To better understand what skills employers are prioritizing, Microsoft commissioned International Data Corporation (IDC) to interview more than 800 business and IT leaders worldwide. The findings, captured in a newly released IDC InfoBrief, Thriving in an AI-driven Future: Defining Critical Skills and Tools as Jobs Evolve,* highlight a need for not only technical and AI-related skills, but also human skills development. The report explores what skills and tools are most critical to success, targeting roles in IT and line of business (LOB) areas such as marketing, sales, HR, operations, and finance.

Skills development has gone from an anchor experience in higher education to being an ongoing experience as part of the flow of work. Whether starting as a new graduate or an experienced professional leader, the end goal is to adapt and learn the most critical tools for driving productivity, business and organizational success.

Amy Loomis, Ph.D., IDC Research Vice President, Future of Work

Read the IDC InfoBrief Thriving in an AI-driven Future: Defining Critical Skills and Tools as Jobs Evolve to learn about the key skills and tools that are critical to success in the workplace.

Key findings: Build proficiency in productivity tools and human skills

As technologies like AI become more commonplace, it’s increasingly important to build proficiency in productivity tools with generative AI embedded in them, including those that workers are already using.

Findings from the IDC InfoBrief, Thriving in an AI-driven Future, show three top technical skills ranked by the percentage of respondents for two groups: IT and LOB. The skills are ranked as follows: Microsoft Office 50% IT, 66% LOB; data management 35% IT, 39% LOB; project management 34% IT, and 35% LOB.

When it comes to the technical skills prioritized by IT and business leaders worldwide, proficiency in Microsoft Office was ranked the most important technical skill for professional success across IT and business leaders—significantly ahead of the next listed skill.

Two statistics from the IDC InfoBrief, Thriving in an AI-driven Future, about applications to know for work. Sixty-five percent of respondents report Microsoft Teams is a top tool. Sixty-five percent of LOB managers report Microsoft Office is the most important for success for their teams.

In addition, 100% of respondents shared that they use Microsoft Office every day for communication and collaboration, with 65% of LOB managers choosing it as the most important solution for the professional success of their teams.

Microsoft Teams was also identified as critical. When asked about the overall ranking of the top 3 collaboration tools for work purposes, respondents cited Microsoft Teams as the highest ranked collaboration and productivity application for work purposes, with Microsoft Office also being in the top 3.

Two bar graphs from the IDC InfoBrief, Thriving in an AI-driven Future, that list the important human and business skills for experienced professionals and new professionals according to respondents. The skills listed for experienced professionals are problem solving (49%), communication (45%), data analysis (44%), organizational skills (42%), and flexibility (42%). The skills listed for new professionals are flexibility (42%), creative problem solving (41%), creativity (35%), organizational skills (34%), and problem solving (34%).

In addition to having working knowledge of Microsoft Office and Microsoft Teams, experienced professionals and managers indicated that future success in new hires requires human and business skills such as:

• Problem solving
• Communication
• Flexibility
• Creativity
• Data analysis

Our tools continue to be foundational to success in the knowledge economy. As a leading provider of AI technology, these tools with built-in AI functionality will help ensure that students are ready for what is next in the world of work.

Paige Johnson, Vice President, Education and Media Industry Marketing, Microsoft

Certifications matter to employers

Recent LinkedIn data reveals that 20% of U.S. jobs no longer require a 4-year degree, with employers adopting a “skills-first” approach to hiring. This approach emphasizes what a candidate can do and their willingness to learn new skills.

The IDC InfoBrief confirms this trend. Of responding IT and LOB managers:

• 74% indicate that certifications from technology vendors are important when hiring entry level applicants.
• 70% note that certifications are as important, if not more, than academic degrees for hiring new professionals.
• 50% say that vendor certifications offer greater career mobility.
• 45% agree that certifications lead to more engaging roles and higher pay.

We are excited to see the opportunity industry credentials represent for students entering the workforce to demonstrate their technical skills verified with industry-recognized certifications to stand out in a competitive job market.

Christina Thoresen, Worldwide Education Solutions Strategy Leader, Microsoft

In addition to the value employers find in certifications, the IDC InfoBrief also offers companies and organizations guidance regarding AI and hiring practices:

• Align around key skills for business and IT.
• Invest in generative AI technology and training. 
• Reinforce the importance of key human and business skills. 
• Consider which vendor certifications are most important.
• Partner with educational institutions to encourage better skills alignment for graduates.

Explore how Microsoft Credentials support growth and proficiency with role-based certifications to new, scenario-specific applied skills.

Preparing for AI readiness in the workforce

IDC’s findings, as well as Microsoft’s own New Future of Work report, confirm that the need for an AI-ready workforce has already arrived. Today’s graduates are expected to be able to use Microsoft Copilot and other AI technologies as they progress from classroom to career. Skills like critical thinking and analytical judgment, complex problem solving, and creativity and originality are new core competencies—not just for technical roles or AI experts.

As AI reshapes work, human-AI collaboration will be the next transformational work pattern—the ability to work iteratively with AI will be a key skill for every employee. We’re already seeing it. Here’s what stands out from our November 2023 Work Trend Index Special Report:

• 70% of Copilot users said they were more productive, and 68% said it improved the quality of their work.
• Overall, users were 29% faster in a series of tasks (searching, writing, and summarizing).
• Users were able to get caught up on a missed meeting nearly 4x faster.
• 64% of users said Copilot helps them spend less time processing email.
• 85% of users said Copilot helps them get to a good first draft faster.
• 75% of users said Copilot “saves me time by finding whatever I need in my files.”
• 77% of users said once they used Copilot, they didn’t want to give it up.

Get started today with Copilot and explore how to leverage it as an educator. Learn more about Copilot for Microsoft 365, an add-on, to integrate AI assistance into the apps you use every day.

Explore resources for building key skills

Learn more about key skills and tools critical for future success by exploring these additional resources.

• Discover interactive projects, self-paced training, communities, and more for your students at the Microsoft Learn Student Hub. 
• Bring AI and in-demand tech skills-building to your students through Microsoft Credentials. 
• Kickstart your school’s AI journey with the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit.
• Complete the AI for educators learning path to discover practical and interesting ways to integrate AI into teaching and learning with tools like Copilot.
• Use the Classroom toolkit: Unlocking generative AI safely and responsibly, a resource designed to assist educators in initiating conversations about responsible AI practices in the classroom.
• Check out the Minecraft AI Prompt Lab to learn skills and knowledge needed to creatively use Minecraft Education as a dynamic teaching tool. 
• Explore the Microsoft Office Specialist and Microsoft Certified Fundamentals certifications available from Certiport.
• Read the AI in Education Report for the latest insights from Microsoft, partner organizations, and academia on new opportunities and challenges.

