorporating this beneficial learning tool into their products. Wakelet, Buncee, and Merge are just a few of the platforms where you can now engage with Immersive Reader. This tool helps improve the readability of content and support students and teachers with diverse learning needs, leading to more effective and personalized learning. We eagerly await all the other third-party platforms and products that will include Immersive Reader in the future! See more free Learning Tools available in Office 365 here.
You can create free screen recording in your browser with Microsoft Stream!
Microsoft Stream allows you to record and share videos with other members of your school community. You can choose exactly what to record and have the option to annotate the video. After recording, you can trim and edit with a variety of editing tools to make sure the video looks exactly the way you want. Microsoft Stream is web-based and makes sharing important information easier than ever. Give it a try!
You can use these four keyboard shortcuts in Windows 10!
There are many tips and tricks for Windows that can save you valuable time. In this video you’ll learn the keyboard shortcuts that will pull up the emoji keyboard, allow you to see more in a frame, take you to the Windows Ink workplace, and capture and add a screenshot right to your clipboard. For a full list of keyboard shortcuts that can make your Windows experience more efficient, check out this article.
Grading assignments usually takes a significant amount of time but with Microsoft Teams, you can be more efficient while still giving students the meaningful feedback they need. Through Microsoft Teams you can leave useful comments and feedback on student work without needing to open up any other applications. And you can easily see important information about a student assignment, like when it was viewed and turned in. You’ll also be able to work through assignments more quickly by using Rubric Grading. Just select the appropriate level of achievement that an assignment met, and the tool will calibrate points and help you assign the right grade to it. With all these Microsoft Teams features, you’ll be able to accurately and quickly get through your grading in no time.
By incorporating Microsoft Teams into your classroom, each student can access information in the style and language that is most conducive to each learner’s needs. Through Immersive Reader in Microsoft Teams, you can use the read-aloud feature for chat messages, posts and assignments and see the words highlighted as they are spoken. Students can access Immersive Reader, a powerful and popular learning tool that improves the readability of content, through their account and customize the text size, spacing and fonts. Explore Immersive Reader’s many features and share this resource with your students to create a more inclusive and accessible classroom.
Collaborating with your fellow teachers is such an important
part of growing professionally. We’ve made it easy to schedule and start
meetings right within the Microsoft Teams for Education app. During the meeting
you can deepen collaboration by recording the conversation, sharing notes and
sending files to the participants. Just remember Office 365 Education is free for
teachers and school leaders. All you have to do is sign
up here.
While most students would never plagiarize work, intentionally or unintentionally, it’s nice to have the option of checking. In Microsoft Teams for Education, your students will turn in their assignments to be checked through Turnitin. When reviewing student work, Turnitin will show you a percentage match between what students wrote and other sources online. You can click and see more about the report and send comments to students all within your Microsoft Teams app. Learn more about using Turnitin with Microsoft Teams here.
Looking for all of the You Can in :90 videos? Take a look at the full YouTube playlist here.
Have your own ideas for a You Can in :90 how-to video? Share them with us on Twitter directly by tagging @MicrosoftEDU.
Students and educators at eligible institutions can sign up for Office 365 Education for free, which will give you access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and now Microsoft Teams, plus additional classroom tools. All you need is a valid school email address. It’s not a trial—so get started today. And stay up to date with everything related to Microsoft EDU, including exciting events, quick tips and easy to use resources, by signing up for the Microsoft Educator Center monthly newsletter.
It’s Day 3 of Bett, where we’ve been bringing you updates and insights into how to use the latest and most effective ed tech tools and resources. It’s our final day live streaming from London. We explored how educators can help students develop communication, and collaboration skills while using free tools like Office 365 Education and Microsoft Teams in our Day 1 episode here and we shared how you can prepare students for jobs of the future in our Day 2 episode here. Today, we want to talk about how to use built-in accessible tools at no extra cost and the power of joining an innovative and caring community of like-minded innovators in education.
Today, we’ll dive into ways to provide students with personalized learning, how to foster inclusion to meet the needs of all the learners in your classroom, and the power of joining a global community devoted to improving equity in education. At Microsoft, we’re committed to providing you and your students with built-in accessibility tools at no extra cost. These can improve language, literacy and numeracy skills and give students of all abilities independence and the opportunity to learn without stigma.
In this episode we will show you how:
You can use available Immersive Reader features in the new Microsoft Edge
You can now use Office 365 Education online for free, from anywhere, with built-in tools for accessibility
You can promote student confidence and capacity to learn and improve independently with powerful learning tools
For starters, we want to share this inspiring story about Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the entire community is focused on creating equitable, inclusive and accessible learning environments. Check out this case study and video below to learn about how the district went about meeting the needs of all students and how administrators support teachers in accessing education technology in ways that advance teaching and learning goals.
The new Microsoft Edge– supporting inclusive learning
The web should have built-in flexibility and accessibility to support you and every student in your classroom. The new Microsoft Edge web browser supports inclusive classrooms with built-in Microsoft Learning Tools and helps every student learn and benefit from the web. Immersive Reader capabilities in Microsoft Edge help students, particularly struggling readers, stay engaged and promote reading skills. While using Microsoft Edge, teachers and students can use Immersive Reader to change text size to improve readability and hear text read aloud. Additional Immersive Reader capabilities that allow users to customize their experience will come later this year.
Learning Tools
Today’s classrooms have students with diverse learning needs, and as teachers, we know you have a strong desire to effectively reach every one of your students. Microsoft Learning Tools enable teachers to provide differentiated support to all students in reading, writing, and math as well as communication. We have updates below!
Reading
Immersive Reader
We’re thrilled that the Immersive Reader learning tool continues to come to more platforms. The full-screen reading experience improves the readability of content in many ways, including by enabling users to tailor text size, fonts, spacing, line focus, read-aloud capabilities and more.
Here’s some additional Immersive Reader news:
Spotlight on The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria and Azure AI partner Buncee: We’re inspired by the way that schools like the Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria (TYWLS) are using Immersive Reader to empower readers of all ages and reading abilities. Learn more about their story and how Azure AI is enabling partners to build accessible applications in our blog.
Six new immersive Reader partners: Today we are excited to highlight six new partners who are integrating the Immersive Reader: Flocabulary, Haldor, Helperbird, itsLearning, Kidblog and Pear Deck. These are the latest of six partners that have integrated the Immersive Reader, which is an Azure Cognitive Service. To see the growing list of Immersive Reader partners, bookmark this link.
Office Lens for iOS and Android both now have the full Immersive Reader experience integrated with the latest updates for both iPhone and iPad. Office Lens on Android (all platforms) will be shipping a similar update in spring. Office Lens is a free mobile scanning app. It offers a great way to capture text from a document or elsewhere without manually having to retype it.
Language updates: Parts of speech in Immersive Reader allows students to label nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. We’ve rolled out parts of speech for Arabic. We’ve also added the ability to translate to and from the Maori and Gaelic languages in the Immersive Reader. These will also be available in Live Presentations in PowerPoint for the Web.
Immersive Reader for Microsoft Forms is now available globally for students and educators, so they can leverage Immersive Reader tools as they create or take a quiz.
Writing
Dictation (speech to text) is an important technology that allows people to easily type with their voice. It is especially helpful for those with dyslexia, dysgraphia or mobility impairments. In addition to about a dozen languages already available, we are rolling out Dictation support in public preview for five new languages: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. These languages will start rolling out in Word, OneNote, Outlook and PowerPoint Desktop and web in late January.
