Guest blog by Helen Gooch, Microsoft Innovative Educator

The OneNote Class Notebook Creator, the incredible app for education, is maximizing classroom potential and has educators I know exploding with excitement. The app provides true classroom collaboration, e-resource, student personalized workspace and notebooks that educators have been asking for since first discovering OneNote. If you haven't heard much about this app before, be sure read the OneNote Class Notebook blog post which details the new features and enhancements requested by educators! There is a step-by-step click through guide for using the updated OneNote Class Notebook Creator. Also, be sure you check out, OneNoteForTeachers.com which provides several excellent step-by-step guides for everything you need to know to be up and running in OneNote and OneNote Class Notebook Creator in no time.

Like learning any new tool, there are a couple of things to remember and keep in mind as you adopt this new classroom best practice. When working with the OneNote Class Notebook Creator, you should be in your OneDrive for Business in your Office 365 account. Click the settings icon, gear next to your picture/icon in the top right corner. Go to Site Contents and then select OneNote Class Notebook Creator (purple) app. 

This screen will then launch:

Select #1 to create a brand new OneNote notebook for a class. It will prompt you to name the notebook and set up the tabs/sections in both the teacher content space and the student workspace. If you want to edit the name of Content or Collaboration section group, be sure to leave the underscore as the first character of the name. This places those section groups at the beginning of your OneNote.

Select #2 any time you want to add students. If you are just starting a class notebook, you add students here. If you need to add students to an existing Class Notebook, you add students here. Any time you are adding students, you add them here. If you need to delete a student, go into your Class Notebook and right click or control click that student's section group (tab) and select delete. *Note: This is a permanent action. Once you delete a student, you cannot undo or back arrow the delete. You can always add a student back to a class notebook, but their work must be recreated.

Select #3 to add another teacher to your OneNote class notebook. This might be a co-teacher, a substitute teacher, or any teacher/admin you want to able to add/edit content and see the work of the students. This is a feature you have asked for and the team delivered!

Select #4 to view any of your existing notebooks. You can also access any of your existing Class Notebooks when you go to your Site Contents and choose EduOneNoteAppDocuments. Part of the app update also provides additional ways to access and find these notebooks.

Find them through Class Notebooks:

Find them through Notebook Links:

Find your notebooks in Shared with me:

Tip! The Content Library is for the teacher to provide content, e-resources, documents, pictures, or whatever is relevant to the course. As the teacher, you can copy and move any content into your student's notebook sections (but you will have to do it one student as a time) OR your students may copy and move from your Content Library into their section group. Students may not edit or change your content in the Content Library. So if you want to provide handouts, quizzes, worksheets and more to your students, this is the place. At the end of the course, semester, or year, your students may want to keep their OneNote notebook with all the content you have provided as well as the collaboration work and their own section group of tabs. They can by simply going to File, then Export and save their OneNote as an OneNote package (.onepkg). 

They can now move it to a flash drive or store it on their own OneDrive so they will always have access to their course/e-Portfolio of work.

Reminder to check out these additional resources for teachers:

• Step-by-step click through guide for using the updated OneNote Class Notebook Creator
• OneNoteForTeachers.com 

Recently, we brought together some of the brightest educators and school leaders in the Americas at the Microsoft Global Forum in Miami, Florida from November 5-7. The 2014-2015 Class of Education Innovators were announced at the Forum. While there, educators explored new technology that has the potential to revolutionize both teaching and learning and to discuss the next wave of innovation that promises to reshape education from top to bottom including how to use technology to enhance creativity and humanity. Sir Ken Robinson, a keynote speaker at the Forum, explained, "The real virtue is not in the tools we create, it is in how we use the tools to create, how creative we become with the tools. The challenge with technology is not a technological one, it's a spiritual one."

Significant Change

Enthralling the educators he spoke to, Sir Ken Robinson discussed the phenomenal change that has occurred since releasing landmark work on education, Out of Our Minds, ten years ago. Apologetically, he said "If you bought the original version of the book," he said, "I'm sorry. It's dreadful." "The reason I had to rewrite the book is so much has happened in the last ten years. Things were in prospect, but not actualized ten years ago," says Sir Robinson. "Ten years ago, the Internet was still pretty much a limited occupation for very many people. There were no smartphones, no tablets, certainly no Surface Pros. There was no social media, no Facebook, no Twitter."

Sir Robinson emphasized that the evolution of technology has and will always continue to transform the planet and education. However, "what's often less clear is the consequences of technology-- they are almost always entirely unpredictable."

Transformation in Technology Allows Creativity to Flourish

The significant transformation in technology over the past ten years bring about both challenge and opportunity for educators and students. Perhaps the most important thing that technology has the potential to unleash is creativity.

Creativity is what allowed the human species to flourish and bring the population up to the nearly seven billion it's at today, but consequently also created the massive problem of sustaining the consumption that comes with such a vast population, Sir Robinson explained. These challenges, he says, were created by the "human ingenuity" that come from creativity, but at the same time, it's that same creativity that may be the only thing that can solve these vast challenges we face.

"I define creativity not as some piece of connectivity," says Robinson "but as a pervasive human trait. It's the capacity to apply your imagination, the process of having original ideas that have value. Part of what we try to do in creative thinking, is to disrupt the habitual patterns of thought that we take for granted. The hardest part of creativity is to challenge what we think of as obvious."

"There is an endless and indomitable supply of creativity if we create the right environment for it," he says. "If the culture is right, things will start to grow again."

Using the Right Technology to Unleash Imagination and Expression

The key to nurturing this creative thinking and personalized learning in schools, explains Robinson, is not only taking advantage of all the technological advancements made in the ten years, but by using the right type of technology, and in the right way, to create the type of learning environment that unleashes imagination and expression beyond what was even thought possible before.

"Technology is pervasive," says Sir Robinson. "Human progress, from the earliest times, has been a kind of conversation between our hands, our minds, and the tools we've created. Technology, put simply, is the design and use of tools, the first of which was probably some kind of flint axe, but as soon as we've created a tool, whether it's a flint axe or Surface Pro, we are doing two things - the first is, a tool extends our physical capacities. Secondly, the availability of a tool expands our minds- it makes us think of things that we couldn't think of before."

It is this kind of 21st century digital technology in classrooms that can spark new ideas and unleash the creativity that defines us. Today, digital inking in Windows empowers us to illustrate ideas when ideas flourish. And, powerful collaboration tools like Office 365 and OneDrive make it easier for students to capture creative and critical thinking, then actively exchange ideas and share with others. Educators are more easily about to created flipped classrooms with online lessons created in Office Mix and then engage students in lessons, tools like the OneNote Class Notebook Creator , and successfully teach students of all abilities using Lync for distance learning. The innovative educators that came together at the Forum are reshaping education, using the right technology tools to help students unleash and express their creativity.

Rethinking the Fundamental Principles of Education and the Role of Technology

As Sir Robinson explained at the Forum, "The real virtue is not in the tools we create, it is in how we use the tools to create, how creative we become with the tools. The challenge with technology is not a technological one, it's a spiritual one."