*doc #US51794024, March 2024

The post New IDC InfoBrief explores key skills and tools critical to AI success appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

To help streamline your search for new and effective tools, we’ve rounded up some of the latest updates and experiences from Microsoft Education that will help you enhance your students’ reading skills, collaborate and communicate with your class, and create more content and curriculum for your lessons. We’re also highlighting live and on-demand events you can join with your students, and webinars and professional development opportunities to help you stay ahead. Let’s dive in and see what’s new in Microsoft Education.  

1. Reading Coach is now available in any browser 

Microsoft Reading Coach provides personalized, engaging, consistent, and independent reading fluency practice by allowing learners to create unique AI-generated stories by choosing characters and settings from a curated collection of options. Reading Coach was already providing learners with personalized reading practice, instant feedback about pronunciation and fluency, while also giving insights back to educators. Now it’s available for free as a public preview web app and a Windows application to use in the classroom or at home with a Microsoft account.  

Get started with Reading Coach online, in any browser or download the Windows app. Learn more about Reading Coach and check out the guides on our Learning Accelerators page.

2. Microsoft Copilot expansions for education audiences

In December we were thrilled to announce several Microsoft Copilot expansions for education audiences. Copilot with commercial data protection is now available to all faculty and higher education students who are 18+, including users of our free offers. And on January 1, 2024, education faculty and staff became eligible to purchase Copilot for Microsoft 365. We also shared additional updates including eligibility for Office 365 A3 and A5 faculty customers and removed the 300-seat purchase minimum to empower organizations of all sizes. 

Visit copilot.microsoft.com and explore what you can do with Copilot, your AI assistant for education.  

3. Loop availability for education customers

Microsoft Loop is a flexible, AI-powered collaboration app that can help you think, plan, and create together. We’re excited to share that Loop will be included in Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 plans, including Student Use Benefit in early March 2024. Customers with Office 365 A1 can continue creating workspaces and pages through June 30, 2024, and will be able to access them afterwards.  

Try Loop today and watch Microsoft Loop – think, plan and create together like never before to learn more. 

4. New AI literacy training for educators and students 

As more exciting AI features are developed, we’ll continue to support building AI literacy in parallel. We’ve launched the AI for Educators Learning Path on Microsoft Learn, made up of three modules to help educators learn about and benefit from AI. It begins with empowering educators to explore the potential of AI, continues into how to enhance teaching and learning with Copilot, and finishes with our newest addition: Equip and support learners with AI tools from Microsoft.  

Educators can then leverage the AI Classroom Toolkit to help teach and support students in using generative AI safely. It’s a creative resource that blends narrative stories with instructional information to create immersive and effective learning experiences for educators and their students.  

Check out the AI for Educators Learning Path on Microsoft Learn and explore the AI Classroom Toolkit to help teach and support students in using generative AI safely. 

5. New features in Microsoft Teams for Education 

You can now check-in with students using Reflect in Microsoft Teams for Education as they complete their assignment. When you enable Reflect Check-in on an assignment, students will be prompted to share how they feel when they submit their work. Then, you can review your students’ responses in the Assignments Grading experience, to monitor the progress of an individual student and the overall mood of the class about the assignment. 

Another new feature that’s available now is reusing your modules between Class Teams. You can reuse content such as Assignments, Files, and Links from one class to another with Classwork. This is useful if you want to teach the same class again, have multiple versions of a class, or share curriculum with another educator.   

Check out What’s New in Microsoft EDU – Bett 2024 Edition to learn more about all the new updates in Microsoft Teams for Education.  

6. New experiences and lessons from Minecraft Education 

Minecraft Education and BBC Earth have launched a new wondrous world inspired by the latest landmark series from BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit, Planet Earth III. With the Planet Earth III DLC, students will step into extraordinary realms of the natural world to experience the struggles and triumphs of survival while playing as a series of incredible creatures, including the great white shark, the Arctic wolf, the musk ox, and more. Explore the Planet Earth III DLC to learn about each animal and gain their perspective on survival! 

In another new experience, CyberSafe: Good Game—the latest addition to Minecraft’s CyberSafe collection—players help a group of gaming teammates create a code of conduct, practice digital citizenship, and ensure everyone feels welcome. This game-based learning experience is designed to teach students the tools and skills that put players in control. Players tackle exciting challenges, foster kindness and teamwork, and turn the online world into an inclusive playground for all. Play CyberSafe: Good Game and bring lessons in cybersecurity and online safety into your classroom.  

7. Minecraft and ISTE Level Up Learning digital events 

Dive deeper into the benefits of teaching with Minecraft with Level Up Learning, a digital event series from Minecraft Education and ISTE. Through a series of webinars spotlighting school systems around the world, educators and leaders can join a transformational journey into the integration of game-based learning and its impact on student outcomes.   

Register for free for all of the Level Up Learning events:  

• Computer Science and AI on February 29, 2024  
• Student Voice, Agency, and Authentic Learning Experiences on April 2, 2024  
• Connection, Leadership & Team-based Experiences through Esports on April 30, 2024  
• STEM Literacy for all students on May 28, 2024   

8. Join Flip live events or watch on-demand 

In February in the United States, educators come together to commemorate and pay tribute to the narratives of Black and African American individuals, honoring the significance of their experiences. Celebrate Black History Month during this time and throughout the year by watching the on-demand Flip event Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future: Discovering Black History through Digital Innovation with your class.  

Then, in March, Women’s History Month is celebrated in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. To mark the occasion, join with your class on March 13, 2024, as Flip celebrates innovative women working in the field of AI with the live event AI Conversations: Women Leaders Share Their Stories. Participate in the event to explore the questions: What does it take to succeed in AI? How can you make a difference with AI in your future? Register for the Flip live event today!  

Whether you want to enhance your students’ reading skills, discover new ways to collaborate and communicate, or expand your content and curriculum, Microsoft Education has new features and experiences for you to explore. Happy teaching! 

The post Stay ahead with 8 new updates from Microsoft Education appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Education has evolved significantly over the past several years, and so have the needs of educators. In today’s diverse classrooms, it’s more important than ever to use the right education technology, find ways to support all students, and help create more inclusive environments. We recognize that educators need time-saving workflows, teaching tools, and resources to help everyone thrive and reach their full potential. 

Microsoft believes that education technology has a valuable role to play in supporting the needs of both teachers and students. However, we understand that it can sometimes be challenging to adopt new education technology and face the learning curve of mastering new teaching tools. To bridge this gap and make adoption smoother, we’ve pulled together a collection of free quick start guides for you. Our PDF guides for teachers are instructive and user-friendly, designed to help you easily get started with Microsoft Education tools in the classroom. 

Where can teachers find quick start guides for Microsoft Education tools?