Math
Equation Tools in OneNote for Windows 10
We’re thrilled to let you know that we’re starting to roll out Equation Tools in OneNote for Windows 10. Equation Tools allows students to input and make changes to math equations more easily than by typing those in with a keyboard. To get started, all you do is press the Equation button in the ribbon Insert tab in OneNote on your Windows 10 device and choose from a range of structures and math symbols to build up equations.
We believe an inclusive math class is one where students have a variety of methods for inputting equations because we know different learners have different styles and needs, and we’re so glad to add this resource to the classroom toolbox!
Math Assistant in OneNote for iPad
We’re excited to announce we’re bringing Math Assistant in OneNote to iPad users this spring. We heard you say you wanted Math Assistant on this platform, and we worked hard to make it happen. It’s easy to use–all you do to get started is log into your Office 365 Education account in OneNote on your iPad and press the Math button on the ribbon Draw tab.
You’ll be able to use the tool to help you solve equations and see solution steps to help build student understanding. Look out for additional updates to the app, such as the ability to graph equations and generate practice quizzes, which is popular on other platforms, after Bett and ahead of back-to-school season.
We’re excited to announce that Windows Calculator is getting a new feature: graphing mode. We’re adding this feature to every Windows 10 and 10S PC for students and teachers to help with instruction related to graphing concepts. Educators and students will be able to use this free tool right from their devices, without having to buy an expensive graphing calculator. It will help users plot and analyze multiple equations and manipulate equation variables to help understand how changes to equations affect graphs.
The graphing mode in Windows Calculator is available now through our Microsoft Insider program and will be refined and released for a general audience before back-to-school season.
We’re excited to make this feature available to Windows 10 users, offering a built-in, easy-to-use tool that can help create a more inclusive learning environment. Many of you have asked if educators can disable the feature if they need to, for assessments for example, and the answer is yes. It’s yours to use with your students, as that makes sense.
We welcome your feedback. We’ve open sourced the Windows Calculator app on GitHub, which means those of you who are computer science educators, or have some background knowledge, can study the source code, build system, unit tests and product roadmap and offer new ideas for improvements. We always enjoy seeing educators, and sometimes their students, get involved in this kind of collaboration. If you see a feature that is missing, build it yourself and add it to the graphing calculator! You can read more here.
Communication
OneNote Live Captions. As we noted in our Bett kickoff post, a recent study at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP), found that 42 percent of students use closed captions to help maintain focus and 38 percent use interactive transcripts to help them better retain information. In addition, student outcomes improve with the use of transcripts. This month, we are rolling out a private preview of OneNote that allows any student to connect OneNote to a Microsoft Translator captions via a Join Code and receive the captions and translation stream.
This allows captions from the educator speaking to flow directly into OneNote for reading, while still allowing the student to take notes. In addition, the student can pause the captions, highlight portions, and then have the entire transcription saved as a page into OneNote. This feature will benefit all learners but especially those who may be hard of hearing or speak multiple languages. We’ll start by rolling out OneNote Live Captions in private Beta in early February with more general availability to follow.
Empower Every Voice with Flipgrid: Microsoft’s free video discussion platform!
NEW! Edit captions, launch the Immersive Reader on video transcripts, and more. Flipgrid enables you to empower every voice in your classroom by recording and sharing short, awesome videos … together! Since last year, Flipgrid revolutionized the camera, adding trimming and rearranging clips, whiteboard mode, live inking, and more. Furthermore, every video is now automatically transcribed and close-captioned by Microsoft Azure. Take engagement to the next level by “sticking” videos ANYWHERE with the transformative Flipgrid AR. Inspired by your feedback and ideas, the Flipgrid team is constantly innovating and improving for you, your community, and your peers from 190 countries around the world.
Wrapping it up
Thanks for checking out our latest episode of What’s New in EDU, live from Bett 2020 and those we brought you earlier in the week. We’ve enjoyed meeting so many innovative and passionate educators here in London. And we hope you found the information we brought you to be helpful. Please check out our new tech tools, free teacher training resources, STEM and computer science materials and advice on boosting future-ready skills in your students. As always, share your feedback with us on Twitter by tagging @MicrosoftEDU!
We’re broadcasting live from London to bring you the latest from Bett UK 2020! Learn how you can inspire creativity with resources on the new Microsoft Educator Center, updates to Microsoft MakeCode, and more in this edition of What’s New in EDU. And be sure to check out the daily blog: https://educationblog.microsoft.com/en-us/2020/01/live-from-bett-whats-new-in-edu-change-within-the-microsoft-educator-center-and-fostering-future-ready-skills-in-students/
It’s Day 2 of Bett and we’re back, ready to share the latest innovations in education technology and helping you get you started using the new tools and resources we announced last week. You can tune in live to watch special episodes of “What’s new in EDU” each day of Bett at 5:00PM Local London time or noon EST and 9 am PT. Here’s where you go on Thursday and Friday.In our episode yesterday, we talked about choosing and managing devices and various ways educators can help students strengthen their communication and collaboration skills while using free tools like Office 365 Education and Microsoft Teams. If you missed that episode, you can check it out here.
Today we want to show you how to create learning experiences that inspire creativity, deepen student engagement and develop high-level cognitive skills. And we’ll tell you about free resources you can use to ensure your students are developing the future-ready skills they need to be prepared for success in college and careers.
In this episode we’ll show you how:
You can help teachers adopt new technology with free teacher training online in the improved Microsoft Educator Center and from Microsoft Stores
You can access STEM Lessons from Discovery Education directly from within Teams using the new Discovery Education app for Teams
You can inspire creativity and professional skills for the Windows Video Editor
Coming soon: You can teach students how to code using Python with Minecraft: Education Edition and Microsoft MakeCode
You can use Minecraft to develop social-emotional skills like digital citizenship and mindfulness
Microsoft Educator Center
We’re introducing an updated and improved MEC. The Microsoft Educator Center is a platform designed to address the needs of educators. It’s a digital hub where you can find free content, training and support to help you use technology effectively and drive improved student outcomes.
The MEC is home to innovative courses and resources built by teachers for teachers. You can earn badges, go deep on topics through learning paths, build your transcript and grow your expertise. It’s a resource to help you gain new skills related to bringing technology into the classroom, fostering student-center learning, developing future ready skills, creating inclusive and accessible environments and more. Check out the new MEC experience here.
STEM and CS
We’re excited to announce that Discovery Education– the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms– is releasing a new app for Microsoft Teams, the digital hub for bringing classroom content, conversations, assignments and apps together. If you’re using Discovery Education’s high-quality, digital resources for instruction, we know you’ll be thrilled to see those materials available within Microsoft Teams. This integration will save you time, help keep your classes organized, and provide greater opportunities to collaborate with your students and colleagues.
You’ll be able to access Discovery Education’s rich, standards-aligned STEM, Science, Math, Social Studies content and more from within Teams from your device and, connect to the largest educator community of its kind, the Discovery Educator Network (DEN), and very soon, share content with students as an assignment within Teams. We’ll have more to come on that, so keep an eye on our Microsoft Educator Center for training opportunities. And check out the steps below for how to get started.