Sir Ken Robinson closed his speech with these words -- "If we start to rethink some of the fundamental principles of education, its relationship with technology, there's a better chance that we will create the world that we and our children will want to live in."

Watch the video recap from the Global Forums in Miami:

Read more about Microsoft in Education and our commitment to education.

Guest post by Anthony Salcito, Vice President of Worldwide Education

It's Computer Science Education Week, and through Microsoft YouthSpark, we're celebrating as a lead supporter of the Hour of Code… one of the largest learning events giving more than 100 million students around the world their first taste of computer science and software engineering.

Why - when teachers and administrators are already tasked with never-ending to-dos - is introducing computer science for one hour a big deal? By starting early, students will learn what's possible when it comes to creating - not just using - technology and they'll also learn foundational skills that are needed for success in any 21st-century career path.

While one hour may not seem like a lot of time, it can be challenging for busy teachers and students to fit that hour into any given day. Together with Code.org we're excited to share that students and educators can take advantage of engaging, easy-to-use materials and tutorials translated into more than 30 different languages to help them get their start today.

"Out of the millions of people who will try the Hour of Code, we know there will be people who just 'get it,'" says Doug Bergman, a computer science teacher at Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, South Carolina. "As they move through the tutorials, [students] will find that it makes sense to them, and they are even able to do some of the challenges without help." Berman adds, "[Students will be] able to take the ideas in their head and bring them into something tangible on the screen in front of them. And those people may reconsider computer science as an area they want to explore. Maybe they take a class, read a book, or just make a realization that computer science is not what they thought and their conversations around that topic are now different."

There are many Hour of Code tutorials available for schools and one was developed with TouchDevelop, created by Microsoft Research. TouchDevelop is a free coding tool designed for students - and teachers - with no prior computer science knowledge to learn the basics and gain hands-on experience. In the Microsoft tutorial for Hour of Code, students will be able to fix a fun and simple game that challenges players to guide a robot through a maze of obstacles. I encourage you to check out all of the tutorials including Microsoft's tools, details on how we're supporting computer science education this week and all year… and how others around Microsoft are inspiring students to get their start this week.

Just one hour. That's all it takes to get a student excited about computer science.

The Hour of Code is just the beginning! In 2015, LeX and IT Academy teams will be rolling out additional resources for introducing computer science to students around the world. IT Academy member schools will be able to take advantage of new curriculum, hands-on exercises and online courses available.  And the IT Academy will be unveiling a new introductory programming course with Python. Stay tuned!

By Anthony Salcito

When Microsoft introduced OneNote more than a decade ago, we knew we were onto something that could transform the work of teaching and learning. Educators immediately understood its potential - and both teachers and students have reaped the benefits ever since. Fast-forward to 2014, and the new OneNote Class Notebook Creator takes OneNote to the next level, letting teachers set up a personal workspace for every student, a content library for handouts, and a collaboration space for lessons and creative activities -- all within one powerful notebook. To top it off….when the notebook is created all students and the teacher automatically get an email with the link to the notebook ensuring everyone is seamlessly working together.

But believe it or not, this is just the beginning.

Based on feedback from educators around the globe, I'm pleased to announce that we've enhanced OneNote Class Notebook Creator to make it even more powerful. We've added:

• Localization in ten languages in 21 markets, including English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese -- with many more on the way.

• Full notebook access for co-teachers, student teachers or substitutes when you add them to your notebook.

• Easy-to-find links in Office 365 and within the OneNote Class Notebook Creator app.

• Faster performance (up to 66 percent less time to create a notebook) and other UI improvements.

Be sure to check out the details here - including a brand-new interactive guide with step-by-step instructions that make creating a class notebook even easier. Also, check out OneNoteForTeachers.com for free interactive trainings on using OneNote for teaching and learning.

With the Office 365 ProPlus benefit now available at eligible institutions worldwide, staff and students alike can access OneNote on all major devices and browsers. This means that exchanging student work and teacher feedback in one place - anywhere and anytime - has never been easier.

The best news? These OneNote Class Notebook Creator enhancements will help more educators spend less time on paperwork. Instead, they'll be focusing on the business of learning, and preparing students for their critical next steps. And that's a win-win for everyone.

“The OneNote Class Notebook Creator can literally ‘blow your mind’ as an educator with its potential in schools.” — Kevin Sait, head of IT strategy for Wymondham High Academy Trust in Norfolk England, kevinsait.wordpress.com . Since the launch ...read more

Today’s post was written by Mike Tholfsen, program manager for the OneNote team. We are pleased to announce the inaugural entry for the OneNote in Education blog!  With the growing momentum of OneNote in education, we wanted to start this blog ...read more

By Anthony Salcito, Vice President of Worldwide Education

It's officially the season of giving, and Microsoft is giving in a big way to teachers and students around the globe. I'm pleased to announce that the popular Office 365 ProPlus Benefit is now available worldwide to all students and educators. This means that any eligible organization - anywhere in the world - can provide an Office 365 ProPlus subscription at no extra cost for all students, faculty and staff.

Today's announcement is the latest expansion of the Office 365 ProPlus benefit, an evolution of last year's popular "Student Advantage" program, which was created to address the very real needs of our fast-changing global economy. Office 365 ProPlus includes all of the familiar (and professional-grade) Office applications like Word, PowerPoint and OneNote. The program also includes Office Online and 1TB of storage on OneDrive for Business, enough to support all of the productivity - and creativity - 21^st century learning can unleash, all in a safe and secure environment.

Office 365 is the productivity tool for the world of education, matching the anywhere, anytime learning environments of today. The program offers students and teachers throughout the world access to the same set of gold-standard productivity tools and services used by Fortune 500 companies everywhere. And Microsoft believes that by making Office more available where it's needed most (like we recently did in Thailand, where Office 365 is helping to create massive repositories of knowledge that can be accessed and shared by every student nationwide), we are furthering our mission to help everyone on the planet do more and achieve more. By helping students, faculty and staff throughout the world be more productive, we're helping them focus on what really matters: the business of learning.

That's the reason why Cognita Schools Asia, a leading international independent schools group operating in Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam including their flagship school Stamford American International School has chosen Office 365 to enable its teachers and staff to collaborate and communicate more seamlessly in and across campuses to facilitate better learning outcomes for students through Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive and Lync.

Brian Rogove, Chief Executive, Cognita Asia, said: "Cognita Asia has a clear vision of providing the highest level of quality in teaching and learning excellence for our students in Asia Pacific. Our schools are constantly innovating to enable our teachers, staff and students to stay ahead in a world where technology has radically changed the way we communicate. That's why we are excited to be now on Office 365 to enhance the way we teach, communicate and collaborate across our network of schools."

Extending the Office 365 ProPlus benefit to teachers and staff ensures that educators now have access to the latest version of Office across all their devices. It also means that teachers are using the same technology and features as their students, and allows them access to all their Office documents both at school and at home. With the program, educators can access full Office on up to five PCs or Macs and can unlock the editing capabilities of Office apps for iPad.

