Following our simulated hospital event at UCLan in May 2020, I built a selection of chatbots using Power Apps. These were developed with the primary purpose of increasing fidelity within online simulation for our health and social care students. I wanted to explore how to automate and standardise parts of the simulation, to help with quality and control from the facilitator’s perspective.

Creating and developing a chatbot

To create a chatbot, I used Power Apps. I first selected Create under the left hand Chatbots heading, and then worked on developing the language behind the bot.

To get started I’d recommend using Microsoft Whiteboard or some paper to map out the language according to what you want the bot to ask and respond with. Try to draw on the direction of the conversation, and how you want it to start and end. Spend some time exploring existing tutorials found in Power Apps, Power Virtual Agents, Azure, and LinkedIn Learning.

If you’re not sure where the bot will be deployed just yet, consider starting in Power Apps. This will make it possible to save it and then ‘sideload’ into a Team, or to embed the bot into another web site or resource. Follow the Microsoft Power Apps Community for Q&A and problem solving tips to help you along the way. 

Once created, you can proceed to Publish the chatbot, following any further instructions.

Taking a student-centric approach

It’s also important to consider the different types of chatbot that can be created when looking to develop your own. In our case, this helped shape how the bots would be used and where they would ultimately be deployed. Here are three different types of chatbots and examples of how we have used them at UCLan.

1- Repetitive prompter chatbot

Within one online OSCE for our MSc Occupational Therapy students, there are four tasks. The elements of each task became the most asked question, both across the module and leading up to the OSCE. Students understood the tasks but often couldn’t retain which order they were in, and whether these were live or recorded. I created a ‘repetitive prompter’ style chatbot for the module, and we have had real success embedding and deploying it within the assessment space. This is quite an exciting development for me, as it reinforces the benefits of investing in time in chatbots – particularly due to the potential of them being embedded within other Virtual Learning Environments. You can also lift this type of chatbot and place it within your Microsoft Teams space.

2- Reflective prompter chatbot

Our debrief chatbot for IPE online simulation was a collaboration between my colleague Abhi and I. Abhi came up with the language for the chatbot, and I then programmed and published it in Power Apps, using the demo link as a Website tab in Microsoft Teams. This was for a large-scale simulation, with 300+ people within three Teams environments on the one day. This was the first cross-faculty IPE event which had been run online whilst students were studying from home. Subsequent feedback from students and staff has since provided valuable insight into further development for future events. With growing interest in online simulation, we created a Team purely for staff to collaborate around simulation ideas. This has proved really useful, as the bots are now becoming shareable assets across our wider organisation.

3 – Role-specific chatbot

Development of role-specific chatbots started from reflections about how to part-automate online simulation, and also the possibility of deploying a series of chatbots within an online simulation to work as simulated characters within the Microsoft Teams environment. I created a couple of ‘patient’ chatbots, including ‘George’- who needs the toilet. If you don’t respond appropriately, he (understandably) becomes very angry, upset and intends on placing a complaint. I am currently developing another simulated hospital event for 2021 and intend for this to be an IPE activity.

Here is an example of a nurse chatbot which we deployed into a large-scale IPE simulation for a colleague.

Looking ahead

Having successfully deployed chatbots at a local level, we are now looking at the possibility of wider publishing to the organisations app catalogue in Microsoft Teams. Bots could then be selected by other users, and once deployed, would appear as 1:1 chats.

We have no doubt that 2021 and beyond will highlight an increased appetite in the part-automation of a number of day-to-day tasks undertaken by educators, and this is something we will continue to both explore and evaluate.

Find out more

Chatbots for TEL

Creating chatbots for online simulation

Power Apps

App Studio: Creating chatbots in Microsoft Teams

Power Virtual Agents

Learning Microsoft Power Apps

Read more education blogs 

About the author

Sam Pywell is a Lecturer in Occupational Therapy at the University of Central Lancashire, and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Sam has recently led development of chatbots in online simulation for health and social care students using Microsoft Teams. She is an MIE Expert, DigiLearn Champion and Key Contributor to the DigiLearn Sector community. You can follow her on Twitter @smileyfacehalo.

The post How to develop a chatbot to support your educators and students appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

More than ever, students are now accessing and engaging with learning through their own mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets. One of the main benefits of using podcasts, are that they don’t require the consumer of the content to be viewing a screen. This can often prove both flexible and convenient, particularly as the files can be listened to in a variety of settings – e.g. while out exercising, or even when relaxing in the evening.

So, the concept sounds great – but how do you actually create a podcast? This blog will take you through some key steps to creating your very first podcast, using many tools available within the Microsoft Office 365 suite.