Check out our collection of quick start guides, created by fellow teacher Heather Aird, a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (MIE Expert). Through vibrant colors, simplicity, and comprehensive coverage of our learning tools and Learning Accelerators, these PDF guides for teachers empower you to embrace education technology quickly and confidently.  

1. Microsoft Copilot quick guide
2. Reading Coach with AI stories quick guide
3. Reading Coach in Immersive Reader quick guide
4. Reading Progress quick guide
5. Speaker Coach quick guide
6. Search Coach quick guide
7. Search Progress quick guide
8. Microsoft Reflect quick guide
9. Immersive Reader quick guide
10. Math Solver quick guide
11. Live Captions for PowerPoint quick guide
12. Speech to Text (Dictate) quick guide
13. Microsoft OneNote quick guide
14. Microsoft OneNote Class Notebook quick guide
15. Microsoft Word quick guide
16. Microsoft PowerPoint quick guide
17. Microsoft Stream quick guide
18. Microsoft To Do quick guide
19. Microsoft Translate quick guide
20. Microsoft Lens (formerly Microsoft Office Lens) quick guide
21. Microsoft Editor quick guide
22. Microsoft Planner quick guide
23. Microsoft Bookings quick guide
24. Khanmigo for Teachers quick guide

Our quick start guides cover a range of teacher resources and where to find them, unlocking countless possibilities for personalized and interactive learning experiences. Each PDF guide provides step-by-step instructions, accompanied by clear visuals and diagrams, ensuring that you can navigate Microsoft Education teaching tools and education technology with confidence.  

Microsoft Education is dedicated to providing technology solutions that can save you time, individualize student learning, and set students up for future success. Explore these portable and printable PDF quick start guides—designed to equip you with guidance and support whenever you need them! 

Looking for more ways to quickly get started with Microsoft Education technology? Check out these free resources below, created specifically for teachers like you. 

• Meet your AI assistant for education: Microsoft Copilot
• Eight how-to guides for educators: Quickly get started with Microsoft Education 
• Reflect activities for student engagement 
• New ways to reflect and thrive on World Mental Health Day! 
• 4 new Teams updates to enhance classroom engagement 
• Transform assessment with new Forms updates 

The post Comprehensive quick start guides for Microsoft Education tools appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Bringing the future of productivity to education

Last month, we were thrilled to announce several Microsoft Copilot expansions for education audiences. Copilot with commercial data protection will be available to all faculty and higher education students who are 18+, including users of our free offers. And on January 1, 2024, education faculty and staff became eligible to purchase Copilot for Microsoft 365. We’re already seeing innovative organizations like The University of Hong Kong, The University of Manchester, and GEMS Education lead the way as early adopters. We shared additional updates this week including eligibility for Office 365 A3 and A5 faculty customers and removed the 300-seat purchase minimum to empower organizations of all sizes.  

Microsoft Loop is a flexible, AI-powered collaboration app that can help you think, plan, and create together. We’re excited to share that Loop will be included in Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 plans, including Student Use Benefit in early March 2024. Customers with Office 365 A1 can continue creating workspaces and pages through June 30, 2024, and will be able to access them afterwards. Watch the video Microsoft Loop – think, plan and create together like never before to learn more about Microsoft Loop and try Loop today! 

Transforming reading experiences 

It’s well known that reading is foundational to a student’s academic success; studies show that fluent readers are four times more likely to graduate high school and get better jobs. Educators and parents alike are looking for ways to help students improve reading fluency in a way that keeps them engaged and prior research has found that personalized learning is one of the most effective ways to help close learning gaps. With the latest AI technology, we have an opportunity to provide learners with personalized, engaging, and transformative reading experiences. Reading Coach, a Learning Accelerator now powered by generative AI, does just that. You can sign up for a preview of Reading Coach today and try it for yourself at Reading Coach Web app preview.

Reading Coach was already providing learners with personalized reading practice, instant feedback about pronunciation and fluency, while also giving insights back to educators. Today we’re sharing new features that will fuel student agency and motivation with dynamically created stories that adapt to their reading level and individual challenges.  

Reading Coach takes a unique approach to implementing generative AI with guardrails. Learners select the story’s protagonist, setting, and are provided with choices that alter the plot of the story as they read. Reading Coach combines these inputs with the learner’s selected reading level, and over time, words they mispronounce to dynamically create personalized stories that keep students engaged and in the driver seat. Students stay engaged with the power to pick a path of a story while they progress through the chapters. The story content is moderated for quality, safety, and age appropriateness. And in addition to creating AI-powered stories, learners can also pick leveled passages from the curated ReadWorks library.

Reading Coach intrinsically motivates learners to continue advancing their skills in several ways. They can unlock new story settings and characters, earn badges that reward their efforts, and see their pronunciation and fluency improvements in progress reports.  

We’re making Reading Coach more broadly available than ever, so that learners can read on the device of their choice, at home or school. It will be available on the web and as a Windows App, at no cost to anyone with a Microsoft account. Additionally, we’re making it easier for teachers to create Reading Coach practice assignments by adding integration with popular Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Canvas, which will be available in late Spring 2024. Learn more about how Reading Coach works on our support documentation pages.  

These new Reading Coach features build on top of the passage generation and comprehension question generation in Reading Progress which will be available for preview late January 2024. With the use of AI in an impactful, safe, responsible way, we believe that personalized learning at scale is within reach. 

Saving time and differentiating instruction

In addition to reading, over the past year we have been focusing on opportunities to free up time for educators by further enhancing our products with AI. Today, we’re sharing more features coming to Microsoft Teams for Education and Microsoft Reflect to help tailor content. They will be generally available at no additional cost to all education customers later this year.  

All these tools quickly and easily generate content such as reading passages, comprehension questions, rubrics, assignment instructions, and more. Educators are always kept in control as the experts and can review initial drafts of content, generate more options, make edits, or choose to discard. Educators can personalize learning with the click of a button by using filters like age, language, topics, and increasing or decreasing the complexity of the content. And education organizations can choose to turn these features on or off.  

Classwork is a feature in Teams which is built to manage your curriculum and allows educators to create and organize class resources including Assignments, Files, Links, Channels, Class Notebook pages, and more. Classwork module generation helps easily kickstart content with module suggestions based on your subject, student age range, and scope of learning.  

When creating an Assignment in Teams, educators will be prompted with opportunities to leverage AI to easily emphasize key content, simplify, or add more detail, learning objectives, and even emojis. In each case, educators are reminded that AI-generated content may be incorrect, and they’ll need to choose to keep, discard, or regenerate the content.  

Once the Assignment is ready, educators can generate a rubric draft after providing title, evaluation, age range, scale, and criteria detail. Educators are then encouraged to review thoroughly and make any edits before attaching to an Assignment.  