MakeCode News
We’re excited to announce the release of Microsoft MakeCode Arcade for general availability. Microsoft MakeCode Arcade is a new online game development environment for simple, visually appealing 2D sprite-based games. Students use drag-and-drop blocks or JavaScript to design and build games and collaborate with friends. Microsoft MakeCode is an open source, free platform for creating inclusive computer science learning experiences that support a progression from blocks to real-world text-based programming. Educators around the world have been using MakeCode for the micro:bit or MakeCode with Minecraft to introduce computing concepts into their classrooms.
We are thrilled to have this new member of the Microsoft MakeCode family in MakeCode Arcade. It’s a great next step up from MakeCode for micro:bit, a development environment that’s popular with educators and students just starting off with coding. The early feedback from MakeCode Arcade Beta users has been positive. Educators say they’re finding MakeCode Arcade to be a draw for diverse learners, and that students love designing their own characters and bringing special effects and music into their games. For those ready to give MakeCode Arcade a try, you can find the latest updates on free curriculum resources here. And you and your students can get started now with this free tutorial here. No login needed!
And in another exciting MakeCode development, we are thrilled to announce that MakeCode will support the Python programming language alongside support for JavaScript and Blocks. Python is a widely used programming language in education and data science, and we heard from many computer science teachers around the world, that they would like to see MakeCode support for Python.
Minecraft: Education Edition
Computational thinking is a vital skill to develop in students as we prepare them for the workplace, especially since the vast majority of future jobs will require digital skills. Teachers can introduce computer science to students of all ages with Minecraft: Education Edition, which also now supports the Python programming language for MakeCode alongside JavaScript and block-based coding.
From easy Hour of Code tutorials to Computer Science curriculum based on CSTA standards, Minecraft offers all you need to teach coding across the STEM curriculum. Download a free coding demo lesson here for all Windows, Mac, and iPad users—no login required.
In addition to developing STEM skills, students are building social-emotional competencies with Minecraft: Education Edition. A new set of SEL lessons for Minecraft: Education Editionoffers special lessons and immersive Minecraft worlds to help educators teach these skills and create inclusive classrooms. Discover the Mindful Knight—an interactive world that introduces mindfulness and self-regulation—and lessons on digital citizenship and empathy.
Curious what else Minecraft offers? Now you can access more than 200 lessons and 50 build challenges with the new and improved in-game Library. Whether you teach history, math, language arts, technology, or biology, Minecraft is an effective tool for engaging students in immersive project-based learning across the curriculum. Check out thisstory from educators in Ireland and learn how to get started with Minecraft: Education Edition in your school here.
Microsoft Hacking STEM is a collection of free, standards-aligned lesson plans that bring project-based learning to the classroom using inexpensive, everyday materials.
In November 2019, the world celebrated the 20-year anniversary of humans living aboard the International Space Station. To inspire and engage students, Microsoft Education and NASA have partnered and developed eight new lesson plans focused around the complex issues to think about when living in space. The collection of middle and high school materials connects core academic concepts with hands-on experiences. Students are challenged to design in 3D, analyze data, build sensors, and use virtual reality and work with machine learning and AI while engaging in discussions about living in space.
We are also excited to share that Carolina Biological Supply Company is launching three new classroom kits to support projects from the NASA collection. These projects include:
Designing Astro Socks to protect astronauts’ feet in microgravity: This project has students investigating solutions to reduce the impact of working in microgravity on the astronauts’ feet.
What is the electromagnetic spectrum: This asks students to measure radiation in our environment and examine the light waves and frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum. Students use sensors to capture live data and relate their observations about life in space to their own on Earth.
Using materials science engineering to determine heat resistance: This asksstudents to explore the properties of different heat shield construction materials to protect crew and cargo returning from the International Space Station from the heat generated during the capsule’s descent.
These kits will be available on the Carolinawebsite soon. We hope you leverage these resources to inspire, educate and engage your students.
Data Streamer
TheExcel Data Streamerprovides students with a simple way to bring data from the physical world in and out of Excel’s powerful digital canvas. With a sensor connected to a microcontroller that is attached to Excel, you can introduce students to the emerging worlds of data science and the internet of things.
We are continuing to add key STEM Partners that support streaming of real time data in Excel using the Data Streamer Add-in. At Bett, Vernier, Pasco and Sphero are showcasing new applications integrated with Excel. This will enable educators to use their existing professional sensors and probes with Excel and modernize their classrooms with live data to transform how students model modern scientific and engineering practices.
An innovation story
We love hearing stories about educators who use new tech tools in innovative ways to inform instruction and improve teaching and learning. One such story is that of Assistant Principal Lauren Taylor of Manitou Park Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington. She used Microsoft PowerApps, which allows you to build your own mobile apps using templates, to create an app for her school that helps teachers input and evaluate student reading assessment data. Read more about Lauren’s inspiring story here.
New and immersive tools
HoloLens 2 is now available and bringing immersive mixed-reality experiences to colleges, universities, and K-12 classrooms. Educators are turning to this new tool to enhance key experiences in areas such as life sciences and career and technical education. Some of the upgrades to the new HoloLens include an increased field of view and an enhanced ability to see intricate details on 3D images.
Some examples of HoloLens in use in educational settings include Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, where students use it in anatomy classes. You can learn more about thathere. And we’ve seen exciting examples of the HoloLens bringing lessons to life with younger students as well. Ewout Warringa recently offered insights into how he uses it to teach construction and technology coursework to 13- to 17-year-old students in the Netherlands in this inspiringblog post.
And if you want to read up on various ways to bring immersive experiences to education and the potential benefits, please check out this white paper we previously released on the subject.
New 3D Models in Windows and Office
We are excited to announce we now have more than 600 new 3D education models available in Office 365 Education and Paint3D, a built-in creative app that comes with Windows 10. You read that right—more than 600!
To learn more about how you can insert 3D models directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook on Windows and macOS, please check out this post. It’s relatively easy. You insert 3D models much like you insert other images.
3D models can enhance lessons in biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, the humanities and more. Research has shown that providing 3D visualization for students can lead to greater understanding around shapes and spatial relationships.
Inspiring Creativity and offering new ways for students to share what they know
Video Editor
We have updates to Video Editor that we know you and your students will enjoy. Video Editor for Windows 10 is our full-featured set of video creation and editing tools for digital storytelling, and it’s free with every Windows 10 device. Students love to use it to create films with background music, text effects, 3D models and special effects. Now with Video Editor you can:
Split video clips into two or more segments for easier editing
Back up projects to share with peers and teachers, create templates, and import projects in progress to create a more efficient workflow
Add content to your video project directly from Bing image search with Creative Commons licenses as captions
Speed up and slow down video clips to create slow motion or time lapse content
Rotate photos and videos between landscape and portrait for easier use in your projects
Have card thumbnails for a video project that reflect edits a user has done to that specific card
If you haven’t tried Video Editor yet, look for it in your Start Menu or search for “Video.” And check out this guide for more details on how to get started using this creative tool.
Up Next…
Thanks for checking out our latest episode of What’s New in EDU, live from Bett. We hope you got some useful information about teacher training, bringing STEM resources into your classroom and ideas for boosting future-ready skills in your students. Please join us tomorrow live from Bett when we’ll look closely at specific ways to foster inclusion and accessibility in the classroom with the help of new ed tech resources. As always, share your feedback with us on Twitter by tagging @MicrosoftEDU! And be sure to sign up for the Microsoft Educator Newsletter here.