1) Planning the content for the podcast

Before starting to record a podcast, there are some key factors to consider:

• • Who are the intended listeners?
  • How might they be accessing the content?
  • Are you recording ‘solo’, or wanting to capture a conversation with multiple participants?
  • What recording setup do you currently have?
  • Are you likely to require any further equipment?

Addressing these points will help ensure that you are prepared to record your first podcast.

2) Recording the podcast

The main hardware requirement for getting started with podcasting, would be either a smart phone, tablet, laptop or PC with a built-in microphone. A dedicated external microphone will likely enhance the quality of audio, but is not essential to the recording process. A set of earphones or headphones can also be useful for blocking out unwanted background noise during the recording process.

If you are simply looking to record ‘solo’, then you can use the Voice Recorder app built into Windows 10. This provides basic recording and editing features, and is one of the simplest ways of capturing audio content. Most modern mobile devices also come with their own built-in app, which will have a similar level of functionality.

However, if your aim is to capture a conversation between multiple participants e.g. between a host and several guests, then Microsoft Teams can offer a suitable solution.

Firstly, you will need to arrange a Microsoft Teams meeting to host the conversation, and then invite in any other participants. Once in the Teams meeting, you can select Start Recording by clicking ‘…’, which will begin recording any audio and video being shared by the participants. Once finished, you can follow a similar process to Stop Recording.

Although you are not likely to need any visuals for an audio podcast, it can be useful to have cameras switched on as a visual aid throughout the recording process. This really helps with making a virtual conversation feel much more natural – as participants can often benefit from seeing body language and visual cues.

3) Editing the content

It’s not always essential to edit a podcast. However, you may wish to tidy up your recording before publishing. If using Voice Recorder, this is possible within the application itself.

If you have recorded within a Microsoft Teams meeting, you can use the Trim video function within Microsoft Stream. If you want to retain the video captured within the podcast, then sharing as part of a Microsoft Stream channel (within your organisation), may prove a suitable option.

If you are wanting to extract just the audio from your recording (to be hosted elsewhere), or wish to do some additional editing, such as adding background music or adding an intro/outro – this will likely require the use of audio editing software. You could check with your organisation to see what software you might already have available to you. Audacity is a free open-source alternative, which provides plenty of functionality for anyone looking to get started with audio editing.

4) Hosting the final podcast

Once you have recorded and edited your podcast, your next consideration is where to host it. There are many ways that you can host a podcast online. One way of doing this via your Office 365 account, would be to use Microsoft Sway. Sway is described as Microsoft’s digital storytelling tool, and allows great flexibility to embed different types of multimedia content – including audio. Here are a few simple steps to get started with your podcast in Microsoft Sway:

1. 1. Select Create New
   2. Source a suitable image to use as cover art, and Insert as an Image Card
   3. Set the image Emphasis, as appropriate
   4. Create an Audio Card, and upload the relevant audio file
   5. Add any additional info (episode no., topic, guests etc) into the Caption box
   6. Use the Group function to link both the Image and Audio

These steps can easily be repeated to add further podcast episodes within the same Sway.

Using the Styles option within Design, will also allow you to customise the way that your Sway looks and feels. Selecting the Slides navigation mode often provides a clear and simple way of navigating between individual podcast episodes.

The Play button will provide a preview of how your Sway looks, and once you are happy, you can click the Share button to obtain a shareable weblink. This can very easily be embedded within a Team, using the Website option when adding a new tab to a channel.

Putting the steps into practice

Our DigiLearn podcast might give you a bit of inspiration to support you on your own journey to creating and sharing podcasts with your students.

Below is a quote from Nicky Varley – an MIE Expert and Lecturer in Children’s Nursing at the University of Central Lancashire, who has started exploring the use of podcasts within her teaching.

“The podcast was recorded via Microsoft Teams and then uploaded to our Virtual Learning Environment for the students to listen to. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and they appreciated that we could share our stories within the podcast – something the students said they had really missed from the classroom. The trouble with no longer being face to face, is you miss that interaction with students, and sometimes online teaching can feel a little cold. Within nursing, sharing our past experiences really helps to paint a picture for our students. This is something I know I have really struggled to recreate with other forms of technology, but now podcasting seems to have changed that. By using this approach, not only are we being inclusive, we are also being creative.”

There are many different approaches to creating and hosting podcasts utilising many of the tools within Office 365, and we would encourage you to share any of your own innovative approaches with the wider #MicrosoftEDU community.