Microsoft Reflect is a tool that helps students identify and express how they feel in safe and fun ways, building their emotional vocabulary and giving educators the insights they need to provide active support. Reflect can now further enhance understanding by enabling educators to generate options for learners to specify reasons behind the emotion. These options are tailored to the check-in question set by the educator and draw on multi-year research by experts from the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Educators can regenerate, manually add, or completely discard results. Reasons can then be grouped at a class level into a predefined list of focus areas with strategies on how to navigate each one in partnership with Challenge Success, a nonprofit affiliated with Stanford’s Graduate School of Education. 

Building AI literacy for educators and students

As more exciting features are developed, we’ll continue to support building AI literacy in parallel. We’re now launching the AI for Educators Learning Path on Microsoft Learn, made up of three modules to help educators learn about and benefit from AI. It begins with empowering educators to explore the potential of AI, continues into how to enhance teaching and learning with Copilot, and finishes with our newest addition: Equip and support learners with AI tools from Microsoft. This new course walks educators through how to help learners discover, interact, and create with AI and generative AI. 

Educators can then leverage the AI Classroom Toolkit to help teach and support students in using generative AI safely. It’s a creative resource that blends narrative stories with instructional information to create immersive and effective learning experiences for educators and their students. 

Advancing youth online safety and wellness

As we head into 2024, there is an urgent call to action for us all to take steps to protect youth safety and privacy online and to ensure that technology—including emerging technologies such as AI—serves as a positive force for the next generation. As policymakers and regulators weigh potential measures to help advance safety outcomes in the coming weeks and months, it is essential that they consider both the benefits and the risks of technology for young people. Read more in our blog about Microsoft’s position on these issues and themes for policymakers to consider as they work through initiatives to protect youth safety and privacy online. 

Learn more about today’s announcements in our latest What’s New in Microsoft EDU blog and join us at Bett next week to explore AI in education with Microsoft. 

The post Unlocking productivity and personalizing learning with AI appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

We need to be taking these cyber-attacks on schools as seriously as we do physical attacks on critical infrastructure. Schools are the infrastructure of learning in America.

World-class security and secure learning experiences are pillars that guide how Microsoft approaches cybersecurity in education. We recognize that cybersecurity is a top concern across this nation—from IT professionals who provide frontline support to technology decision makers that purchase services—and our solutions reflect both their needs as well as our expertise as a leading security company.

Microsoft cybersecurity solutions for schools are extensive, efficient, and customizable to the most demanding IT needs or federal requirements. The Microsoft 365 Education A5 plan is our most robust security package with unified tools that prevent and detect threats, safeguard data, and provide device management with security policy implementation.

When schools choose Microsoft 365 Education A5, they receive a Gartner-recognized security suite that replaces as many as 26 separate vendors—a budget-conscious savings that’s realized year after year.

Proactive steps to stay secure

The first few steps to keeping accounts and devices secure are simple and extremely effective. In just a few moments, you can help prevent identity attacks and harmful viruses.

Turn on Multifactor Authentication (MFA) for all staff and educators. Multifactor authentication provides an extra barrier and layer of security that makes it incredibly difficult for attackers to get past. Download Microsoft Authenticator for simple, fast, and highly secure two-factor authentication across your apps.

Use antivirus and antimalware protection. Malware attacks are rampant in education. Tools like Microsoft Defender help keep you and your schools’ devices safe from harm.

Regularly update your apps. Programs are constantly improving their resiliency to become more secure. Windows 11 and Microsoft Edge offer you the choice of when and how to get the latest updates to keep your devices running smoothly and securely. Additionally, Microsoft Intune for Education can be used to push updates in many cases.

Defend against threats

While large-scale, high-cost attacks are a concern, it’s equally crucial to address the ongoing threats that schools face, such as social engineering tactics that involve phishing messages and malware.

The Microsoft Defender family of products in the Microsoft 365 Education A5 plan is a suite of tools that detect, prevent, and remediate cyber-threats that impact schools. It includes:

• Microsoft 365 Defender: An extended detection and response (XDR) suite that helps secure endpoints and network devices, safeguard Office 365 products, and manage user access and identities. Defender prevents many types of cross-domain attacks while simultaneously allowing IT professionals to hunt down emerging threats. See how Microsoft 365 Defender is a complete XDR solution for schools.
• Microsoft 365 Defender for Cloud: An XDR tool in the Defender suite that manages, prioritizes, and remediates critical risks in cloud-based platforms. Built-in workflows and unified dashboards allow security teams to efficiently maintain multi-cloud or hybrid environments from day one all the way to the present. Learn how Defender for the Cloud protects digitally connected school environments.
• The Defender family of products also includes Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Office 365, and Defender for Identity.

Dr. Emily Bell, Chief Information Officer for Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, GA, uses the Defender suite to protect the 10,000 employees and 95,000 students that learn in their schools. All the tools have helped her team create a cybersecurity posture that’s ready to address whatever cyber-threats might emerge.

Cyber-incidents happen every day, all day. Our tools and our threat hunters set out to contain and eradicate them. As IT leaders, we’re used to just resolving problems before end users even know about them.

Dr. Emily Bell, CIO, Fulton County Schools

Keep student data safe

Schools store huge amounts of sensitive data across systems which means that knowing where data lives, how it’s used and accessed, and what to do to comply with laws are essential understandings for every IT administrator.

Microsoft Purview is a comprehensive governance, protection, and compliance solution that secures school data. Purview provides complete data visibility across platforms, apps, and clouds while offering unparalleled protection—even if data lives on non-Microsoft systems. It features tools like eDiscovery and Insider Risk Management for auditing, investigating, and acting on events that pose risks to school data as well as policy management for establishing secure computing environments.

Microsoft Purview’s Data Loss Prevention generates alerts with rich details for taking informed, corrective actions.

Purview also includes Data Loss Prevention which gives schools intelligent control over sensitive information across Office 365, OneDrive, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams for Education, or endpoint devices. Data Loss Prevention alerts IT departments when it recognizes risky activities and then automatically protects data through Adaptive Protection policies that dynamically mitigate security incidents. The insights from machine learning analysis save time so that IT teams can focus on other critical needs.

Adaptive Protection in Microsoft Purview dynamically applies policies to prevent data loss from risky activities, suspect files, and events.

Learn how to safeguard data across platforms, apps, and clouds and improve risk and compliance posture with Microsoft Purview.

Simplify device management and deployment

More schools are adopting 1:1 computing programs so that students of all ages have direct access to devices while learning. The large influx of new devices and ongoing refresh cycles require IT departments to efficiently configure, maintain, and secure each new addition to a school’s ecosystem.

Microsoft Intune for Education simplifies deployment and security for all types of devices—even non-Windows operating systems like MacOS and iOS. Intune uses a web-based dashboard that streamlines initial configuration and allows you to remotely set up, manage, and assist students and teachers with their devices. Security is a cornerstone of Intune for Education; IT professionals can apply security policies to protect users, update policies when necessary, and schedule automatic updates when the school day ends or learning stops. Get started now on moving your school to a cloud-based solution.