They can also take advantage of great Office apps and add-ins like Office Mix to record and publish class lectures. With tools like Lync, classrooms around the world can communicate and collaborate instantaneously. With OneNote, teachers can share lesson plans, class notes, photos, and ideas on any device, accessible from anywhere. And all of these tools meet Microsoft's rigorous standards for security and our unwavering commitment to protecting the privacy of young people. (Read here how we're demonstrating that commitment in South Korea.)

Microsoft is proud to reinvent tools that make the most of the moments that matter -- at home, at work and in school. We're even more proud that we can share this gift with resource-strapped schools in diverse communities around the world. For teachers, school leaders and students alike, Office 365 ProPlus expands the very potential of education. And perhaps more important, it provides a solid foundation in the skills that 21^st century employers need, paving the way for an opportunity-filled future for today's young people.

- Anthony

Every student brings his or her own unique experiences, talents, and challenges into the classroom, including those students with special education needs. December 2nd marks Special Education Day in the U.S. - because each child's learning style is different, teachers must strive to support their students' unique learning styles while balancing the demands of larger classrooms, standardized testing and changing curricula. With this in mind, we're sharing stories of teachers and educators who are using technology in inventive ways to instruct students with a variety of learning styles and disabilities in recognition of Special Education Day.

Instructing Students with Disabilities

Meet Robin Lowell, a distance learning teacher who mathematics to her students who are blind or visually impaired students across the Washington-Oregon border. Lowell devised a way to use Microsoft Lync and Yammer to improve learning for her students. This video shows how teachers and math students at the Washington State School for the Blind use Lync and Yammer to connect with Lowell, who lives 180 miles from the school:

Learn what inspired Michio Inaba, a deaf teacher at Osaka's Ikuno School for the deaf, to use Microsoft products like Surface and OneNote to encourage the true potential of his students.

Flexibility to Choose a Stylus, Touch, Mouse or Keyboard

Windows 8 lets a student adjust their devices to make learning more personalized, aligning with each student's natural learning style or special education needs. Windows personalizes learning options enable students to access the curriculum in their own way, according to their abilities and needs. That flexibility means that students can use Windows 8 tablets in whichever mode works best for them: touch, stylus, mouse, or keyboard.

For students who learn best by writing, Windows 8 tablets feature powerful handwriting recognition and a stylus input. See how the easy-to-use, ink-to-text feature works in the classroom. Educator Sonja Delafosse, an instructional technology coordinator, demonstrates how:

Ways to Assess Student Progress

Personalized learning is most effective when teachers can accurately assess how each student is progressing - and Windows 8 makes that possible. Using apps like the innovative Record Voice & Pen for Windows 8, teachers can gain valuable insights on their students' comprehension. Teachers can literally hear what their students are thinking, and then see that thought process visually on screen:

Special Education Apps for Windows

There are also many education apps for Windows that enable students of all abilities to learn in a way that works best for them. For example, with Skitch Touch for Windows 8, teachers can authentically assess student progress, while learners can record and save their individual learning process:

Here are a few more special education apps designed for students with disabilities:

• Tap to Talk gives a non-verbal child or adult a voice by turning any Windows 8 device into an affordable augmentative and alternative communication device. Tap a picture, TapToTalk speaks aloud.

• Visolve is assistive software for people with color blindness. Visolve for Modern UI can apply some color transformations, and simulations to an image taken by camera, saved in the file, or copied in clipboard.

• Talkingtiles is an assistive care app that can be used for communication, learning, daily living and social skills for individuals with a special need, disability, or a behavioral health disorder.

• Windows Eyes. To make learning even easier for students with visual impairments, Microsoft and GW Micro have partnered to provide a free screen reader called Windows Eyes.

Flexible Teaching

For educators, Windows 8 and Office open up a world of flexible teaching possibilities - from distance learning with Lync and Yammer, to instant messaging (IM), to moving around inside and outside the classroom. The right technology allows a student to work at their own pace in a way that traditional textbook-and-chalkboard approaches simply can't. When students are equipped with a durable, lightweight and portable device, teachers can bring curriculum to life with project-based learning that is rooted in real-world scenarios that prepare students of all abilities for the future.

More information:

• Windows

• Education Apps for Windows

• Office

• Windows Personalization and Accessibility

Education reform in Europe - especially the Nordic countries -- has produced impressive results for years, with case studies and PISA scores to prove it. So when these reformers get together to talk about the future of education, it's a discussion worth listening to. Last month, Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb hosted the Northern Future Forum. He was joined by prime ministers of the UK, the Nordic countries and the Baltic States, along with business leaders and global education experts, to discuss new ways to address common challenges.

Our own Kati Tiainen, director of business development for Microsoft Education, moderated some of that discussion as well as led a session on the The Future of Teacher Training - Bridging the Gap." Following the session Kati was able to present the outcomes to the prime ministers.

Her take-aways? Transforming higher education is of huge importance, and it must help connect learning to work/life needs. At the same time, the teaching profession must adapt to the needs of today's digital natives with better training and a greater focus on digital learning. Here are some of the highlights from the Forum:

Higher education must be transformed.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the critical need for universities to be more entrepreneurial, and to serve the needs of an increasing number of students who require a higher level of education to succeed in the 21^st century workforce. Like Stubb, Cameron emphasized the importance of teaching coding to today's young people.

Education and technology are transforming the economies of Northern Europe.
State Secretary Olli-Pekka Heinonen, representing Prime Minister Stubb, noted the importance of tearing down the barriers between education institutions and the workplace, while closing the gap between traditional and digital learning. Prime Minister Stubb committed to advancing learning digitalization, as well as making coding an important part of 21^st century learning.

The teaching profession must be viewed in a new way.
Denmark's Minister for Higher Education and Science, Sofie Carsten Nielsen, representing Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, noted that teacher education must be made more attractive, and at the same time, be reshaped to support the needs of digital natives.

Education must lead nations to the future.
Norway Prime Minister Erna Solberg talked about the need for innovation at scale. She noted the critical role teachers play in this effort, and the need to improve both teacher quality and readiness for innovation. Like her counterparts, Solberg believes that government - and specifically prime ministers - must take the lead in affecting real change.

Microsoft is proud to play a role in powerful discussions such as these, influencing and leading educational transformation on a global scale.

Almost everyone remembers taking an exam on paper, filling in your multiple-choice answer selection in the oval bubbles with a No. 2 pencil. Ah, the good old days. Before the widespread availability of personal technology we did most of our learning (and teaching) with the most advanced technologies available - paper and pencil. While definitely tried and true, paper and pencil don't enable the level of adaptation to the learning needs and abilities of students that can be unlocked with the technology that's available to us today. Students today are experiencing digital learning and also the digitization of educational assessments.

Over the past four years, we have seen a dramatic increase in technology spending for teaching, learning, and assessment. Good, bad, or indifferent, online educational assessments are driving much of the educational technology in our classrooms. The tests themselves are an evolutionary step forward for students, teachers and school districts. The test questions can adapt to the student's performance against previous questions offering more or less challenge to tap into a student's depth of knowledge. Online assessments also feature rich media, animations and simulations that are interactive for students to demonstrate applied knowledge versus just answering simple multiple-choice questions.