Find out more

How to use Voice Recorder

Recording a meeting in Teams

Create channels in Microsoft Stream

Digital storytelling with Microsoft Sway

Recording a podcast for accessible learning

About the author

Chris is a Senior Learning Technologist at the University of Central Lancashire, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Since 2018, he has led development of UCLan’s innovative and sector-endorsed DigiLearn model and programme – to support, recognise and reward colleagues in relation to their inclusive and innovative digital practice. Widening collaboration across the sector, Chris also co-ordinates UCLan’s DigiLearn Sector – an active community, connecting over 1000 digital practitioners across HE, FE, schools, and beyond. As a Microsoft Learning Consultant, he now works with other institutions – supporting their adoption of Microsoft technologies to improve both staff and student outcomes. Chris also makes regular appearances presenting at both national and international education conferences. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisLearnTech.

The post New ways of learning: 4 steps to record and share a podcast with your students appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

So what we can do with machine learning? We can first use it to understand an individual’s learning needs. It can then be used to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of teaching.

Using technology to disrupt education

Teachers often understand the complexity of their student’s parent’s lives (often, they’re in the same boat!). Especially when remote learning and extra support at home can generate real pressures. But parents are always keen to help. And they now have a greater awareness than ever of the array of remote learning options available. Machine learning can help take the complexity out of giving students the extra help they need, coupled with adaptive learning.

What is adaptive learning?

Adaptive learning uses software to change what is presented to a student based on their interactions. To the student, it may seem that they are being presented with content, questions, and hints that are either preordained or random. The reality is that the adaptive learning algorithms are carefully guiding their path. When adaptive learning is blended with effective teaching, students can master and retain skills 1.5 times faster.

Many have looked to build more effective systems, leveraging the power of cloud and the opportunities it gives for data processing and machine learning.

If I were a Hollywood scriptwriter, this is the point for a montage with screens full of numbers crunching away, automating the creation of an education system. Unfortunately, it is not that easy. It also, disappointingly, doesn’t involve a montage filled with techy or 80s music (I’ll let you choose that one).

Back to reality. Here are the four most important things we learnt when we implemented adaptive learning with machine learning:

1. Consider the human side of technology to keep students engaged

We all have different preferences of learning style, such as visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinaesthetic. A teacher will recognise this and will adapt their approach for individuals as appropriate, particularly where one encounters an area of difficulty. This, however can take a lot of time away from the teacher to deliver these different styles to each student. Machine learning can automatically deliver content to suit the learning preferences for individual students, freeing up time for teachers to spend supporting their students in other ways and answering any questions they might have. It can also help with employing gamification techniques to provide a fun and interactive learning experience for students.

2. Be clear on the outcomes you want to achieve and get your data in order

We wanted to use adaptive learning to help students master and retain skills as efficiently as possible. To help this, we gave our machine learning program a dataset of previous interactions. This enabled us to predicts future events based on that previous data.

The more the program is used by students and the more new data it collects, the smarter your machine learning system will be as it learns to adapt and provide outcomes that are closer to what you set out to achieve at the start.

3. Determine how and when to intervene

Reinforcement is used to ensure that students continue to be exposed to skills that have been mastered until they have demonstrated a solid understanding. To achieve this, there are a number of variables adaptive learning will use. This includes the order that skills are presented, when to progress or regress skills, and when and how to intervene if a student is becoming stuck.

4. Look for opportunities to understand and optimise

Using machine learning optimises the learning path by enabling you to use a far more complex set of variables. This could include the time taken for a student to answer a question, and the geographical location (and therefore school system and learning method taught). When given a wrong answer, machine learning can identify and reinforce the skill that was the source of the misunderstanding.

Doing this will help a student retain and learn skills quickly, as well as ensuring they are getting the right information, at the right time.

Unlock children’s learning potential

Online education tools are a great resource for parents. Machine learning, when applied intelligently to adaptive learning, has the ability to provide highly optimised support for accelerating children’s progress. However, this is not purely a numbers game. The human touch is a critical element in providing true long-term engagement and progression.

When assessing tools available, try and choose those that best support the power of adaptive learning with human intervention.

If you have an idea where you think machine learning may help and want to know more, we would love to spend the day with you discussing the art of the possible.

Find out more

Discover tools and technology for distance learning

Learn how to create and collect data through adaptive assessments 

Explore more about Talk Think Do

Explore Learning

Grow your skills and expertise at the UK Partner Skills Hub

About the author

Matt is CEO of Talk Think Do, a UK based Microsoft Gold Partner specialising in cloud native solutions. Before Talk Think Do, Matt amassed 25 years’ experience in software development, working on high profile projects for world-renowned organisations. Employed first as a developer and then as a solutions architect, Matt’s CV includes work for Barclays, Fitness First and several Formula 1 teams.

Today, his focus is on the direction of Talk Think Do, growing the business by developing strategic partnerships and building the technical capability of the team.