School Data Sync is a tool that securely connects data from school information systems (SIS) to Microsoft 365 and other applications. It enables easy rostering and flexible integration through the OneRoster® API or CSV files for a worry-free set up experience with apps like Microsoft Teams for Education and Intune for Education. School Data Sync also enables single sign-on (SSO) options for a more secure sign-in experience.

Districts like St. Lucie Public Schools use Microsoft solutions to handle their 1:1 computing program and ensure security measures are in place before devices reach students.

The cloud-based solution allows us to support cybersecurity from afar. Even while we are inside our district office, we can push out things like virus definitions to home networks to make sure that students’ data are safe.

Terence O’Leary, Chief Operating Officer for St. Lucie Public Schools

Take time to explore all the security options that are available in the Microsoft 365 Education A5 plan and learn how Microsoft Education can help you accelerate learning in a safe, secure school environment. Together, we can build a resilient defense against cyber-threats and foster an environment where everyone’s learning can flourish.

The post Ensuring secure, safe experiences for every school appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Fulton County Schools, the fourth-largest school system in Georgia, has learned just how valuable it is to put a top-notch security system in place. To defend against threats, Dr. Emily Bell, Fulton County Schools’ Chief Information Officer (CIO), implemented robust planning that involved educating and communicating with school leaders and staff about cybersecurity. Microsoft resources were a part of their well-rounded cybersecurity strategy.

“As a Chief Information Officer, it is incumbent upon me to make sure that my leadership is aware of our cybersecurity incident response process,” said Dr. Bell. “I also want to educate district leaders on our cyber insurance coverage and what that means.”

Fulton County Schools relied on Microsoft Defender for Office 365 to keep all its devices and technology safe and secure, and to help prevent disruptions to student learning.

Microsoft solutions addressing cybersecurity concerns

Bad actors are constantly looking for vulnerabilities in educational IT networks. So, Fulton County Schools’ leaders knew that choosing a security system reliable enough to cover its large network of 95,000 students and 107 schools was crucial. They had tried other tools and systems but realized they needed more. After evaluating the Microsoft 365 A5 educational license security capabilities, they decided to use it across the district to monitor, detect, and mitigate potential threats.

Microsoft Defender, which is included in the A5 license, protects all Office 365 applications against advanced threats. It also includes the tools to address cybersecurity risks from ransomware, malware, phishing, and compromised credentials. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are also a main concern in Internet security because they try to disrupt the normal traffic of a server, service or network by using a flood of Internet traffic to overwhelm it or its surrounding infrastructure. Given these high-level benefits, Dr. Bell knew that Microsoft security would provide a complete solution, so the district put it into place.

How a possible threat showed the strength of Microsoft tools

A recent occurrence highlighted just how important and useful Microsoft security tools were to Fulton, as well as the need for ongoing communication with leadership if a threat gets reported.

That’s exactly what happened at Fulton. A threat was reported to the district superintendent at the same time as it was reported to Dr. Bell.

To reassure district leadership, including the superintendent, Dr. Bell and her team demonstrated how situations are handled behind the scenes at the appropriate level of urgency based on assessed risk. This helped to instill confidence in how Fulton addresses the kind of threats that schools across the country inevitably get in the age of the Internet.

Dr. Bell showed leadership that within a single 30-day period alone, they had seen 39 ransomware attempts, all contained and eradicated; 712 malware attempts, all blocked; 983 compromised credentials, mitigated by automated disabling of accounts; and 254,255 phishing attempts, of which nearly 89% were not delivered. The success in preventing all these attempts was key to helping ensure that students could continue to learn without disruption. 

“What was reported to the superintendent never even rose to the level of ‘incident.’ We had a report, then we found, contained, and eradicated the threat, and nothing came of it,” said Dr. Bell. “It turned out to be a fire drill for us.”

Identifying, containing, and eradicating threats

Because support from many departments is critical to keeping things running smoothly, Dr. Bell has also put together a task force of leaders from many departments to help mitigate risk around the clock.

Fulton also has an ongoing partnership with Forsyte I.T. Solutions, which helps Fulton deploy Microsoft’s advanced security features in the district’s Microsoft 365 A5 subscription.

Teams including the security partners and the task force follow specialized checklists developed to contain and eradicate each specific kind of risk. And once a threat is detected, the stages to address it include triage, containment, eradication, recovery, post-incident activities, and finally, closure.

Fulton’s task force and partnerships now help to foster communication and understanding, so when a department is impacted everyone who needs to know is kept in the loop about the threat, how it may affect them, and what’s expected of them—avoiding unnecessary panic. Ultimately, all of these actions help prevent a threat from getting far enough along to take learning time away from students.

Although not every district is as large as Fulton and might not face as many cybersecurity threats, districts of all sizes are facing security disruptions. Having the infrastructure and bandwidth to avoid shutdowns and slowdowns is imperative in the service of keeping students on track with their educational progress. 

“It’s important for districts to have a cyber response plan and to educate their leadership on that plan, and perhaps create a cyber task force, because attacks happen every day,” said Dr. Bell. “Every district needs to evaluate their own risk and develop plans that are specific to their most likely cyberattacks.”

Read more about Fulton’s success story and find out how Microsoft tools and devices can support safety and security at your school, anytime and anywhere.

¹ Thousands of School Websites Went Down in a Cyberattack. It’ll Happen Again, Experts Say | EdWeek 

The post How Microsoft Helps Prevent Cybersecurity Attacks in Schools appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

*To qualify, students & teachers need a valid school email address. Eligibility requirements

The post Office 365 Education is free to eligible students and teachers* first appeared on Microsoft EDU.

The post Office 365 Education is free to eligible students and teachers* appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

This transformation of the traditional education environment has been challenging and has required major overhauls of systems that have long been in place. One school district that embraced the change is Puyallup School District in Washington state. Puyallup successfully shifted to remote learning in March through widespread access to devices, integrated technologies, virtual trainings, and open collaboration for more than 23,000 students with Microsoft Education.

Now, Puyallup’s leaders share how they did it. As you prepare for the upcoming school year, consider their best practices for creating a more inclusive, equitable, and flexible learning environment for everyone.

Promote educator and student success with integrated learning tools

When schools closed in March, Puyallup was already prepared with Microsoft’s digital learning technologies. More than four years ago, the district proactively embraced Windows 10 devices, Office 365 Education, Intune for Education, and cloud-based educational solutions to improve instruction, achievement, and equity.

“Everything we’d done to move online… prepared us for COVID-19,” said Mark Vetter, the district’s Director of Innovation and Learning Technologies. Implementing Microsoft technology—from devices and applications to single sign-on functionality—allowed Vetter’s team to be both cost-effective and efficient as they moved the entire district to remote learning. With so many tools, Vetter says the seamless integration was critical for faculty and students while learning remotely.