The next decade will see a shift in how children are taught in schools, with technology helping young people and teachers place a greater emphasis on learning outside the classroom.
That’s the view of Anthony Salcito, Vice-President of Education at Microsoft, who delivered a keynote speech at the annual BETT educational technology conference in London on Wednesday.
Salcito said that students today were increasingly keen to start having an impact the world, and are using technology to develop their own ways of learning that fit in with their personal lives. Rather than using tech for the sake of it, more young people were using it to learn new skills and collaborate. That will see teachers and their pupils working more closely together to extend education from hour-long, classroom-based lessons into any place, at any time, on any device.
“I think a big theme of the next decade is technology that enables schools to act as a learning hub, a central place for education, but the focus is on the rest of a student’s learning pathway, not just what happens in the classroom,” Salcito said.
“When you think about the three big investments that schools make, they’re constantly thinking about what’s happening with instruction in the classroom, what’s happening with the operations of their school, and also learning beyond the classroom. Over the past few decades, the focus has been heavily weighted on the classroom experience. I think we will see a shift, where schools will create a foundation of inclusive, flexible, data-driven buildings and spaces that will enable students to learn beyond those walls.”
Salcito’s keynote at BETT, an event attended by 850 companies and nearly 35,000 people, was interspersed with talks from Barbara Holzapfel, General Manager of Education Marketing at Microsoft, and Daniel McDuff, a Principal Researcher at the company.
Holzapfel pointed to upcoming research Microsoft has conducted with the Economist Intelligence Unit. It showed teachers understood the value of social and emotional learning. Technology could “help students and teachers connect”, she said.
Salcito pointed to two Microsoft tools that are already helping teachers and their students work better together – and apart.
PowerPoint Live is allowing young people to remotely log into an interactive presentation delivered by an educator. That can be automatically translated into more than 60 languages with a transcript that can be studied after the lesson has finished.
Meanwhile, Teams is helping entire classes collaborate while they are at home and in the classroom, allowing them to personalise their learning and get what they need, when they need it.
Barbara Holzapfel spoke about Microsoft’s latest education research
Rather than feel under threat from technology, teachers will be crucial in this new world of always-on learning, both Salcito and Holzapfel stated.
“Technology is changing the world,” he said. “The way in which we work and the jobs we will need are becoming far more dynamic; new careers are being invented and created, while existing careers are changing. We, as people, have got to be nimble and constantly adjust, too.
“That’s why educators are so important and why we need innovative teachers. The need for schools to get students ready to fundamentally change the world is in progress. What we want educators to do is not be bound by the structure of a 40-minute lecture, classroom dynamic or assessment that’s connected to a curriculum, but recognise their goal and mission to expand upon every student’s potential.
“The best innovation that inspires most young people is the teacher.”
Teachers across the world are facing increased workloads and pressure. The UK government recently announced an increase in starting salaries for those joining the profession in England in a bid to attract more graduates into classrooms. In Microsoft’s upcoming research, nearly 70 percent of teachers cited time constraints as their biggest hurdle to providing more personalized content to their students. It revealed technology can help clear away those obstacles by freeing up as much as 30 percent of teachers’ time, so they can spend more time responding to individual and group needs.
Salcito said those in charge of schools and education systems need to shift their focus from tests and grades to helping young people learn in a way that will help them build the right skills for the future. All jobs will use technology in some way, he added, whether it’s a lawyer using artificial intelligence to scan through large amounts of text, or a painter selling their artwork online.
“We need to recognise that every student learns differently and has different aspirations and accessibility needs,” he said. “Personalised learning can unleash an individual to be their best, to connect their passions, energy, talents, interests, their special needs, to make their learning journey unique and untethered by the bounds of classrooms, schedules and the curriculum.
“We’ve got to shift our focus away from supporting and progressing the system, to elevating the potential of all our children. That’s what technology is able to do. I think we’ve got to celebrate that shift, and remember that leaders need to shift their thinking and ask different questions about what’s possible.”
Salcito’s speech came on the first day of BETT, which runs for four days at the ExCeL. Microsoft is a worldwide partner of the event, with a large stand showcasing its work in digital skills and coding, as well as Surface, third-party devices designed for the classroom, and Minecraft: Education Edition.
With the start of the new year, we’re excited to head to London for the annual Bett UK education technology show where we’ll preview a number of new products and updates coming for the 2020-2021 school year. We’ll bring you along to Bett too, from the booth every day of Bett live from London in: “What’s new in Edu: Live from Bett”.
Join Leslie Fisher, and see for the very first time, new devices, tools and training resources coming soon to ensure you and your students have your best year yet!
Closing the broadband gap with new devices that connect to cellular service and Community Learning Centers
One of the biggest challenges in global education is a lack of access to the internet. Students who lack broadband access at home or school are deprived of the information they need to complete their assignments and keep up with their peers, creating educational inequality and disadvantages that can impact them throughout their lives. In the U.S., the FCC estimates 70 percent of teachers assign homework that requires broadband access, yet broadband is not available to nearly 25 million people, 19 million of whom live in rural areas. Even among those who do have a connection, our data shows that nearly 163 million Americans are not using the internet at broadband speeds.
We’ve been investing in solving this multi-faceted problem for years with programs like the Airband Initiative, which aims to expand broadband access to underserved rural areas around the world. Today, we’re continuing to build on this commitment to connect every student to the internet by introducing two new Connected PCs, built and priced especially for education – the JP.IK Turn T101 and Positivo Wise N1212S.
These new devices, which will ship this summer, are our most affordable Connected PCs yet, with all the capabilities of Windows and Office and can be used anywhere there is cellular service. These devices will save schools thousands of dollars in server infrastructure and startup time and help the more than 1.15 billion students in rural and emerging markets around the world connect to the internet for the first time or dramatically improve their current connection. The JP.IK Turn T101 starts at just $299 USD and the Wise N1212S will start at $575 USD, both powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c with twice the battery life and 25 percent better performance than competing platforms, and like our other Windows PCs boasting the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets, they will have blazing-fast cellular connectivity.
We’re also proud to collaborate with T-Mobile to kick off a pilot next month that offers select districts in rural and underserved areas in the U.S. a chance to test the newest Connected PCs. T-Mobile shares our vision to empower students and provide connectivity and educational equality through their EmpowerED™ 2.0 program – and will provide the pilot schools with SIM cards and free 4G LTE coverage plans to get their new PCs up and running. For the rest of the world, we’re excited to partner with Vodafone to provide education-specific cellular connectivity plans to customers using the newest Connected PCs in Vodafone and Vodacom markets in Europe and Africa. Through the Connected Education program, Vodafone endeavors to digitalize school infrastructure and accelerate adoption of fast, secure internet access to schools and students around the world. Together, we’re excited to learn how these new devices and alliances could reshape the education landscape and reduce the broadband gap.
These new devices mark a big milestone in bringing equitable educational opportunities to students around the world, but it’s just the beginning. We’re also thrilled to partner with JP.IK to bring their Community Learning Centers – solar-powered, pop-up schools – to more than 130 underserved areas around the world, giving students a truly connected digital learning experience.