The post 4 steps to enhance children’s education with machine learning appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

At Cornerstone Public School, we decided to implement Teams across the whole school to make it easier for students and teachers to access the information they need, when and wherever they are.

Having access to planning is a key aspect of teaching. In Teams, these documents can be accessed securely, while meeting GDPR guidelines.

Giving your students’ access to anywhere learning helps them gain confidence and digital skills, preparing them for their future.

It’s easy to set your class up on Teams. Normally, your IT team will have added your students to a class group and you can then add this to your Class Team. If not, add your student’s Office 365 Education names.

1.      Organise your class Team

Every team comes with a general channel, which has the following tabs: Posts, Files, Class Notebook, Assignments, and Grades. You can add more channels if you need to and set their privacy to be accessible to all students or just some.

2.      Communicate with your students

Use Posts to message your entire class or Channel – I tend to do this for news and to share information. The Announcements feature is great for when I need to draw student’s attention, for example to share an assignment. If you need to talk to a student or colleague one-to-one, you can use the chat function to send text messages, audio messages, and video or audio calls.

3.      Share and organise documents

You can upload, create, and share key documents for either pupils or the whole class to edit collaboratively. You can set files to read only when you need to use them as reference to complete assignments. The documents can be all stored securely in one place making it easy to find.

4.      Class Notebook

Class Notebook gives your students a place to take notes and collaborate with the class. A variety of media can be embedded within a page on a Notebook supporting students’ learning experiences. For group work, the collaboration space provides a space where groups can work together.

Assign students their own OneNote notebook. Splitting the notebook into different categories helps the work stay organised. Each section acts like its own book collating all the work that a student completes.

5.      Assignments and grades

This brings us to Assignments and Grades. You can set students assignments through Teams, either for the whole class or particular pupils depending on differentiation. You can even add the assignment instantly into a student’s particular section of their Class Notebook.

The Grades tab lets you track student progress and view the status of their work. You can grade individually via the Grades tab, or collectively through the Assignment tab, adding feedback and points.

Using Microsoft Teams, creates independence, particularly for students in the older years of primary school. With the majority of secondary schools using an online platform for learning, this prepares them for this experience, as well as their future in further education and the workplace.

Find out more

Five steps to introduce Teams to your educators

Join a Teams webinar

About the author

Henry is a digital leader and Year 6 teacher at Cornerstone Primary School and an MIEExpert. He is passionate about developing technology in the classroom and equipping students with the best skills to prepare them for the future.

The post How to unlock anywhere learning by setting up a Teams Class appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

We wanted to see if Teams would help facilitate a course with a remote study. We also wanted to build the digital skills and confidence of our future nurses.

Initially, we created a Teams space that included educational resources and guided study, in addition to interactive conversational feedback mechanisms. This allowed students to interact with both their tutor and peers. It also provided a sense of belonging to an online learning community – even though students were geographically separated.

Making connections no matter the distance

Students are engaged in weekly studies directed by the facilitator/tutor. In their own time and at their own pace, they immersed themselves in the resources provided via Teams. With a theme of learning and sharing, its helped students with module assessment group support and feedback following draft submissions to Teams.

Because Teams is accessible on all devices, students could access it no matter where they were. The tutor was the owner of the Team and governed access to the group, organising resources, and directing student study.

In an early poll using the built in Polly app, students were asked: “How are you finding using the Teams app so far?”

The results were:

29% ‘Loving it’

71% ‘Looks interesting’

The students embraced Teams reluctantly initially, but then having realised its benefits and flexibility, they became more impressed.

The six benefits of Teams

Here are six of the key features and benefits the students found using Teams:

1. The platform allowed direct discussion between individual students about practice which encouraged the theme of learning and sharing within the module of study.
2. It also allowed peer review and collaboration of posted work together with group supervision from the tutor to the whole group in relation to a piece of work or resource.
3. It was user friendly for the students, it’s portability meaning contributions might be posted any time, even in the middle of a night shift. It’s range of accessible-by-design features meant all students were able to use it.
4. As student expertise and competence with this digital platform grew, it promoted a virtual professional community of learners. They were able to connect and learn from each other despite their physical remoteness.
5. The portability of Teams meant that the collaborative space was encouraged and inadvertently this encouraged digital competence. Users could post their own work and also comment or like the work of others.
6. The private chat function could also be engaged by students if necessary, to speak privately with the tutor or other students.

Increased student outcomes

The flexibility of access to CPD programmes was enhanced. Users were able to access support from both tutor and peers. They were also able to review educational resources posted to the Team by the tutor/facilitator. This allowed an extension of the professional working environment, provided by a professional alternative to the many social media platforms that we now know.

