Through new features in Microsoft Teams, teachers can assign tasks, papers, and projects to students in the cloud and keep track of progress and grades from virtually anywhere. *Office 365 for Education available from My Choice Software.
Microsoft Teams has found great success with educators in the US and abroad by tailoring the collaborative experience with classes by bringing assignments and discussions between students and teachers into the cloud. Just like in the workplace, teachers have been able to assign tasks, papers, and projects to students in the cloud as well as keep track of progress and grades from virtually anywhere. This program is part of the Microsoft Office 365 for Education suites that seek to change the way students learn fundamentally.
Since its announcement in June, there has been a lot of feedback regarding Microsoft Teams in an educational environment. Microsoft has listened to educators, students, and IT administrators for ways to make the whole experience more streamlined. Recently, the tech giant released new updates to make using Microsoft Teams a more enjoyable and concise experience for helping students learn and communicate with their teachers in the cloud.
New Educational Features for Microsoft Teams
Here is a rundown of what has been improved for the new Microsoft Teams in education:
Access OneNote Class and Staff Notebook within Teams
Teachers and staff members can now access both Class Notebook and Staff Notebook with the Microsoft Teams application. Teachers can now do the following without ever leaving Teams:
- Change notebook settings
- Add new sections (such as Teacher-Only section groups)
- Lock Collaboration Space
- See Class Notebook and Staff Notebook in full-screen view
- Navigate the full notebook to access all sections and pages
- Use the Class Notebook toolbar within Teams
- Class and Staff Notebook features an ‘Edit in Browser’ function for quick access to the full OneNote program
Another change for Class Notebook is due out in October 2017 in which teachers will be able to distribute OneNote pages, tasks, and grades for class assignments directly into the Assignments tab.
Better Assignments
Microsoft Teams has added helpful features to make assigning workflows much easier. Some of the added features for Assignments include the following:
- When creating assignments, content is automatically saved when changes are made
- Export grades as .CSV files from Microsoft Teams to each student's School Information System (SIS) to stipulate it as the only valid source to view grades
More Control for IT Administrators
Maintaining a safe learning environment is just as critical to student education as effective teaching methods. While teachers provide the latter, IT admins keep student and teacher information safe in the cloud and away from those who would try to manipulate it. Some of the new additions for IT administrators include the following:
- Enable or disable private chat ability at the license level to keep students safe and still allow teachers to chat with staff members via their own chat channels
- Create block lists for 3rd party applications to control what apps teachers, students, and staff members can use while in Microsoft Teams
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