Our most affordable Windows 10 devices get even better
No matter your needs or your location in the world, we have the perfect Windows 10 device for you and your students, starting at $219 USD. Today, we’re excited to announce that our portfolio is getting even better. Together with our partners at Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, JP.IK and Positivo we’re enhancing 14 of our most affordable Windows 10 devices so you get even more bang for your buck, including:
NEW!Faster performance. Seven of our new devices include the newest Intel processor, which will give you 46 percent more system performance than before. Students can have multiple web browser tabs open while working on documents and collaborating with classmates without missing a beat.
NEW!Safekeeping for pens. One of the biggest complaints we hear from educators is that – while they love the benefits of having students write directly on their device screens – pens get lost frequently. But great news! In addition to a number of devices that include ways to tether pens, the newest Acer TravelMate Spin B3 and Lenovo 300e also have a pen “garage” built into the device so it’s less likely to wander off.
NEW!Introducing indicator lights to show student progress. Teachers, have you ever wished you could look at the classroom from your desk or podium and see which students are good to go on their devices? Now you can! Five of our newest devices will include a built-in LED indicator light on the back of the device that can be used to indicate whether a device is charged and connected to the internet. Simply look for the light!
Check out these and our other great Windows 10 devices on our Windows Device Finder today!
Three Free New Tools to Make Teacher Training More Effective
Preparing students for the jobs of the future starts with training and retaining great educators today. Our new research – Staff of 2030: Future Ready Teaching – indicates only 38 percent of teachers believe their current training has equipped them to use digital technology for instruction, which is critical to their success as well as their students. As new Gen Z teachers are entering the workforce, it’s more important than ever for schools to offer a variety of training tools and build powerful professional development communities that help them thrive throughout the school year. We’ve got some great new (and totally free!) tools to help, including our new and improved Microsoft Educator Center with hundreds of great training resources available in more languages than ever before.
NEW!Conduct training and engage everyone in the audience using PowerPoint Live Presentations. Using PowerPoint for Web, which is part of Office 365 Education, you will soon be able to train teachers and engage every participant with the new live presentations feature. Schools can present slides and using a QR code or short link, viewers can join and follow along with live subtitles in more than 60 languages on their personal device, making it easy to present to a large group of teachers, students or parents who speak different languages. The feature also includes live reactions and a survey for participants that generates an email to the presenter with the aggregated audience feedback and corresponding recommendations, offering insights to improve future presentations and trainings.
NEW! Use Microsoft Stream to create training videos on web and mobile, including transcription in eight languages. Microsoft Stream, included in Office 365 Education, empowers organizations to teach and learn with video easily and securely. Now available to the Stream mobile app, video creation with the new Flipgrid camera integration makes it fun for anyone to personalize and share content in seconds. Stream will also soon support browser-based screen recording and editing, giving teachers and students new ways to create learning and training materials by recording and sharing screens, applications, or device camera feeds. Automatic captions and searchable transcripts now support eight languages, which allow learners to find information quickly. And to help improve learner focus, videos on Stream will soon support a voice enhance capability that removes background noise from videos recorded in classrooms and other noisy environments.
NEW! Unlock your students’ potential with Microsoft Teams Class Insights. Teaching is a team sport that requires students, teachers and parents to work together. That’s why we introduced capabilities like Class Insights in Microsoft Teams, to equip educators with more data on student performance and activity. We also made it possible for you to collaborate in safe and focused environments with Private Channels and added the Parent and Guardian Emails that summarize a student’s weekly progress and the week ahead. All these Teams improvements are designed to strengthen collaboration and engagement at your school.
And last, but certainly not least, we’re proud to be rolling out:
Free, built-in accessibility features in OneNote and Microsoft Edge to help every classroom be more inclusive
NEW! The new Microsoft Edge – secure, accessible and compatible with all your favorite websites and extensions! The web browser is the most used app in the classroom, so it’s crucial it has the built-in flexibility and accessibility to support every educator and learner. Now available for IT to download and deploy, the new Microsoft Edge web browser is designed to support inclusive classrooms with built-in tools allowing students to change text size, reading text aloud and even inking on PDFs right in the browser. Plus, we made Microsoft Edge even easier for users. Microsoft Edge is now powered by the same technology as Google Chrome to provide better compatibility for websites and extensions, allowing you to experience the web without using multiple browsers. You can even customize your web experience to access Office documents quickly when opening a new tab. Students and teachers working on shared computers can also sign into one or more profiles for quick access to their favorites, passwords, and more. Finally, the new Microsoft Edge browser has Microsoft security features and is simple to manage, with tools that make it easy for IT administrators to deploy and set district- or school-wide policies, as well as features to help protect students from phishing attempts and tracking.
NEW! OneNote Live Captions to help students’ focus, comprehension and retention. Recent studies have shown that students who use closed captions and interactive transcripts can maintain their focus and retain information better. You can already use captions and transcripts in many of our products like PowerPoint, Teams, Stream and Flipgrid, and now you can use captions inside OneNote as well! This month, we are rolling out a private preview of OneNote that allows students to connect OneNote to a Microsoft Translator session via a Join Code and receive the captions and translation stream. This allows captions from the educator speaking to flow directly into OneNote for reading, while still allowing the student to take notes. In addition, the student can pause the captions, highlight portions, and then have the entire transcription saved as a page into OneNote, features that will benefit all learners but especially those who may be hard of hearing or speak multiple languages.
And that’s just the beginning! Tune in throughout next week as we join education technology expert, Leslie Fisher in London to walk you through how to make this news you can use in the upcoming school year!
Students around the world are invited to take part in an extraordinary STEM learning experience with your students. On March 2, a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station will answer questions from students via a live, in-flight education downlink. Microsoft Education is honored to partner with The NASA STEM on Station, and The Museum of Flight in Seattle to host the downlink event, and we want you and your students to be there with us.
During the live March 2 downlink, students will have the opportunity to ask questions of the astronaut. Inquiries should focus on the experience of living and working in space, the Artemis lunar exploration program and questions related to the Astro Socks activity, part of our Hacking STEM lessons.
Student questions are due by midnight PST Feb. 7 using thisform. Students who are located outside the Greater Seattle area will be asked to submit a video recording if their question is chosen.
NASA has a long history of “firsts”—from the first orbit of the moon to the first footprint on the moon to the first space telescope. Today’s students are also pioneers: they are the first members of what NASA calls the Artemis Generation. They’ll become the first commercial space travelers, the first long-term inhabitants on the moon, and the first to apply lessons learned from living on the moon to exploring Mars.
They’ll join the ranks of Alan Shephard, the first American astronaut to travel into space, and Katherine Goble Johnson (featured in Hidden Figures), who solved the complex orbit and trajectory equations required for Shephard’s journey. They’ll continue the work of Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space whose lesson plans were recently published by The Challenger Center and the NASA STEM on Station team. And they’ll follow in the footsteps of Jessica Meir and Christina Koch, who participated in the first all-female space walk.
Being a first comes with challenges and we know we still have a long way to go to prepare our students for their futures. Today’s astronauts have diverse backgrounds in STEM fields, and it’s clear future generations will need to have strong and varied STEM training and experiences as well. While research shows STEM fields will expand faster than non-STEM jobs, (growing to more than 9 million by 2022) the path to STEM careers is uneven, particularly for under-represented minorities and female students. Having the opportunity to talk with astronauts actively aboard the space station is one of the ways we are expanding educational STEM opportunities and providing students with access to role models. This is critical to ensuring all students are inspired and can see themselves as a members of the Artemis Generation.