While the testing medium has changed, and the content is enhanced, the process still requires that testing materials have a secure chain-of-custody from beginning to end. But because schools have adopted a mix of consumer-grade and enterprise-grade technologies, many face two primary challenges: (1) delivering secure, online assessments and (2) obtaining low-costs devices so to facilitate the assessments.

Delivering secure, online assessments

Windows devices, MacBooks, iPads, Chromebooks, Android tablets, Linux devices and virtual machines have all been brought into the mix to deliver secure online assessments. But regardless of device, educators face the challenge of building the test delivery system and implementing the exam on locked-down devices that were created to be open for consumer-use scenarios versus online assessments.

All of the major operating system companies and device manufacturers have taken measures to bolster the ability to secure devices for online assessments. The two largest testing consortia in the U.S.-Partnership for Advancing Readiness for College and Career and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia have taken steps to ensure that the security of these assessments can't be breached deliberately or inadvertently. Breaches can invalidate the test submission or allow students to cheat by remotely accessing the test. As a result, I am confident that today we can conduct online assessments securely and economically.

Obtaining low-cost devices

The other main challenge schools face is purchasing devices that are within their budgets. Before a student can take an online test, she will first need a capable device. While there are many devices at a variety of price points, they are not all equally ready for online assessment. Add the fact that online assessments typically only last for approximately five days of the 180-day school year and that students need to use the device for other learning, so the devices serve dual and potentially conflicting purposes. In our view, the device must meet the requirements for secure, online assessments and be equally suited for the teaching and learning that precedes and comes after assessments.

The Microsoft K-12 Education Advisory Group, consisting of school leaders from around the U.S., has shared feedback that students also have expectations of the devices they use for assessments. For example, students expect when they touch the screen to make a selection, that their testing device actually has a touchscreen; students who are familiar with using a mouse and keyboard want those peripherals available; and one in five students require assistive technologies for learning and assessments. These students have devices that they have relied upon for years. They need them to just work, no matter the testing environment. In a nutshell, students and teachers have high expectations for a low-cost device.

In February, Microsoft stood with President Obama to launch the ConnectED Initiative, which is jump-starting learning technology across our nation's K-12 schools. Since then, the education technology market has seen wave after wave of highly capable, low-cost Windows devices for education. As the cost of a device dropped below that of a set of textbooks (which usually costs between $400 and 700/per pupil/per annum,) schools have been increasing spending in preparation for the spring 2015 assessment window. Today, there are many great devices that can be purchased for less than a set of textbooks, and the price of Windows devices continue to fall.

In fact, we are starting to see the single unit price of a Windows device reach the volume purchase price of just a year ago. This means that families now have purchasing parity with the institutions their child attends. In a household of three or more children, buying any mobile device for every child can become expensive without some support. But with Windows device options that cost the same or less than a graphic calculator or a set of textbooks they've become significantly more affordable.

Why does the price of the device for families matter at all?

Until now, institutions needed to own and manage the devices that were used for instruction and assessment. As a result, growth has been slow in getting enough devices for each of the 50 million students in our public schools today. Now, if school districts want to pursue a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) approach to teaching and learning with technology, they need the devices to be affordable and secure for assessments.

Historically, BYOD meant schools and students could not use a family-owned device for secure, online assessments. If the device was not managed by the institution, how could they ensure it was secure before and throughout the duration of the assessment? Moreover, how could you return that device control back to the student immediately at the end of the assessment?

Solving this problem required some breakthrough thinking and creative questions between Microsoft, our partners AssistX, Pearson Education and the American Institutes for Research (AIR). As a result of these organizations working together, today there is a secure way for devices to be used for any assessment scenario - no matter if the devices are supplied by the school or brought to school by the student.

As the sun sets on the No. 2 pencil and paper testing methods, we've seen great progress in making online assessments secure and available for all. There's more work to be done to keep up with the new innovations hitting the classroom every day, so this is definitely a journey. But right now I'm confident that the necessary steps are in progress to make online assessments a practical and mainstream part of learning.

Microsoft will be hosting many hands-on and interactive sessions at NYSCATE's annual conference in Rochester, NY.

We'd like to invite you to stop by our booth to learn about our Microsoft Innovative Educator Program, classroom tools like OneNote and TestPolicy, and our new Office for Teachers offering! In addition, come explore how your technology choices can better prepare students for the real world and improve classroom collaboration!

Our free professional development workshops presented by fellow educators are interactive and engaging. Take advantage of this great opportunity to learn and grow from like-minded professionals!

Below is the schedule of events:

Microsoft is excited to partner with NYSCATE to provide quality professional development and empower educators with the skills and tools they need to innovate and transform teaching and learning. Be sure to check our Teacher Academy series - we may be coming to a city near you!

Higher education institutions today are under great pressure as they strive to achieve their goals. Government, other funding agencies, and taxpayers want to see a measurable return on their investment. They are increasingly attaching specific performance requirements to funding for higher education and allocating funding based on performance-based models.

University performance is also being scrutinized by students and parents, who want to know that they are getting value for their investment.

Therefore it is crucial that university leaders have a way to gain visibility into all major areas of institutional data that show the efforts, activities, and results that support the university's strategic plans.

To develop a performance-driven culture, decision makers need a way to collect, report, and analyze data; a way to develop data-based insight that drives decisions and actions; and a way to use data systematically to advance outcomes that align with the university's objectives.

Without an integrated solution that ties all of the university's data together, it is difficult or even impossible for stakeholders to answer fundamental questions of performance-based management.

Microsoft business intelligence (BI) for higher education tools put powerful BI into the hands of administrators, faculty, and staff across the university. Using already familiar tools from Microsoft-Office 365, SharePoint, SQL Server, and more-universities gain self-service BI that enables stakeholders at all levels to make data-driven decisions that can improve performance and competitiveness, and that helps document improvement for funding and accreditation sources. Faculty can use these analytics for academic advising, retention improvement, and institutional assessment purposes.

• Microsoft's stack for self-service business intelligence includes tools to discover, analyze and visualize data, and to share, find and access data anywhere.
• Excel is the center of the universe for these business intelligence tools, and works in combination with SharePoint online.

Self-service BI with the familiarity of Office and the power of the cloud

Excel includes the powerful analytics and visualization tools - Power Query, Power Pivot, Power View and Power Map - which are available with Office 365 Education E3 subscription for your institution.

Power BI for Office 365 enhances your experiences with Excel by providing features to allow you to share and collaborate on your insights in new and powerful ways with features like Power BI Sites, Q&A and Mobile BI. Power BI for Office 365 is available as an added service on top of your institution's Office 365 Education E3 subscription.

The Ellucian Institutional Performance Management solution, developed on the SharePoint platform and integrated with the Nuventive TracDat planning and outcomes assessment engine, provides a powerful solution that links measurement to strategic objectives and enables stakeholders to model plans and gain performance data at a glance using a comprehensive dashboard.