The very nature of Teams promoted the development of professionally required characteristics such as integrity, leadership, respect, collaboration, and communication. It also helped develop the professionally recognised standards of behaviour as set out by the nursing code (NMC, 2019).

Ultimately, Teams facilitated the preservation of safe and effective clinical practice through the sharing of best evidence, the enhancement of knowledge, and the recognition of digital capability. Microsoft Teams has proved itself to be a valuable asset in the growing toolkit of digital resources that support education and learning, digital competence, and professional development.

Find out more

Leveraging Teams to develop transferable skills for the future work environment

9 ways to transform the student learning experience with Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams adoption guide

About the author

Anne Jarvis is a Certified MIE, and Senior Lecturer in acute, critical & emergency care in the School of Sport & Health Sciences at UCLan. She teaches the key concepts and principles in relation to the management of the neuroscience patient including neuro-anatomy, physiology & patho-physiology. She has a particular interest in patient experience, and her publications include a paper that details her experience of using Microsoft Teams in education; Jarvis, A. Reflecting on technology-enabled learning in neuroscience nurse education. British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing. 2019, 15(4), 190-193.

The post 6 ways Microsoft Teams helps develop transferable skills in students appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

For those not based in Wales, Minecraft: Education Edition is available for free until June 2020 for all educators and learners who have a valid Office 365 Education account. You can request access here.

Setting the context for learning is a really important consideration when planning any lesson or activity with Minecraft. There are many ways practitioners can create really engaging activities, ideal for remote access learning. Here are two projects that I have found to be really effective.

Developing literacy skills

Minecraft can be a fun and interesting way of developing reading and writing skills. Focus on environment descriptions in a text and challenge your learners to create their own settings within Minecraft. Novels and short stories with rich setting descriptions are perfect for this activity. One project that particularly highlighted this was The Wonderful World of Roald Dahl. Learners engaged with a range of texts and created their very own settings from Roald Dahl books with Minecraft. Following this, learners created their own stories with imagined settings within Minecraft. An important aspect of this project was the planning, reading, and writing which was done before learners started building in Minecraft. This ensured that the time spent building within Minecraft was purposeful and encouraged learners to be reflective throughout the process.

Minecraft: Education Edition has produced a range of Roald Dahl themed resources to support educators with developing literacy skills through Minecraft.

Local history projects

Minecraft can be a really effective tool to support the development of historical enquiry and interpretation. In the project That’s Entertainment, learners investigated the role the local area played in people’s leisure time in the past. To start the activity, learners used a range of sources to investigate this, including: online journals, interviews with the local residents, and photographs. Some students created an online questionnaire to collect information using Office Forms through Hwb. Following this, learners focused on an area/building within the community and used their research to create a website to share their learning with others.

After the planning stage, learners worked collaboratively to build a virtual museum of the locality in Minecraft. Each child focused on a specific building and used their research to inform their build. They also created a plan which included the scale of their building and the blocks they would use. To share their learning with a wider audience, learners added Non-player Characters (NPCs) to link their websites to their Minecraft communities.

You can access the That’s Entertainment resource through Hwb.

Remote collaboration and sharing

There are lots of ways learners can share their Minecraft work if they are working remotely. A great way for learners to document their progress within Minecraft is by using the camera tool. Photographs are stored in a portfolio where learners can add captions to describe each of their photographs. Portfolios can be exported and shared as a PDF.

Learners can also use the book and quill tool to combine text and photos to share their learning within Minecraft. The book and quill encourage learners to write more detailed descriptions. They are able to add multiple pages and images within the book. This can then be exported and shared.

There are lots of Hwb tools for students to share their learning within Minecraft remotely. Why not challenge your students to create a digital story using Sway through Office 365? Learners can combine images, text, and video and share their learning using a link. You can find more information about getting started with Sway here. 

Gamifying distance learning to improve outcomes

The Minecraft: Education Edition team has compiled a special Minecraft remote learning toolkit, which includes more than 50 lessons, STEM curriculum and project-based learning activities so educators can use Minecraft: Education Edition with their students whether they are in school, at home, or in another remote learning environment.

Find out more

Discover how to start with Minecraft: Education Edition

About the author

James Protheroe is assistant headteacher at Darran Park Primary School, South Wales. As a Microsoft Showcase School, the school has placed digital learning at the very heart of teaching and learning. This has included developing effective pupil digital leaders who have supported teachers and learners across Wales to develop effective approaches to teaching and learning with Microsoft tools.

As a lead practitioner for Central South Consortium, James has supported schools from across the region to develop effective leadership in digital learning. James is an MIE Expert and Minecraft Global Mentor.