Join us for a live, NASA, In-flight downlink on March 2nd and become inspired by the astronauts onboard the International Space Station.
Get hands-on in the classroom with the Astro Socks Design Challenge
Did you know astronauts in space use their feet like hands? They grip and grasp bars and belts situated around the International Space Station to help them stabilize themselves while working in microgravity. Over time, this leads to significant discomfort on the tops of their feet. The Astro Socks Design Challenge is a standards-aligned lesson plan that incorporates design thinking with an introduction to working with sensors and live data. Students take on the role of biomechanical engineers, product designers, and user researchers to solve the astronaut’s foot pain. They study the daily tasks performed on the space station, build sensors and collect foot pressure data in Excel. Then, they design and build prototypes to mitigate the load and test the effectiveness of their design in a simulated microgravity environment. The last step is to write and record an advertisement to explain their solution.
The lesson plan is located hereand for those looking for a plug and play way to bring this into your classroom, Carolina Biological has just released a kit.
The Astro Socks Design Challenge is one of eight lesson plans recently published by the Microsoft Hacking STEM team in partnership with the NASA STEM on Station team. The collection celebrates 20 years of humans living aboard the space station and provides an opportunity to introduce your students to considerations that astronauts need to think about when living and working in space.
Laptops, computers and other technical equipment are common assets in modern classrooms. It makes you wonder: how do all these devices help our students succeed? What selection criteria, preparatory steps, professional training and other factors should be taken into consideration for a successful implementation, and what tips, tools and resources can be helpful?
With all this in mind, we welcome you to a 75-minute TweetMeet on Tuesday, January 21 at 10am PST.
Brand-new hashtag #TweetMeetEN
Every month, we welcome more and more educators to our events, obviously resulting in large volumes of tweets. Many of you tweet in your preferred language and are already using #TweetMeetXX. It’s now time to also invite all English-speaking TweetMeet participants to start adding hashtag #TweetMeetEN to your tweets. This will help to filter the large volume and will make it easier to find tweets back in your preferred languages.
Looking back on the December MSFTEduChat on Best of 2019
For last month’s special-edition TweetMeet we invited all #MSFTEduChat hosts from past years to come back another time, to commemorate and celebrate all the wonderful experiences of the past year with you. The TweetMeet was a tremendous success, with many hundreds of participants and thousands of tweets, as you can see in the Thank You animated GIF below.
We captured highlights for this TweetMeet event in a new @MicrosoftEDU Twitter Moment. There’s even a comprehensive archive collection of all tweets from this event in this Wakelet Collection.
TweetMeet Fan? Show it with our new Sticky Note!
With the new TweetMeet Sticky Note, you can announce the next TweetMeet right from your own, existing Twitter Header Photo. Look at the various examples we created in the image below.
To generate such a custom Twitter Header Photo for yourself, open our new TweetMeet Sticky Note 📌 PowerPoint and follow the instructions.
Create your own TweetMeet Friend Card
Another way to share your enthusiasm about Devices for student success and the TweetMeets in general is to create a TweetMeet Friend Card.
Share your own version of this image anytime anywhere, for example to announce the TweetMeet to your followers, and of course when introducing yourself at the start of a TweetMeet. Just follow the steps in the TweetMeet Friend Cards PowerPoint.
Here’s an example:
SuperWakelet: resources curated by this month’s hosts
Wakelet is a useful web service to bookmark, curate and annotate resources, images, tweets and other content.
We’ve invited our hosts to share their personal favorite resources and introduce their resource collections with a Flipgrid video. Find all of these resources in our new Devices for student success SuperWakelet, live-embedded here:
Flipgrid topic for January 21
Many TweetMeet hosts have exciting stories to tell about this month’s topic. Be inspired with the new Flipgrid topic for January 21: flipgrid.com/9d43961f
Introducing our hosts
Please meet the 11 hosts for this month’s TweetMeet.
After going through weeks of preparation for this TweetMeet, they are thrilled to engage with you on their favorite topic: Devices for student success.
Check out all the hosts, see what they are tweeting about and consider following them:
Brian Merrill @brianfmerrill (Educational technology analyst, Central Bucks School District, MIE Fellow, Minecraft Global Mentor, interoperability specialist, passionate about immersive learning – Morrisville PA, USA)
Charu Chhabra @charuchhabra2 (Vice-principal at Kamla Nehru Public School, MIE Expert, MIE Trainer; adopted BYOD, Microsoft Certified Educator, Minecraft Global Mentor, amplifying Microsoft Teams – Phagwara, India)
Dave Sands @dhsands (Principal of technology implementation, international presenter, MIE Expert and Microsoft Teams evangelist, School District 43 – Coquitlam BC, Canada)
Douha Jemai @ochifaysel (Computer science teacher, MIE Expert and Trainer, TeachSDGs ambassador, passionate about making teaching a job of the heart not just a duty – Jundubah, Tunisia)
Gary Henderson @garyhenderson18 (Director of IT at Millfield School, MIE Expert and Trainer, Microsoft Certified Educator. Passionate about digital citizenship and how we prepare students to thrive in a digital world – Somerset, UK)
Jane Basnett @basnettj (Head of Modern Languages at Downe House School), MIE Expert and Microsoft Certified Educator. Passionate about making the most of technology to achieve the best educational opportunities – Berkshire, UK)
Jason Laurence @jlaurence24 (Digital learning and teaching coordinator, Onslow County Schools; MIE Expert and Trainer. Dedicated to empower teachers and students with technology skill sets through Microsoft Education – Jacksonville NC, USA)
Liz Cox @lizforeducation (Program manager for Microsoft Education, specializing in classroom device management, passionate about the ability of technology to help transform the classroom – Seattle WA, USA)
Maria Turner @Turner4EDU (Coordinator of Professional Learning for NCCE, Microsoft Certified Educator, MIE Expert and Master Trainer. Passionate about sharing the impact innovative learning facilitation brings – Central Florida, USA)
Oscar Herrero @oscarherreroedu (Teaching technical advisor for educators in Segovia (Castilla y León). Teacher & IT Coordinator at CEIP Arcipreste de Hita, MIE Expert and Trainer; Microsoft OneNote lover – Segovia, Spain)
Toni Zarzoso @Tonizarzoso14 (ICT manager and teacher at Julio Verne School. MIE Expert and MIE Fellow. Office 365 trainer at Global Learning. Passionate about EdTech – Valencia, Spain)
Too busy to join at event time? No problem!
From our monthly surveys we know that you may be in class at event time, busy doing other things or may even be asleep – well, no problem! All educators are most welcome to join any time after the event. Simply look at the questions below and respond to these at a day and time that suit you best.
You can also schedule your tweets in advance. In that case, be sure to include the entire question in your tweet and always mention the hashtag #MSFTEduChat so that everyone knows to which question in which conversation you are responding.
We have six discussion questions lined up this month, allowing 12 minutes of discussion time each.
PST
#
#MSFTEduChat TweetMeet question timings
10:00am
Event begins
Welcome. Please introduce yourself. Use #MSFTEduChat and #TweetMeetEN or #TweetMeetXX for non-English languages.
10:03
1
What impact do devices have on student success? Share your stories.