“At $250 per student, we are the lowest cost 1:1 district in the South Puget Sound,” Vetter said, referencing the district’s student-to-device ratio. The affordable, large-scale integration across the district created a smooth transition for Puyallup staff and ultimately enabled better student outcomes. “The Microsoft platform just works, and that’s a game-changer.”

Extend equitable resources beyond in-person classroom settings

Vetter also worked to provide a device for every student in the district. This fall Puyallup will deploy about 23,000 Windows 10 devices for students and another 3,000 for faculty and support staff to ensure everyone has access to critical technology during remote learning. The district will also provide 850 hotspots for students without access to the Internet or an LTE connection.

Vetter understood that learning remotely poses unique challenges for many students. “The learning divide still exists,” he said. “And it may increase when we don’t have [students] present [in the classroom]. We have to think about the kids who don’t have family support, who haven’t been read to all summer.” Integrated technology can help fill the gap by providing educators with a way to extend one-on-one support that children need in order to address learning, social, and emotional needs in the absence of in-person meetings, Vetter said.

“We need to work harder to engage kids at the highest level. I think we’re ready, but it’s our most important charge.”

Ensure back-to-school readiness with trainings and resources

Many Puyallup educators were unfamiliar with the ins-and-outs of Microsoft’s digital learning offerings when the pandemic hit. Nancy Nelson, one of the district’s Instructional Coaches for Technology, began creating professional development trainings in March so educators were equipped to teach remotely.

“We were concerned that teachers would continue the same face-to-face practices, but remotely. The last thing you want is a kid sitting in six consecutive meetings every day,” said Nelson. “Teachers already know how to teach. They have the skills; we just needed to take those skills and shift them to what works [for a remote environment].”

Nelson worked with Vetter’s team of IT professionals to develop virtual trainings for teachers. These sessions included technical information, like how to use Microsoft Teams and OneNote, and advice for the new environment, such as offering students flexibility and maintaining positivity.

“If a music teacher wonders ‘how do I teach choir remotely?’ we wanted to show them how to find the answer using Microsoft tools,” said Vetter. “We’re trying to change their mindset on how technology can make learning and engagement better.”

The trainings encouraged teachers to make time during remote learning to check on students and let them socialize, which students “missed tremendously,” said Nelson. “We also suggested that teachers put a schedule out a week ahead… so that families could have wiggle room and adjust,” Nelson added.

These professional development trainings gave Puyallup educators the confidence they needed to continue teaching. Now, in advance of the new school year, Nelson and team are facilitating more virtual trainings—some required, and some recommended—for teachers and support staff across the district. Microsoft Education also provides teachers, faculty, and IT admins with free professional development training and tools to prepare for remote and hybrid learning.

Provide flexibility and family trainings, so parents can support students

Teachers were not the only ones offered trainings. After listening to parents across the district, a team of instructional coaches created “Family University,” a series of more than 50 short videos for parents to learn Microsoft tools and support their children. The videos were especially helpful for parents of children in kindergarten and first grade, who did not understand how to navigate the platforms.

“For some young children, this may be the first time they’re using a computer,” said Nelson. “They needed a lot of parent intervention to get through the work. The [Family University] videos walked parents through the various platforms, answering questions like: When should I shut my computer down? How do I download the free Microsoft Suite?”

This helped both parents and students understand the new classroom environment so they could focus on the learning material. Microsoft Education also offers free resources for students and their families to ensure back-to-school readiness.

Word is spreading about Puyallup’s mastery of the new normal. Over the past several months, 14 districts across the U.S. have reached out to Vetter and Nelson to discuss Puyallup’s success, they said. Blending some of their tactics with your own may help ensure your students can continue to learn anywhere.

The post How Puyallup has prepared its teachers and students to learn anywhere appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

The right LMS not only facilitates classroom workflows, it gives both students and their teachers a smooth, anytime-anywhere learning experience. And just as important, it brings together all the critical tools that students and educators need now for productivity, communication, and engagement.

Learning management systems: A hybrid learning toolbox

One LMS that seamlessly integrates all of the powerful Microsoft tools made for education is NEO from Cypher Learning. It lets teachers easily integrate their favorite Microsoft Education tools and apps in a single, convenient location.

Roland Ruben, Training Coordinator for the Center for Innovative Learning Programs at De La Salle University-Dasmariñas in the Philippines, knows the value of that integration. “When giving orientation to faculty and students on the use of NEO LMS and Office 365,” Ruben says, “I refer to these tools as the one-two punch of the university in its mission to bring 21^st-century learning to our students.”

Transforming hybrid learning

NEO is an especially useful LMS that makes it easy to create and manage all learning activities, whether it’s building online classes, assessing students, enhancing collaboration, or tracking student achievement.

To give you an idea of the combined power of an LMS with the right third-party tools, let’s walk through some of the ways you can create a better remote learning experience for your students using the Microsoft tools available in NEO:

Microsoft Teams 

Educators need a simple and effective way to connect with their students remotely. NEO integrates with Microsoft Teams Meetings so that teachers and students worldwide can easily communicate and learn, regardless of their location. As an educator, you can quickly create and schedule Teams meetings from within NEO and hold your classes as you would in a normal classroom environment.

“The Microsoft Teams integration has made it easier for us to set up virtual meetings with our classes,” says Ruben. “The students appreciate the virtual meetings because they are able to see their classmates again now that everyone is learning from home. The pandemic may have set us apart, but these tools have brought us closer.”

Immersive Reader 

While you may not be there in person to support your students who need help with their reading tasks, you can use the Immersive Reader integration within NEO to enhance their reading experience. You can enable the Immersive Reader for any lesson and assignment within NEO, ensuring that your students can get through the class content without any problems.

“With the integration of Teams and Immersive Reader in NEO LMS, it has completely redefined the way we teach our students, especially during this pandemic,” says Ruben. “The Immersive Reader, for example, helps my foreign language students in learning French. Our language learners also have the help they need in the Immersive Reader because it can translate the written text into their language.”

OneDrive

This is not the time for you or your students to go on a scavenger hunt to find the files needed for class activities. Remember, the purpose of an LMS is for you to have everything in a single location and bring in everything you need from other apps. If you’re used to having all your materials on OneDrive, you can quickly embed any OneDrive file into NEO. You can also add files in various locations, such as those designated for lessons or assignments, or even as separate resources for your students to grab.

Windows App

Now more than ever, students must rely on their PCs and tablets to learn at home. NEO has a native Windows App, allowing students who are using Windows 10 devices and tablets to enjoy the full functionality of this LMS.