The post Utilising Minecraft: Education Edition for remote access learning appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

So what does teaching look like when our students aren’t sat directly in front of us? What does it really mean to teach remotely? How do you inspire, manage, care for, and engage your students whilst you’re sat in your own home and they are in theirs? It can be difficult and daunting to find new ways of working in these times of change, especially when you are pushed out of your comfort zone and regular routine.

To help you deliver an uninterrupted experience for your students through virtual and remote learning, four of our top Microsoft Innovative Fellows have begun to explore these questions within their own schools and have kindly shared their insights with us.

1. Take the first step

Jimmy Edwards from St. Hele’s School in Plymouth recounts his first attempt at remote learning with Teams, what he learned and his tips to get started when you and your students are brand-new to Teams and remote learning.

Read more: 3 tips to get started with Microsoft Teams for remote learning

2. Prepare your workspace

Paul Watkins from Ygsol Bae Baglan in Port Talbot gives us his top tips for preparing your work station at home to be ‘teacher-ready’ even if you are wearing your fuzzy slippers. He shares his tips on how to take the fear out of being on camera with you students and how you can embrace Teams to help you reach your students remotely.

Read more: How to set up a remote learning workspace in 4 easy steps

3. Encourage student collaboration

Elaine Topham from Grimsby Institute outlines a variety of tools you may want to consider to foster communication and collaboration while in a remote learning situation. She has compiled a view of Office 365 tools that can help you with instruction and assessment.

Read more: Tools to support teachers with remote learning

4. Equip your students for the future digital workplace

Sarah Clark from Queen Anne’s High School in Fife shares with us a differentiated approach to remote learning. Making reaching your students accessible even if you are a novice at Teams or a seasoned technologist. Modelling a growth mindset with your students, sets them up for success in their future careers- particularly if they are using the same remote working technologies they will be using after they leave school

Read more: How to use Microsoft Teams for remote learning: tips for all abilities

While you may not need to utilise remote learning at this time, it is an excellent option when you consider your contingency planning for emergencies and disaster recovery. Floods, snow, fire, or other incidents that can prevent students from attending school require a thoughtful approach to remote learning.

Find out more

Explore resources to support remote learning

Discover how Imperial College London used Teams to connect and engage remotely

About the author

Jennifer King is an award-winning, international thought leader in Education with 20 years of experience in the education sector from classroom to corporations. She is passionate about the success of students and their teachers and how the power of technology can transform the way they work and learn. Jennifer was previously the Head of Film and Media at Strode’s College in Surrey before starting her own education consultancy. JKES was a Microsoft Education Partner with a focus on digital transformation, project based learning, and teacher professional development. Jennifer is also the creator of the Student Teacher Education Program. She has recently returned from Microsoft Corp in Seattle, where she was the Director of Education in 21^st Century Jobs, Skills, and Employability.

The post 4 tips to make the most of remote learning and deliver an uninterrupted student experience appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Here are a range of ways I have used Microsoft Teams in my secondary school classroom when I have needed to implement remote learning in the past to help guide you on how you can make the most of technology in these challenging times.

1. I’m a Microsoft Teams newbie

If you don’t have much experience with Microsoft Teams and are looking to use it to communicate with your pupils when they are not in school, the ‘Files’ section is a great place to upload documents for the pupils to access.

I use the ‘Files’ section in Teams when I want pupils to complete past exam paper questions by uploading the past paper as a PDF to the class materials folder. Pupils cannot edit files in the class materials folder. I then post a comment in the chat to let them know the file has been uploaded and tell them which questions I want them to complete.

My pupils will complete the work and later that day, I post the file with the answers so pupils can self-assess their work.

Pupils can also upload a picture of their work and ask for help at any point during the day.

Here are some other things you could do:

• • In your class Team click on the ‘Files’ tab and upload files from your computer/OneDrive.
  • In the ‘Chat’ tab at the top, post a comment to tell pupils what file you want them to access and what you want them to do.
  • Pupils can respond by commenting in the chat or uploading a photo of the work in their notebook

2. I’ve mastered the basics

If you have mastered the basics of using Teams and have been sharing files with pupils, you may want to start setting assignments for them using Teams too.

For me, this is an easy way to distribute a file to each pupil in the class and have pupils work on a task with a specific deadline. The file could be a Word document, PowerPoint, Forms quiz,  or even a OneNote page amongst other formats.

My senior pupils recently had to complete a lab report for an experiment they did in class. In the assignments tab in Teams, I inserted a blank Word document, added the headings for each section (aim, method, results, conclusion) and sent this out for pupils to complete within 2 days.