10:15
2
What is your current school device configuration? How would you improve it?
10:27
3
What is your school policy for student use of mobile devices? What do you think of it?
10:39
4
Which criteria should influence device choice? How and why?
10:51
5
What preparation, training, tools and other factors contribute to a successful device deployment?
11:03
6
What tips and resources would you recommend to increase student success through technology?
11:15
Event closes
Announcing the next event and Participant Survey.
Welcoming TweetMeet newcomers
Do you know someone who’s new to the TweetMeets? You can join a #MSFTEduChat TweetMeet video is especially created for newcomers, so please share it with friends and colleagues who might be interested in joining:
For educators who are totally new to Twitter and who could use an introduction, we recommend the Twitter EDU tutorial ebook by David Truss @datruss.
Why join the #MSFTEduChat TweetMeets?
TweetMeets are monthly recurring Twitter conversations about themes relevant to educators, facilitated by Microsoft Education. The purpose of these events is to help professionals in education to learn from each other and inspire their students while they are preparing for their future. The TweetMeets also nurture personal learning networks among educators from across the globe.
Former host James Kieft wrote the following blog post describing why educators should consider participating in Twitter chats, and how to get started: Twitter chats explained.
When and how can I join?
Join us Tuesday, January 21 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. PST on Twitter using the hashtags #StudentSuccess, #MSFTEduChat, #TweetMeetEN and#MicrosoftEDU. Be sure to double-check your own local event time. You can find the event time for 215 countries with this time zone announcer.
Our next recommendation for you is to set up Twitter dashboard TweetDeck and add columns for the hashtags and for your favorite educators. If you are new to TweetDeck, then check out this brief TweetDeck tutorial by Marjolein Hoekstra.
When a tweet appears that you want to respond to, press the retweet button and type your comments.
Additional tips are offered in this animated GIF that you’re most welcome to share with newcomers:
Next month’s event: AI in education
The theme of February 18 will be AI in education. We’re very much looking forward to this event and hope you’ll spread the word!
Got questions about the #MSFTEduChat TweetMeets?
Please connect with TweetMeet organizer Marjolein Hoekstra @TweetMeet on Twitter if you have any questions about the TweetMeets or about what it takes to be a host on a future event.
With the first half of the school year wrapping up in most places and the holidays upon us, we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the resources we introduced in 2019 that you said were most helpful to you and your students. And we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss anything that could have a positive impact on your instruction going forward.
Learning Tools
Reviewing engagement across our social media channels, it’s clear you liked this year’s updates to Learning Tools, free Microsoft resources that make classrooms more accessible and support students with reading, writing, math and communication. Learning tools are available in Microsoft products you use every day in the classroom. For more on how to incorporate Learning Tools into your classroom, check out this post.
We’re particularly grateful to you for sharing your stories about the benefits of Immersive Reader, which improves the readability of content and is integrated into Microsoft products as well as third-party applications. You noted that this integration was particularly helpful for students with dyslexia and other reading-related learning differences. Maria Mercedes Gazaneo, a teacher in Buenos Aires, explains eloquentlyhere how previously reluctant readers have come around to loving reading with the help of Immersive Reader. At Microsoft Education, it’s our mission to empower every student to achieve more, and we’re so glad this tool, coupled with your commitment to your students, is helping advance that goal.
Product Updates
As far as product updates go, you told us loud (especially so at the rocking Flipgrid party at ISTE) and clear that the newly designed Flipgrid was a hit and is helping you elevate student voices in and beyond the classroom. We have you to thank. From FlipgridAR to the new Shorts Camera to Disco Library Playlists, every improvement to Flipgrid was created, driven, and inspired by your innovative ideas and feedback.
“Flipgrid gives students a VOICE! Flipgrid allows those that are quiet and nervous the opportunity to share their ideas and thoughts in a manner that is conducive to their learning styles. It appeals to every student in the classroom.” – Natasha Rachell, Education Technology Specialist with Atlanta Public Schools.
You also told us the new PowerPoint Presenter coach is another tool that is helping students develop strong communication skills. In case you haven’t tried it yet, the AI-powered tool lets students practice presentations and then provides guidance on pacing, language and more.
Thanks for letting us know you loved Microsoft Teams‘ new Simplified UX!The redesign is among many improvements to make teaching, assessment, and collaboration effective and easy, all while saving you time.
Speaking of saving time, Grade Sync is now integrated with PowerSchool, enabling teachers to sync assignments and grades directly to PowerTeacher Pro. But wait, there’s more! The new teacher gradebook with individualized student progress, weekly assignments summary email for parents and guardians and many others. Check out this post for more detail on all the Teams updates from this year!
Several exciting updates to Minecraft: Education Edition came your way this year too, based on helpful feedback from our educator community. Immersive Reader was integrated along with single sign-on and multiplayer join codes for an easier classroom experience. We launched Minecraft lessons and immersive worlds with NASA, World Wildlife Fund, and partners in New Zealand. Finally, a new Minecraft Hour of Code introduces students to coding with a lesson on preventing forest fires and artificial intelligence! Check out the free coding lesson in Minecraft: Education Edition, no license required. We talked about Hour of Code in last month’s What’s New in EDU, available here if you missed it.
Just ahead of the current school year, we made dozens of updates to OneNote and Class Notebook based on your input, and we’re glad to see you’re using those successfully. They include the ability to distribute pages to specific students, integrating OneNote and Class Notebook with Teams, and making it possible for students to generate math practice quizzes in OneNote. We’re glad to hear these updates are helping you personalize instruction and promote student-centered learning.
“I found OneNote to be a huge help, both in note taking and Immersive Reader. Also linking Microsoft Lens to OneNote has made other subject content ‘interactive.’ My learners were amazed, and this teacher applauds the ingenuity of Microsoft to cater for inclusive education.” –Viola Van der Westhuizen, a teacher in South Africa who works with youth in the criminal justice system.
Finally, we’ve seen those social media posts indicating you like the latest Microsoft Excel update, allowing you and your students to take a picture of data, say in a textbook, and then upload it and open it in Excel, where it’s converted into a table. We hope that’s helping your students develop analytical skills and solve real-world problems using data.
Partnerships
We’re thrilled to work
with educators like you every day, as well as other partners committed to fostering
inclusive learning environments that help all students succeed. This past year,
we teamed up with some inspiring collaborators, and we’re so glad to see you celebrating
those partnerships with us on social media. Just some of these include:
Click here to read our Partner Spotlight series from ISTE 2019.
Free trainings,
workshops and more
We know how committed
you are to professional growth, and we’re so glad you found many of our teacher
development tools to be useful in 2019. Among those you indicated were most helpful
this year were:
Free in-store trainings on using Microsoft Education tools. Our stores offer more than 200,000 hours of free workshops throughout the year, so find one that’s right for you!
Our You Can in :90 video series, which offers quick tips for using Microsoft Education tools. We pick topics based on your input, so keep that coming.
Resources like this how-to video to help you bring digital storytelling to life in your classroom with Video Editor for Windows 10.
Our new Microsoft Educator Center, where you can take online courses and stay up on a host training opportunities and resources for educators.
Our new newsletter. If you haven’t yet signed up, you can do so here.
Peer networking
It’s clear you enjoy connecting with each other and helping students do that, too. This year, thousands of students from more than 80 countries connected during our Global Learning Connectionevent, in which students meet virtually and listen to guest speakers using Teams, Skype and Flipgrid.