Office 365 Single Sign-On 

The cherry on top that makes everyone’s lives easier is using just one login to access everything. If you’re already using Office 365 in your classroom, then your students can access NEO with their Office 365 login details. With just one click they’re logged in and you don’t have to worry about setting up a separate username and password for them.

Get started

There you go, now you know how to improve the learning experience of your remote learners using an LMS system combined with your favorite Microsoft Education Tools. All the tools mentioned in this post are very easy to configure in NEO and while they may seem quite basic, they could make a big difference in the way you teach online.

To learn more about Microsoft Education’s resources on remote and hybrid learning, please visit our remote learning resource page and the Microsoft Education blog for additional hybrid learning support.

The post Make hybrid learning seamless with your LMS and Microsoft Tools appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Seattle-based Hamlin Robinson School, an independent school serving students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences, didn’t set a specific approach to delivering instruction immediately after transitioning to remote learning. “Our thought was to send home packets of schoolwork and support the students in learning, and we quickly realized that was not going to work,” Stacy Turner, Head of School, explained in a recent discussion with the Microsoft Education Team.

After about a week into distance learning, the school quickly went to more robust online instruction. The school serves grades 1-8 and students in fourth-grade and up are utilizing Office 365 Education tools, including Microsoft Teams. So, leveraging those same resources for distance learning was natural.

Built-in accessibility features

Stacy said the school was drawn to Microsoft resources for schoolwide use because of built-in accessibility features, such as dictation (speech-to-text), and the Immersive Reader, which relies on evidence-based techniques to help students improve at reading and writing.

“What first drew us to Office 365 and OneNote were some of the assistive technologies in the toolbar,” Stacy said. Learning and accessibility tools are embedded in Office 365 and can support students with visual impairments, hearing loss, cognitive disabilities, and more.

Josh Phillips, Head of Middle School, says for students at Hamlin Robinson, finding the right tools to support their learning is vital. “When we graduate our students, knowing that they have these specific language-processing needs, we want them to have fundamental skills within themselves and strategies that they know how to use. But we also want them to know what tools are available to them that they can bring in,” he said.

For example, for students who have trouble typing, a popular tool is the Dictate, or speech-to-text, function of Office 365. Josh said that a former student took advantage of this function to write a graduation speech at the end of eighth grade. “He dictated it through Teams, and then he was able to use the skills we were practicing in class to edit it,” Josh said. “You just see so many amazing ideas get unlocked and be able to be expressed when the right tools come along.”

Supporting teachers and students

Providing teachers with expertise around tech tools also is a focus at Hamlin Robinson. Charlotte Gjedsted, Technology Director, said the school introduced its teachers to Teams last year after searching for a platform that could serve as a digital hub for teaching and learning. “We started with a couple of teachers being the experts and helping out their teams, and then when we shifted into this remote learning scenario, we expanded that use,” Charlotte said.

“Teams seems to be easiest platform for our students to use in terms of the way it’s organized and its user interface,” added Josh.

He said it was clear in the first days of distance learning that using Teams would be far better than relying on packets of schoolwork and the use of email or other tools. “The fact that a student could have an assignment issued to them, could use the accessibility tools, complete the assignment, and then return the assignment all within Teams is what made it clear that this was going to be the right app for our students,” he said.

A student’s view

Will Lavine, a seventh-grade student at the school says he appreciates the stepped-up emphasis on Teams and tech tools during remote learning and says those are helping meet his learning needs. “I don’t have to write that much on paper. I can use technology, which I’m way faster at,” he said.

“Will has been using the ease of typing to his benefit,” added Will’s tutor, Elisa Huntley. “Normally when he is faced with a hand written assignment, he would spend quite a bit of time to refine his work using only a pencil and eraser. But when he interfaces with Microsoft Teams, Will doesn’t feeling the same pressure to do it right the first time. It’s much easier for him to re-type something. His ideas are flowing in ways that I have never seen before.”

Will added that he misses in-person school, but likes the collaborative nature of Teams, particularly the ability to chat with teachers and friends.

With the technology sorted out, Josh said educators have been very focused on ensuring students are progressing as expected. He says that teachers are closely monitoring whether students are joining online classes, engaging in discussions, accessing and completing assignments, and communicating with their teachers.

Connect, explore our tools

We love hearing from our educator community and students and families. If you’re using accessibility tools to create more inclusive learning environments and help all learners thrive, we want to hear from you! One great way to stay in touch is through Twitter by tagging @MicrosoftEDU.

And if you want to check out some of the resources Hamlin Robinson uses, remember that students and educators at eligible institutions can sign up for Office 365 Education for free, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Microsoft Teams.

In honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Microsoft is sharing some exciting updates from across the company. To learn more visit the links below:

• “Stories from inside Microsoft’s journey to design a more accessible world” from the Microsoft Story Labs
• “Making the web more accessible and inclusive for all with Microsoft Edge” from the Windows Experience blog
• “What’s coming in Windows 10 accessibility” from the Windows Experience blog

The post Accessibility tools support Hamlin Robinson students learning from home appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

“For the students who attend Newmark, the larger public environments weren’t necessarily the right environment for them. They might have needed a smaller class size, or maybe they needed other services like speech and occupational therapy and counseling,” explained Regina Peter, Executive Director of Newmark School and Newmark High School.

As a community, they are committed to improving learning outcomes for all. Students with autism spectrum disorders, disabilities related to anxiety and attention issues, and other developmental disabilities attend the schools tuition free.

Striving to deliver personalized learning, Newmark has a 1:1 student-to-device ratio. Last year, they shifted to using Microsoft resources, including Windows 10 devices, across grades.

Supporting remote learning

As was the case for many others, the transition to distance learning was unexpected and one that needed to take place quickly. “On Friday, we realized we would have to close. On Monday, we were teaching classes online,” said Shannon Mastrogiovanni, eighth-grade Special Education Teacher for Language Arts and Science.

Regina says she and her team have worked to ensure the students retain structure to their day during remote learning. “Our big thing was keeping our kids in a routine, so whatever they went to at 9 AM two weeks ago is the same class they’re going to at 9 AM now,” she said.

Microsoft Teams is Newmark’s digital platform for remote learning, and teachers are using OneNote for Education embedded in Teams for assignments. Students were using those tools before the Newmark schools closed in March, which helped with the transition.

Regina says she appreciates that students still have access to the accessibility and learning tools that are built into Office 365. For example, students are using Immersive Reader, the learning tool that improves the readability of content by allowing students to create more space between words, change the text size, use a different background color, and more.

Newmark educators say students are also using the Dictate feature (speech to text) embedded in Office 365 resources. “Dictate has been very helpful. When taking notes in class, many students will use dictate rather than typing,” says Shannon.

Regina added, “Students naturally gravitated to the dictate feature, and for those who may not type as fast or need more time processing what they want to say, it’s been very helpful.”