Straight away I could see who has viewed the assignment and who had completed it. I could view each pupil’s work without leaving Teams and was able to give them feedback with next steps. Pupils were then able to make changes and resubmit their work.

By setting assignments in Teams your pupils will be able to easily check when their assignments are due, you’ll be able to see who has viewed and completed their assignments, and you are both able to check on progress and feedback throughout. You will also only have to upload one copy of the file which can then be distributed to all pupils.

Here are some other things you could do:

• • In your class Team click on the ‘Assignments’ tab
  • Select ‘create new assignment’ and add your file
  • Add a date and a time for the assignment to be completed
  • You can view the progress of your students at any time by clicking on that specific assignment
  • Once pupils have submitted you can look at each one and return it to the pupil along with your feedback.

3. I’m an advanced Teams user

Once you have mastered ‘assignments’ in Teams, you may want to host a live lesson for your class. You can use the ‘meet now’ feature or you can schedule a meeting at a particular time. This may seem daunting at first but it is a great way for students to know lessons will carry on, with the expectation of everyone attending in a virtual classroom.

The first time I tried a live lesson, I turned off my camera before joining the live meeting and shared my desktop with the pupils. I was then able to take them through a PowerPoint presentation, work through a biology question in OneNote, and even show the pupils how to create a graph.

Offline, I have used my phone as a visualiser and uploaded the video to the files section in Teams so pupils can watch on demand at a time that suits them. This worked very well when pupils were unable to meet at the specific time. You may even want to record the live lesson so pupils can watch later.

Here are some other things you could do:

• • In the chat section, select ‘meet now’ (the small video camera button at the bottom of the page)
  • To schedule a meeting go to your calendar and select ‘new meeting’ then a specific time.
  • Once in the meeting the toolbar has various option (share desktop, record meeting and blur background, live captions and there is a chat panel for students to type questions)

Whether you are an experienced Teams user or not, there are a variety of options available to you to ensure learning doesn’t stop because you and your students cannot be at school. I have found these tools very beneficial in my science class and pupils have found them easy to use on a computer or on their phone.

I would recommend testing it out with students first if you can.  Have them join the Teams site and download the app to their phone so they can receive notifications. My students us the join code (generated in settings) to access the site initially and I task them with taking a photo of their work on their phone and uploading it to the site so I can check they are comfortable using it.

There is a wealth of resources available online to help with remote learning and the product teams are always on Twitter to help when needed, check them out using #msftedu and @DominicWillit

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4 tips to make the most of remote learning and deliver an uninterrupted student experience

Remote teaching and learning in Office 365 Education 

About the author

The post How to use Microsoft Teams for remote learning: tips for all abilities appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

If your organisation uses a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) or Office 365 and Microsoft Teams, then you already have the tools available to deliver quality teaching and learning remotely.

Improve communication

Microsoft Teams provides the perfect platform for you to communicate effectively with your students. If you don’t already have a Teams site setup, it’s quick and easy. If you setup a Class Team, you will have the ability to set assignments via Teams. Teams allows peer-to-peer or teacher-to-student chat, collaboration, video calls, and online meetings. It stores chats and files securely and the search bar allows the user to quickly find what they need.

If you don’t have Microsoft Teams, then email could be used to enable communication with your students. Depending on your school, college, or university policy regarding teacher-to-student communications, you may also be able to post updates and links to students and/or parents using a social media platform.

Create remote and on-demand lessons

PowerPoint Recorder allows you to record audio, video, and digital ink over your PowerPoint presentations. These can then be published to Microsoft Stream or exported as a video to upload to another video hosting site. You can then use your chosen communication method to send these out to students or post them to Teams or VLE.

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Flipped instruction with PowerPoint Recorder

Encourage collaboration

In traditional classrooms, students would work together on documents, sometimes digitally but often on paper. When working remotely, Office 365 can provide the tools needed to enable students to work together collaboratively across a range of devices. It updates in real-time, meaning collaboration and feedback is instant.

Other tools you could use to allow your students to collaborate include Sway and OneNote. If you’re using a Class Team then you will already have a Class Notebook area. Class Notebook helps you be more organised with a personal workspace for every student, a content library for handouts, and a collaboration space for lessons and creative activities.

Visually striking digital stories can be created with Sway. These can also be built by a group of students via a collaboration link.

Learn more

Streamline efficiency with Office 365 apps

Digital Storytelling with Microsoft Sway

Getting Started with OneNote

Digital questioning and assessment

There are many tools you can use for questioning and assessment but depending on whether you’d like to review the understanding later, or get more creative, you could use Quizzes in Microsoft Forms or Flipgrid videos.