“The MSFTGlobalConnect was a HUGE HIGHLIGHT of my year.” –Kerry-Ann Van Der Merwe, a Grade 5 teacher in South Africa.
Speaking of guest speakers, you shared that you were inspired by the Skype in the Classroom event with world-renowned scientist and environmentalist Jane Goodall. Missed it? We’ve got you covered. You can find a recording here.
To those of you who participated in Hack the Classroom in June, a big thank you. We’re so grateful to you for being part of that engaging discussion on developing social and emotional skills in students, preparing them for future success, meeting the needs of English language learners and more.
We’re also thrilled to see how supportive you are of one another. Thank you for sharing the news about our Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts class of 2019-2020 and responding to our call on Twitter to tag other potential nominees. Speaking of Twitter, we also are overjoyed to see your enthusiasm for our regular TweetMeets. By far the most popular one of the year was the July TweetMeet focused on student-centered learning.
Device spotlight
Windows 10 helps deliver personalized learning for every student. Find the right device for your school today. This month we’re featuring the Lenovo 100e, with pricing starting at just $199 USD for a 4/64 storage configuration with the latest-gen Intel Celeron processor. This durable laptop is built to endure the rough and tumble of the classroom with a new, sleek chassis and weighs just 2.7 lbs. All-day battery keeps everyone’s focus on lessons, not on hunting down a power cord.
In conclusion
Well, 2019 really was quite a year for us here on the Microsoft Education team. We’re so glad you found many of the resources we shared to be helpful to you and your students. We can’t wait to show you what’s ahead in the new year.
Mark your calendars for January 16, when we’ll have a Facebook Live event highlighting what we’re rolling out at the start of 2020. You won’t be disappointed.
As always, we love hearing from you and value your feedback. Let us know what you think of this list of highlights from the year on Twitter by tagging @MicrosoftEDU!
Announcing the biggest global TweetMeet to date. Join us on December 17
Following the success of the Best of 2018 TweetMeet, we’re thrilled to offer the biggest global TweetMeet to date on Tuesday, December 17. Share your best stories and experiences from 2019 and what plans for 2020 you look forward to the most. We’re also most interested to learn how you think Microsoft can support you best.
With all this in mind, we welcome you to a 75-minute TweetMeet on Tuesday, December 17 at 10am PST. Do check your local event times.
Don’t miss What’s New in EDU Live on Facebook
We’re launching a new edition of What’s new in EDU looking back at everything that was new with Microsoft Education in 2019.
This episode will go live on Facebook on December 17 at 6am EST
Introducing the hosts
We’ve invited all former hosts to lead this special-edition TweetMeet, and we’re excited to announce that 275+ previous hosts gladly agree to take part in the event. Follow them all through the Twitter List of December’s MSFTEduChat Hosts.
Do you remember all the previous TweetMeets and their hosts? Take a trip down TweetMeet Memory Lane with this new video, which shows all Combined Headshot images since we first started in the summer of 2016:
Flipgrid topic for December 17
Many TweetMeet hosts have exciting stories to tell about their projects and experiences in 2019. And of course, they have plans for 2020 as well. Be inspired with the new Flipgrid topic for December 17: flipgrid.com/fedb380d
Road2TweetMeet Wakelet: what’s it like to be a TweetMeet host?
Over the past months, our hosts have been reflecting on their blog about what it means to be a host on an #MSFTEduChat TweetMeet. The brand-new Road2TweetMeet Wakelet contains the best of these host reflections, live-embedded here:
TweetMeet Fan? Show it off on your Twitter profile!
Show your passion for this month’s Best of 2019 TweetMeet by uploading this month’s #MSFTEduChat Twitter Header Photo as a banner on your own Twitter profile.
Twitter Header Photos are available in many languages and time zones.
Watch the animated GIF:
Create your own TweetMeet Friend Card
Another way to share your enthusiasm about the TweetMeets is to create a TweetMeet Friend Card. Share your own version of this image anytime anywhere, for example when introducing yourself at the start of a TweetMeet. Just follow the steps in the TweetMeet Friend Cards PowerPoint.
Here’s an example:
Looking back on the November MSFTEduChat on Future-Ready Skills and Computer Science
We captured highlights for this TweetMeet event in a new @MicrosoftEDU Twitter Moment. There’s even a comprehensive collection of all tweets from this event in this Wakelet Collection.
Welcoming TweetMeet newcomers
Do you know someone who’s new to the TweetMeets? Our brand-new You can join a #MSFTEduChat TweetMeetvideo is especially created for newcomers, so please share it with friends and colleagues who might be interested to join:
For educators who are totally new to Twitter and who could use an introduction, we recommend the Twitter EDU tutorial ebook by David Truss @datruss.
Why join the #MSFTEduChat TweetMeets?
TweetMeets are monthly recurring Twitter conversations about themes relevant to educators, facilitated by Microsoft Education. The purpose of these events is to help professionals in education to learn from each other and inspire their students while they are preparing for their future. The TweetMeets also nurture personal learning networks among educators from across the globe.
Former host James Kieft wrote the following blog post describing why educators should consider participating in Twitter chats, and how to get started: Twitter chats explained.
When and how can I join?
Join us Tuesday, December 17 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. PST on Twitter using the hashtags #BestOf2019, #MSFTEduChat and #MicrosoftEDU. Be sure to double-check your own local event time. You can find the event time for 215 countries with this time zone announcer.
Our next recommendation for you is to set up Twitter dashboard TweetDeck and add columns for the hashtags and for your favorite space geeks. If you are new to TweetDeck, then check out this brief TweetDeck tutorial by Marjolein Hoekstra.
When a tweet appears that you want to respond to, press the retweet button and type your comments.
Additional tips are offered in this animated GIF that you’re most welcome to share with newcomers:
Too busy to join at event time? No problem!
From our monthly surveys we know that you may be in class at event time, busy doing other things or may even be asleep – well, no problem! All educators are most welcome to join any time after the event. Simply look at the questions below and respond to these at a day and time that suit you best.
You can also schedule your tweets in advance. In that case, be sure to include the entire question in your tweet and always mention the hashtag #MSFTEduChat so that everyone knows to which question in which conversation you are responding.
Four discussion questions this time
For this special-edition TweetMeet, we offer four discussion questions instead of five. This means we’ll have more time for each question. Check the timings for each question in the table:
PST
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#MSFTEduChat TweetMeet question timings
10:00am
Event begins
Welcome. Please introduce yourself. Use #MSFTEduChat.
10:06
1
What was your Best of 2019 experience? Share your story or picture.
10:23
2
Which event, product or announcement wins 1st prize on your Best of 2019 list? Why?
10:40
3
Which people, courses or resources helped you excel this year? How?
10:57
4
How can Microsoft make 2020 an even better year for you and your students?
11:15
Event closes
Announcing the next event and Participant Survey.
Next month’s event: Devices for Student Success
The theme of January 21 will be Devices for Student Success. We’re very much looking forward to this event and hope you’ll spread the word!
Got questions about the #MSFTEduChat TweetMeets?
Please connect with TweetMeet organizer Marjolein Hoekstra @TweetMeet on Twitter if you have any questions about the TweetMeets or about what it takes to be a host on a future event.