She added that teachers are using Microsoft Forms to administer weekly vocabulary assessments, and students have been using Immersive Reader enabled in Forms to demonstrate their learning. “On average, I am noticing much higher scores on their vocabulary assessments compared to when they were taking them traditionally with pen and paper in the classroom,” Shannon said.

Connecting as a community

Students often rely on the support from one another while in the classroom, so finding new ways to connect is more important than ever. “There’s nothing like human connection,” she said. “We’re doing the best we can and staying connected to kids because we see them, and they can see us.” Regina says leveraging Teams to keep the students connected to one another and teachers through live meetings has been critical.

Since the transition to distance learning, students have been collaborating in small groups over Teams, as well as receiving whole-class instruction. Recently, Shannon had three groups of students meeting at the same time. “I assigned different students to those meetings and they were working on a certain task and I was going in and out of the meetings, checking up on them, just like I was doing in the classroom,” she explained.

“For students who might have learning issues, we really try to, like Shannon talked about, break down into those small groups because some of that might be an attentional issue,” added Regina.

Staying organized while working remotely

Shannon says the digital student workbooks in OneNote also have been helpful. “Because of OneNote, we didn’t have to scramble getting notebooks sent home,” she said. “My students can log into their OneNote right now and see everything they’ve worked on since September, which is really valuable. For students in our school who have a lot of executive functioning skills that they need to work on, specifically organization and time management, having everything in one place has been really great for them.”

Shannon says she likes that Teams serves as a centralized hub of information with embedded resources for students. “It’s not, ‘Okay, here’s your assignment, now let’s go to this website and…this website and do this.’ It’s, ‘Here’s your assignment and right here on your main channel are all the resources that you would need,’” she said.

Advice for others

Shannon’s advice to educators a little further behind in the delivery of remote instruction is to try new things and treat mistakes as learning opportunities. “With being remote and having to overcome these obstacles that none of us ever thought that we’d have to overcome, the comradery and the bonding that is occurring is pretty phenomenal,” she said.

Regina agreed and suggested that educators devote time to practices that are helpful to students’ well-being as well as their academic success. “We do a mindfulness moment every morning in all of our classes. That’s been a part of our school community for three years,” she said, adding that it was coming especially in handy now.

During times of such uncertainty, one thing that’s for sure is that you’re not alone. Join the Microsoft Remote Learning Community for the opportunity to exchange ideas with other educators and get support from Microsoft Education experts. We look forward to hearing from and connecting with you!

In honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Microsoft is sharing some exciting updates from across the company. To learn more visit the links below:

• “Stories from inside Microsoft’s journey to design a more accessible world” from the Microsoft Story Labs
• “Making the web more accessible and inclusive for all with Microsoft Edge” from the Windows Experience blog
• “What’s coming in Windows 10 accessibility” from the Windows Experience blog

The post Newmark Education delivers remote instruction with built-in accessibility tools appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Humans love to celebrate. We learn at an early age that every milestone is a good reason to gather, share our excitement with friends and family, feel pride in our accomplishments, and enjoy the warmth of connection. And the reason for celebration can be defined in many different ways. It can mark something as simple as the passing of time (like a birthday), or something a person spends years working toward, like a high school or college graduation. Celebrating and marking milestones is more important than ever when times are difficult. What better opportunity to highlight the positive, and come together to support one another than when other parts of life are uncertain? But how do you celebrate when people need to stay physically distant to be safe?

Around the world, millions of people are struggling with this question—especially education administrators, students, and their loved ones. At this time of year, there are thousands of ceremonies and traditions for all levels of education that typically bring large groups together. They range from pre-school song-and-dance presentations, to the “Pomp and Circumstance” and cap tossing of university graduations. Every one of them provides a sense of closure for one chapter of life, and the opening to another, and means a great deal to students, families, and educators.

The current situation has made it unwise for groups to gather in the usual way, so educational institutions are working to find alternative ways to mark their commencements. This is an incredibly difficult decision to make.

Teams live event availability expanded to support MORE digital graduations!

There is no “one size fits all” solution to properly recognize the achievements of every student and honor the traditions of each school and group while following recommended social distancing policies. But as schools around the world are demonstrating, there are many creative and innovative ways to make the most of this graduation season. Online solutions range from PowerPoint presentations prepared by faculty/administrators with input and content from students, to hybrid live, recorded, and livestreamed ceremonies. For example, Ritusemeikan Primary school in Japan held an in-person commencement with their students and faculty, but livestreamed it to families via Teams, to limit the number of people at the gathering.

Increase engagement with Flipgrid

Click for ideas and examples

Students at the University of Pennsylvania and several other colleges and universities have collaborated to recreate their campuses in Minecraft. Many of them are organizing virtual versions of traditions and ceremonies practiced at their schools that will be held and viewed in the Minecraft world. And one of the most moving examples is by Newcastle University Medical School, where the graduating class individually recorded themselves reciting the Hippocratic Oath and posted it to Flipgrid to express their commitment to their new position as medical doctors. Administrators also recorded congratulatory speeches, and the school produced a short video commemorating the event that’s available for all to view.

Though every tradition and ceremony is different, with the right tools and a little creativity, there are ways to celebrate safely and make positive memories for all.

Digital events can even follow the traditional graduation flow with an academic procession, a welcome address, presentation of awards, speeches, and more.

To support institutions moving forward with digital graduations and celebrations, we’ve put together a toolkit of resources that will be updated regularly. To see the most up-to-date content, check back to this page often:

Graduations and celebrations come in many forms. You can hold a digital celebration for a team at the end of their season, host a goodbye party to mark a student’s transition from elementary school to middle school, or host a traditional online graduation to mark the completion of high school or college. 

• Celebrate with photos and videos: Use Flipgrid, PowerPoint, or Microsoft Sway for a simple online celebration.
• Create a pre-recorded digital graduation: A pre-recorded event may be ideal if you are not considering a live event or if you’ll have attendees in multiple time zones.
• Host a digital graduation with Microsoft Teams live events: If a live event is preferred, consider incorporating both live and pre-recorded content including speeches by faculty and students, graduate slideshows, and even musical or other artistic performances.

And starting in early May 2020, we’ve made the applications needed more broadly available than ever. Users with the Microsoft Office 365 A1 faculty license, which is free for educational institutions, will have the ability to host and broadcast Teams live events for a limited time. That means users with A1 faculty licenses can host a virtual graduation, alumni summit, or any live event for up to 20,000 attendees, at no extra cost. Starting in early May 2020, live events will be automatically enabled for users with an A1 faculty license and automatically disabled on July 1.

Challenging times can bring out the best in the human spirit and inspire innovation and creativity. We’d love to hear your ideas and see your solutions!

Our sincere congratulations to everyone celebrating achievements and moving toward their next milestone.

The post Celebrating 2020 Graduates appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.