Flipgrid is quick and easy to set up, you create a Grid and Topics and share these with your students. Leave instructions and link resources on the topics, so students understand what they need to do. You can even create advanced rubrics for assessing your student’s contributions.

Microsoft Forms can be used to create multiple choice quizzes, which can then be added to Teams or shared with students to complete. You can view the summary of responses for the class or view individual student results. The form settings allow you to change whether the students can have multiple attempts and they’re quick to create and share.

Learn more

Flipgrid – Educators Getting Started Guide

Creating Authentic Assessments

Whichever selection of tools you choose to use, there is support available to help you transition from teaching in the class to teaching online. It may seem daunting at first but remember the first day you stepped into the classroom and how you felt then and this is no different to that, but now your classroom is virtual!

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4 tips to make the most of remote learning and deliver an uninterrupted student experience

About the author

Elaine has worked for over 10 years in education, delivering ICT qualifications and training in Further Education, Higher Education, community learning, and apprenticeships. She now works as a Senior Learning Technologist at the Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education. In the role, she helps more than 400 academic staff implement technology solutions in the classroom, as well as fully integrating Office 365 technologies into the work processes of support staff. As a MIE Expert and active member of the Microsoft Educator Community, Elaine drives the adoption of learning technologies throughout the Grimsby Institute and provides Microsoft Office Specialist training and support for staff development. Dedicated and passionate, Elaine recognises the growing need for digital capabilities within teaching, and believes that with the right support, technology creates better learning experiences.

The post Tools to support teachers with remote learning appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.

Whether you are planning to live-stream your lessons online through Microsoft Teams or record your them with the Recorder option in PowerPoint, the environment and location of where you deliver this from is important. When we set up a classroom, we always consider the environment that our pupils are going to be taught in and we strive to ensure that is it conducive to learning with engagement at its core.

Here are some practical tips to help you establish your remote learning area at home:

1. Set up the room

The location that you choose as your remote learning workspace is really important. Ideally, you need a clear environment that will enable you to be productive throughout the day. Try and find a room where doors can be closed to reduce background noise as much as possible. ASD pupils may find it difficult to focus on your voice if there are noise distractions so this is a crucial step to create an inclusive remote learning environment for all your students.

If you are going to be recording learning content, you need to make sure your room is well lit and that you have a good balance between both natural and electrical lighting. Test out different options before you start to record and make sure the video picture is clear for your students.

2. Test audio and video quality

Whilst devices have a mic built into them and it is often sufficient, it can always be improved with the help of an external microphone. From previous experience, I have found a headset microphone is the best at noise cancellation to minimise distractions from your lesson. If you are using a webcam, I’d recommend testing the quality and positioning of it before your lesson. You may need to use the external webcam if the quality of the internal one is poor.

3. Consider how you will deliver the lesson

If you are planning to record lessons via PowerPoint to ensure it can be accessible for your student at any time of the day, try and avoid sitting with your back to a window or wall that is full of distractions. The students need to be focused on you, not the things behind you.

For those of you who would prefer to use Microsoft Teams to live-stream your lessons, make sure you have uploaded all of the files to the Teams site prior to the lesson so you can easily show students where to find the work when you share your screen. I’d recommend trying to keep the video to screen sharing where possible to keep pupils focused on the work but if you do need to be on camera, make sure that background blur is enabled. This will ensure background distractions are minimised and is a reminder to your students on why the connection is taking place.

4. Set some ground rules

Make sure you set expectations with your pupils the same as you would in a classroom environment and familiarise yourself with how to mute pupils if they are interupting the lesson. Encourage students to ask questions through the chat panel. This way even your quieter students will be given a voice and everybody will have a chance to be heard. Just make sure you monitor it throughout the lesson.

On a more practical note, if there are other people at home, make sure they know you are delivering a lesson and ask them not to disturb you during it.

For many teachers this is a real step out of their comfort zone but we have these wonderful tools available to us, and our pupils, that can help us through a difficult time, whilst ensuring that every effort is made to help pupils achieve the best outcomes they can. And remember, there is a wonderful community of teachers available to help and support you during this time.

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Using PowerPoint recorder for your lessons 

Introduction to Microsoft Teams

4 tips to make the most of remote learning and deliver an uninterrupted student experience

About the author

Paul ‘Lanny’ Watkins is an IT/Computing Teacher at Ysgol Bae Baglan, a Microsoft Showcase School. He is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Fellow, Master Trainer, Skype Master Teacher and Flipgrid Student Voice Executive Board Member. Recently acknowledged in the 2020 EdTech 50, Paul is also a member of Welsh Government’s National Digital Learning Council.

The post How to set up a remote learning workspace in 4 easy steps appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - United Kingdom.