More information:

• Download and read the Institutional Performance Management paper

• View quick tip video demonstrations on how to use Microsoft Power BI tools in higher education

Post co-published on Steve “Guggs” Guggenheimer’s Blog

The 7,000-strong Microsoft Student Partner (MSP) community will lend its expertise in teaching an Hour of Code to students in classrooms around the world, during Computer Science Education Week from December 8 – 14.

The goal of the Hour of Code is to inspire 100 million youths across the world to participate in one of the largest single learning events ever held. After the recent announcement by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that the company will help lead that effort, our MSPs volunteered to teach using tutorials created by the Microsoft Learning Experience Academic Product team. One of those tutorials is an activity that uses the TouchDevelop coding tool, an easy-to-use visual game that teaches basic coding logic and gives students hands-on practice building and fixing games. During this Hour of Code activity, students will be asked to help fix a fun and simple game called “Jetpack Jumper,” that challenges players to guide a robot through a maze of wacky obstacles.

Everyone should have an opportunity to learn to code. In this pursuit, it is vital that we do everything we can to cast a wide net to ensure that any student who wants to learn to code, can take advantage of the tools Microsoft offers. These are tools that can help them build the skills they need, to both compete in the job market of tomorrow and perhaps even create the next great world-changing technology.

The dynamic of empowering students to learn has been at work at Microsoft since the company’s beginnings in 1975, when two young students – Bill Gates and Paul Allen – chased their dream of using the power of computing technology to make peoples’ lives easier and more productive. Since then, Microsoft has helped young people realize their potential through programs like Imagine Cup and Student Partners, so they can create bold new lives for themselves through the power of code.

The next generation of developers is out there, poised to do something great. We’re committed to doing everything we can to start these individuals down the path to fulfilling their dreams and potential through events like the Hour of Code.

Join us in our efforts to teach students during Computer Science Education Week. Find out more about how you can participate, whether you want to try it yourself, host an Hour of Code, or just support this important and life-changing event.

Also, be sure to tune into a live broadcast on Channel 9 of an Hour of Code, where you can follow along at home or in the classroom at 9 a.m. PT on December 8. This live broadcast will feature Sage Franch, a Microsoft Student Partner and Technical Evangelist intern, and Susan Ibach, Technical Evangelist.

I can’t wait to see what comes out of it.

Guggs

@stevenguggs

Post co-published on Steve “Guggs” Guggenheimer’s Blog

This post is co-published on the Microsoft Office blog.

Microsoft Office has long been a staple in the teacher toolkit for communicating and collaborating with their classes. Today we're thrilled to announce that we've made it easier for teachers to get Office on all their devices-while storing and sharing class material with students using OneDrive.

Microsoft Azure is the foundation for twenty-first century research

Universities today face increasing demands and constraints as they work to create a successful academic research environment. The cloud delivers flexibility, scalability, security, and cost savings, as well as the efficiency, responsiveness, and speed that Principal Investigators and post-doctoral and graduate student researchers need to achieve an even higher level of productivity and innovation.

Real innovation is based on the analysis and interpretation of data. When researchers can invest more of their resources at this level, they have a better opportunity of delivering impactful outcomes and innovations from their research. The Microsoft Azure platform takes care of infrastructure setup, network connections, data collection and storage, and more, freeing researchers to focus on innovation.

The Microsoft Azure cloud platform provides an open, flexible, global platform that supports multiple programming languages, tools, and frameworks. Not limited to the Windows platform, it also supports Linux, Python, Java, Hadoop, and the Microsoft .NET Framework, and it can provide backend services to iOS and Android with Azure Mobile Services.

There are three service models to choose from, the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Microsoft has added a fourth cloud service model, Research as a Service (RaaS), which supports researchers in sharing data and meeting reporting requirements. In addition Microsoft Azure can be configured in the way that best meets the university's and researchers' needs so they can choose a public, private or hybrid cloud.

Compare cloud service models to on premises

The Data Services, Application Services, and Infrastructure Services components of Microsoft Azure enable researchers to build highly available, infinitely scalable applications, and to quickly deploy and manage applications and services. Azure manages the deployment details, enabling researchers to focus on the application and not on the infrastructure. The cloud also provides real-time access to a broad set of tools, languages, and frameworks, delivering direct access to virtually unlimited computing resources.

Research data requires vast, reliable, secure storage, and the cloud makes storing massive amounts of data feasible and cost-effective since it provides the ability to scale up to meet massive compute and storage needs on demand, and scale back down when not in use in order to reduce costs.

Universities benefit from the economy of scale that Microsoft's datacenters deliver. These datacenters contain millions of servers built on inexpensive land in areas with access to cheap electricity, with efficient cooling, optimized installation and replacement servicing, thus contributing to lower costs.

Expert data center staff perform upgrades and hardware replacements in bulk and manage deployment, maintenance, and security. CIOs can feel confident about the cloud because Azure delivers 99.95% monthly availability (SLA). Confidential and highly sensitive data is secure and protected and geo-redundancy for critical data and disaster recovery is available.

The more than 125 Microsoft Research teams worldwide use Microsoft Azure cloud services in their own research, leading to innovations in computing, breakthroughs in social science research, powerful new products, and more. In addition, Microsoft has also made a huge commitment to research with Microsoft Research, backed by more than $10 billion in funding (2013).

Read the complete Microsoft Azure for Research paper.

This week, as we celebrate the announcement of the 2014-2015 Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts and Showcase Schools , we're also keeping a close eye on a noteworthy education event taking place across the Atlantic: The Northern Future Forum in Helsinki, Finland.

Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has invited the prime ministers of the UK, the Nordic countries and the Baltic states - nine countries in all - along with business leaders and global education experts to the event. The aim is sharing ideas and finding new ways of tackling the common challenges encountered in the modern northern European economies. This is the fourth annual event of its kind, and it's no surprise that business innovation and education reform -- and how the two intersect -- will be the crux of the discussion.

Microsoft is honored to play a key role in these discussions. Kati Tiainen, director of business development in Finland for the Microsoft in Education team, will be leading a roundtable discussion with the prime ministers on the importance of teacher training in education transformation. At Microsoft, we believe that teachers are the single most important force in transforming education, and we work hard to deliver training and support to help them deliver exceptional student outcomes. Microsoft makes professional development for educators and school leaders available free of charge because we know it's the foundation to scalable improvements in teaching and learning.

Tiainen will focus on how teacher training can bridge the gap between the skills today's digital native students need to be productive and successful in their future careers, and how today's educators are prepared to teach those skills. Her background in the Finnish education ecosystem makes her especially qualified to guide that critical discussion.

Tiainen will be live tweeting from the event, and will share insights, perspectives and ideas from the Future Forum. You can follow along @KatiTiainen. And stay tuned right here, as we dig deeper into the outcomes from the Future Forum next week.

The world's most innovative technology companies are developing education products for Office 365. Why? Because Office 365 provides more of what schools and educators need to manage their schools and classrooms today - real, robust solutions like OneDrive for Business, Lync, Skype, Office Mix and OneNote that help change the way students learn in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.

This week in Miami, we will be highlighting the amazing work from a select group of our development partners at the Microsoft in Education Global Forum where we just announced the new Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts and Microsoft Showcase Schools. At the forum we are meeting with education leaders, government officials and school leaders from more than 15 Latin American countries, along with the U.S. and Canada. Together, they will get a chance to preview new partner hardware and software and to see how their peers are using these tools to achieve measurable results.

Our partners develop for Office 365 because it's different - and that's a good thing. With its open ecosystem and enterprise-ready safe, secure, scalable systems, Office 365 is the ideal platform for learning. In fact, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently called Office 365 the most strategic API for the company. Partners like these are leading the way in making Satya's statement a reality developing unique and educationally relevant scenarios on top of the powerful productivity platform Office 365 provides:

• Ability to turn teaching textbooks into interactive digital books with Oxford University Press's Oxford Learner's Bookshelf app. The resulting Office 365 app makes it easier for schools and universities to distribute textbooks in a cost-effective way, allowing students to learn anytime, anywhere.

• Offer online courses to enhance digital learning with Desire2Learn's Brightspace platform. This digital learning platform that places entire courses online, alongside resources such as discussion forums, course content, quizzes, surveys and other materials. With Office 365 integration, Brightspace is now able to provide students access to their emails and calendars, as well as enabling collaboration with classmates, all without having to leave the platform.

• Deliver learning management with LMS 365 by ELEARNINGFORCE. LMS 365 is a native Office 365 solution powered by Azure, delivering a learning management system that is usable, extensible, and robust - offering an easy to use platform for its users. Customers already running Office 365 can simply add the LMS365 learning apps to their existing intranet, extranet and team sites.

• Host an e-learning content repository in the cloud with EduShare by ITWORX Education. In developing its recently launched solution EduShare, integrated with Microsoft Office 365 to provide a cloud-based e-learning content repository. Educational institutions use EduShare to provide teaching and learning resources such as lesson plans, research, multimedia, and all other types of educational content on any device with a web browser. EduShare is a free portal that is linked to Office 365, and represents a core aspect of the Global Alliance Agreement established between ITWORX Education and Microsoft.

• Run a campus management system that helps universities improve student experience through the cloud with CampusNet® by Datenlotsen . CampusNet® can be access across platforms. Based on Office 365 and SharePoint, the tool makes it possible to connect collaboration and communication tools to existing campus management systems, giving students and teachers a single sign-on access to all relevant information and materials in one central space.

• Empower educators to help them effectively manage their organizations with Knowledge Network. Using Office 365, it turns data into meaningful information that helps leaders to make better decision and educators to deliver personalized learning pathways to young people to help them learn, progress and achieve their aspirations in life.

For more examples of partner innovations, or to find a list of partners that you can contact visit our new Office 365 education solutions page.

All of this innovation ultimately benefits educators and students alike. For teachers, Office 365 provides increased personal contact, real-time feedback, instructional adjustments based on data, and ongoing collaboration. Teachers using Office Mix can create lessons or get real-time data about student performance. And with Skype and Lync, they can present lessons, share documents, and connect with classrooms and experts around the globe -- or use Yammer to encourage discussion and collaboration throughout the school.

The familiar tools of Office 365 not only simplify technology integration, they prepare students for collaborating in the global, connected world they will face after graduation. Students in the U.S. are eligible for free Office 365 ProPlus from their school using a self-service sign-up process. With its cloud-based browser, Office 365, makes it easy for students to collaborate and work from their favorite device, virtually anywhere and anytime.

We're proud that our classroom technology has opened up countless opportunities for students. But all opportunities come with challenges, and ensuring that classroom technology is used in a safe, secure manner is one of those challenges. It's also a big part of our obligation as technology creators and innovators. We believe the use of student data must be prohibited for use in sales, marketing and advertising and we work actively to ensure that our education products live up to the high expectations of children, parents and legislators. As part of our commitment, Microsoft has led the signing of the "K-12 School Service Provider Pledge to Safeguard Student Privacy." The Pledge holds Microsoft and other signatories accountable for collecting and using data strictly for educational purposes, and not for commercial purposes including creating user profiles for advertising, or targeted advertising. You can find out more about Microsoft's commitment to keeping your data safe and secure at the Microsoft Office 365 Trust Center.

It is Microsoft's long-held belief that digital technology, used in the right ways, has the power to transform education and to provide young people with the tools to help them do more and achieve more. It's also one of the reasons why we created the company-wide Microsoft YouthSpark initiative that provides young people around the world with education, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. The exceptional partners, educators and schools at the Miami Global Forum are a shining example of how we can work together and around the world to ensure that every student, no matter where or how they live, can experience the best education possible. The future is indeed bright, and transformation is alive and well.

This week, we're bringing together some of the brightest school leaders, policy makers, partners and experts in the Americas to explore the technology and tools that have the potential to revolutionize both teaching and learning. Between digital content creation and consumption in the cloud, global collaboration, social networking and mobility, real change is already happening in classrooms around the world. We'll be celebrating that progress, but just as important, looking ahead to the next wave of innovation that promises to reshape education from top to bottom.

Innovative Educators and Schools Lead the Way

More than 15 Latin American countries, along with the U.S. and Canada, are expected at the Forum, along with some of this year's class of Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Experts and Microsoft Showcase Schools - a class we're thrilled to announce today. This group of over 800 teachers and over 150 schools represents the best of the best when it comes to using technology to reinforce critical 21^st century skills. And even more important, they're driving real impact and outcomes. The group is significantly larger than last year's class - with nearly three times the number of educators and more than triple the number of schools - reflecting Microsoft's goal of increasing the worldwide pool of innovators and collaborators.

Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts - Transforming Teaching with Technology

Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts are selected each year based on their innovative use of classroom technology - from cloud storage to mobile and everything in between. They integrate progressive pedagogy with advanced technology to advance learning and better prepare students for the jobs of the future.

In being chosen, these education thought leaders join an exclusive global community dedicated to trying new approaches, sharing ideas and learning from each other. They receive free tools and technology, including Office 365 Pro Plus (along with an IT Academy certification); participate in cases studies, speaking engagements and content development; and are eligible to earn an all-expense paid trip to the Microsoft in Education Global Forum in Redmond, Washington next April, 2015. These experts not only advise Microsoft on technology development; they also advise other educational institutions and their peers on how to integrate technology in pedagogically sound ways - a key pillar (and differentiator) for Microsoft in Education.

The experience can be life-changing. Here's what just a few Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts have told us:

"The Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Program has given me the tools and access to the most innovative teachers in the world, helping me become the teacher my students deserve."
- Todd LaVogue, USA

"The international projects and community of learners [of the Microsoft in Education programs] enable students and teachers to participate in global efforts and be inspired. These efforts make them proud as they know their work is important."
- María Lorraine de Ruiz-Alma, Dominical Republic

"The Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert experience enabled me to personally transform into the ultimate change agent for empowering education at the highest level. The opportunity to build vision with worldwide leaders and leverage a global educator community has inspired me to take new approaches for new possibilities with amazing tools like Office 365, Microsoft Educator Network free tools and resources, Windows Apps, and much more!"
- Joshua Sawyer, USA

 

Showcase Schools - Driving Institutional Change

Like Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts, leaders from Microsoft Showcase Schools have demonstrated a strong vision for educational change and have applied their vision to transforming whole schools. These leaders create an environment where both students and educators thrive by placing students at the center of their own learning and giving educators opportunities to embrace innovation in the classroom. Microsoft technology is deployed school-wide, and their experiences are shared with other schools - thus accelerating the pace of reform worldwide.

Showcase Schools share our belief that a 1:1 learning environment can have a profound impact not only on how students learn, but on measurable outcomes. They place a priority on having the right staff to drive innovation within the school -- and, through collaboration, with other schools. They also value cloud-based solutions like Office365 for their ability to facilitate collaboration and communication - and for their role in reducing overall IT costs.

As Sir Ken Robinson, a keynote speaker at this week's Forum, has said: "For most of us the problem isn't that we aim too high and fail - it's just the opposite - we aim too low and succeed." These very special teachers and schools epitomize aiming high - and their work inspires us all to aim higher.

As we celebrate their achievements of the 2015 class of Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts and forge new partnerships with visionary school leaders and teachers from around the world, I'm incredibly excited about the future of education. Microsoft believes that every child deserves a quality education where he or she can become their best selves, and with school leaders and educators like these leading the charge, that ambitious goal is well within sight.

More information:

• Microsoft in Education
• Creating Innovative Schools
• Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Experts
• Microsoft Showcase Schools

Improving collaboration between students. Designing more engaging lessons. Saving time. If you're an educator, these are likely things you care about. As technology becomes more powerful and increasingly prevalent in classrooms, the potential to improve student learning grows.

To make it easier to harness the power of technology for student learning, we have put together a series of quick tip videos. This series of Quick Tip Videos are 2-minute clips that show teachers how to use a feature in their classroom right after watching the clip so they can immediately integrate an idea into tomorrow's lesson plan.

These videos are organized based on six core priorities that teachers reporting being the ways they think about how to integrate technology into student learning.

These Quick Tip Videos are short, consumable clips that empower teachers to accomplish a task with free Microsoft tools and technology. Often the challenge with technology as comprehensive as Microsoft's is some features that can be immensely helpful to educators are buried under the multiple functionalities of the products. These Quick Tip Videos present product capabilities to teachers, organized and aligned around classroom goals.

For example, see how to take notes by hand with Windows 8 ink to text .

Then, see how to teach a lesson with text, images and audio using OneNote.

And, see how you can upload and share a lesson in Office Mix so that just your students have access to the lesson and quiz.

Share these videos and more with other teachers.

Students who learn to collaborate effectively with others not only have richer educational experiences; they also have a distinct advantage in the 21 ^st century workplace. Today's educators use project-based learning activities to foster those collaborative skills, forming teams to address real-life challenges - from complex issues like global warming and bullying to starting their own businesses. Increasingly, those educators are taking collaboration to a new level using Skype in the Classroom to erase geographic borders and build cultural understanding.

We've heard countless stories about how teachers are using Skype in the Classroom, which not only facilitates collaboration, but serves as a resource for innovative lesson ideas. Teachers are using Skype to bring their lessons to life -- taking classes on virtual field trips and hosting expert guest speakers.

As for the students participating in these activities, they're gaining a global perspective and are more engaged and invested in the learning process. It all adds up to a significant movement. Since the ad-free program was launched in 2011, it's added nearly 100,000 users. The program currently features over 10,000 lessons, and has hundreds of thousands of Facebook likes and Twitter followers.

Take the Washington, D.C. Public Schools' Embassy Adoption Program, for example. From traditional songs and dances to food and languages, the lessons embedded in this program enable students to meaningfully explore the diversity of the global community. Their work brings them together with peers throughout the D.C. area, and culminates in a global, mini-United Nations exercise.

Not surprisingly, diplomacy is a common theme among Skype in the Classroom projects. Students in Bangalore and Islamabad recently addressed the thorny issue of India-Pakistan relations by using Skype for a Virtual Dinner Guest project. Over a 60- to 90-minute meal - via Skype - students focused on what they had in common rather than what separated them - a meaningful first step in changing hearts and minds.

For special needs students, Skype in the Classroom can provide a much-needed connection to students with similar challenges. One recent project connected students from Kansas to virtual pen pals in Scotland. Participants not only explored other cultures, but gained helpful interviewing experience - a real boost for their communications skills.

Sometimes, Skype in the Classroom gives students access to professionals and government leaders, experts they would never have had contact with, even a decade ago. One group of Idaho college students recently met the Mayor of Herten, Germany, who shared his perspective on the German health care system and on the current unrest in the Ukraine. At the university level, this kind of interaction is a game-changer.

These are just a few of the thousands of ways teachers are using Skype to expand their students' perspectives and world. Whether the goal is building collaborative skills, exposing students to new cultures and ideas or simply creating a more engaging classroom, Skype in the Classroom can be every teacher's secret weapon. And for us at Microsoft, its proof-positive that - applied thoughtfully - technology can transform education.

Co-published on the Microsoft Europe blog

Youth unemployment continues to be a problem across Europe, sitting at more than twice the rate of adults, and has not gone unnoticed. Recognised at the highest level, the European Commission laid out its plan to help solve this within its Europe 2020 strategy. While working with governments around the region to create jobs is a vital part of this, ensuring that youth leave education with the skills they need to enter and thrive in the workforce is equally as important.

Thoughtfully designed and applied use of technology in teaching can make educators more effective, provide much needed flexibility and efficiency, and can result in greater success and satisfaction for students and faculty alike. To address the learning needs of an increasingly diverse student population, educators need to offer personalized instruction that can help students prosper and meet educator goals.

Microsoft Technology Enriched Instruction (TEI) workshop is designed to help higher education faculty develop competencies that will enable them to effectively select and use technology tools and resources in their teaching. Microsoft recognizes that supporting faculty, and their students, with the instructional integration of information technology is critical for improving workforce capacity and providing a foundation for building community and local economies ready to compete in today's changing economic environments.

Using familiar tools like Office 365 not only simplifies the integration of technology in higher education, it prepares students for collaborating in the global, connected world they will face after graduation.

Increased personal contact, real time feedback, instructional adjustments based on data, and ongoing collaboration made possible by integrating Office 365, Office Mix, Yammer, Skype, Lync, and more can help educators deliver the personalized instruction that students need.

For example, Office 365, with its cloud based browser, makes it easy for students to collaborate with others. Students can work from their favorite device, virtually anywhere and anytime. With Office Mix, educators can create lessons or get real time data about student performance. With Lync they can present a lesson or share a document with students or use Yammer to encourage discussion and collaboration throughout the institution.

During a Microsoft Technology Enriched Instruction workshop, participants gain experience with Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge ( TPACK) and 21^st Century Learning Design (21CLD). Microsoft Technology Enriched Instruction uses inquiry-based learning so that participants can actively experience a range of technologies and digital resources that can positively impact teaching and learning. Hands-on practice with tools and insight into how they might change or enhance course activities and assignments provides a powerful mechanism to integrate technology into their instruction. Participants who complete this workshop receive Microsoft Faculty Fellow status and a certificate of completion from Microsoft and the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE).

Conducted on a worldwide scale, Microsoft Technology Enriched Instruction are well received in countries ranging from China, Ukraine, Mexico as well as Canada and the USA. To learn more about Microsoft Technology Enriched Instruction workshops, download the workshop brochure.

The pressure is on for educators to respond often and more quickly and interact more with students, to collect and use data in their courses, and to meet reporting requirements. In this always-connected, always-on world, technology makes it possible for higher education to deliver the broad, engaged, and collaborative education needed by 21st-century students.

For more on Dynamic 21st- Century Teaching, read the whitepaper (PDF).

Microsoft Technology Enriched Instruction workshops support professional development and are a great example of Microsoft's commitment to augment education practices with the use of technology and be at the forefront of the digital transformation in education.

More information:

• Higher Education Faculty Offers
• Higher Education Resources

I get asked by a lot of customers around what I can do with changing the password in the cloud via Office 365.  It is pretty confusing with all the different variables and it took me a bit to parse through the scenarios myself. I wrote a quick FAQ to help with your understanding:

 

Can I change my password in Office 365 if I know my password?

This depends on many factors such as where is the password sourced. If you have a cloud only account (e.g. Dirsync only with no password sync) you can change your password in the cloud as long as you know your existing password.

You will receive this when you want to change your password in OWA with a cloud only identity:

 

If you have an ADFS or Dirsync with Password sync identity it will not allow you to change your password in the cloud. You will receive:

 

Can I change my password in Office 365 if I forgot my password?

Currently, only Office 365 administrators can conduct self-service password reset (SSPR) on forgotten passwords.You will receive an option such as this as an administrator:

 

If you attempt to change your forgotten password as a standard cloud only (managed identity) account you receive this screen:

The only option for standard cloud only accounts to change a forgotten password is to call into their IT helpdesk for a password reset.

If you attempt to change your forgotten password as an ADFS or Dirsync with Password sync active directory identity you will receive because the password is sourced in your local AD:

 

Is there a way I can change my local AD password in Office 365 and have it change my local AD password also?

Yes, if you purchase Azure AD Premium there is a new two-way password sync option available to you. This will allow password changes to occur in the cloud and then sync those password changes down to your local AD so the passwords are in sync.

See here for a feature matrix on Azure AD Premium vs. Azure AD free (comes with Office 365).

See here for guidance on how to enable Two-way password sync with Office 365 and Azure AD Premium.

Two way password reset in action with Azure AD Premium:

How do I change my password in Office 365 if I know it and I have ADFS or Dirsync with Password sync?

For this scenario, IT will have to provide an on premise mechanism to change your local AD password (e.g. ADFS in 2012 R2 now has password change page for workplace joined devices, change directly on a domain joined workstation, leverage a web page for self service, helpdesk call, etc)

new ADFS 3.0 password change web page

Alternatively, if you obtain an Azure AD Premium license you can enable two-way password sync (see above for enablement steps) from cloud to on prem Active Directory.

How do I change my password in Office 365 if I forgot my password and I have ADFS or Dirsync with Password sync?

For this scenario, IT will have to provide an on premise mechanism to change your local forgotten password (e.g. leverage a web site for self service reset such as with FIM 2010 R2 or help desk call).

FIM 2010 R2 SSPR on site option

 

Alternatively, if you obtain an Azure AD Premium license you can enable SSPR and two way password sync (see above for enablement steps) from cloud to on prem Active Directory.

Can I change the brand the password Login page for Office 365/Azure AD and the Self Service password reset page?

If you have a cloud only identity or a dirsynced with password synced identity you can brand the login page with a custom color/logo and contact information using Azure AD Basic or Azure AD Premium license. See here:

 

If I have an ADFS login for Office 365, you can also brand the ADFS login page. See steps here:

ADFS with Windows Server 2012 R2 custom branded login page

Can I use my local Active Directory Password to access Office 365 services? 

Yes, you can if you have enabled Dirsync with Password sync or if you enable ADFS federated login.  Both scenarios will allow you to log into Office 365 with a local Active Directory Password. One is a password copy in the cloud and one is a federated identity using local AD for authentication.

See here for more information on Dirsync with Password sync.

Education providers around the world are implored to modernize, reform, and rethink the nature of primary and secondary schooling so the education experience is more relevant for learners and better aligned to community needs. Sparking the natural curiosity of young people and enabling them to be successful in college, career, and community often involves changing an entire education system, rather piecemeal initiatives. Transforming education is challenging, and there is often a discrepancy between policy-making and true change in the student learning experience.

The challenge for education in the 21st century is to create an approach that is agile, adaptable and in tune with the lives of young people outside of the classroom and their future employability. Effective change requires a more holistic approach to completely transform the learning experience of the learners. To empower education change agents, we propose a holistic education transformation framework to guide leaders.

The Microsoft in Education Transformation Framework is a guide for educators and leaders engaged in holistic education transformation. The critical conversations needed for effective transformation of education systems are the focus of this series. Each expert author presents a global perspective on the topic through the current thinking and evidence from research and practice, as well as showcase examples. Specifically, the papers document the contributions of anytime anywhere approaches to K-12 learning and explore the potential of new technology for transforming learning outcomes for students and their communities.

Start by reading the Microsoft in Education Transformation Framework Overview.

Download the Transformation Framework Papers available to download as PDF files:

• Vision for Anytime Anywhere Learning for All
• Enabling Transformation with Strategic Planning, Organizational Capacity, and Sustainability
• Quality Assurance: Monitoring and Evaluation to Inform Practice and Leadership
• Curriculum, Content, and Assessment for the Real World
• Personalized Learning for Global Citizens
• Learning Communities and Support
• Building Leader and Educator Capacity for Transformation
• Transforming Learning Environments for Anytime, Anywhere Learning for All
• Public, Private, and Community Partnerships for Employability

Students are learning on their own smartphones, tablets, and in the cloud. Schools work hard to manage their own data and technology platforms. With so much changing in your school, deciding what's right for your students takes careful consideration. Empowering students to learn with technology while at school is key to keeping them engaged. In these workshops you will talk through the issues and explore new technologies in practical applications, guided by experienced learning specialists. Each of these is a fantastic professional learning experience.

These new teacher training workshops in the U.S. are scheduled in:

• Detroit, MI

• Chicago, IL

• Washington D.C.

• Dallas, TX

• San Diego, CA

• Bellevue, WA

• San Jose, CA

• New York, NY

• Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Deciding which teacher training workshop is right for you

• Microsoft Hands-on Teacher Academies (one-day). For K-12 educators, attend a free 1-day hands-on professional learning day hosted by Microsoft. Bring 21st century technology into your classroom including the latest skills by Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft OneNote, and Windows 8. By participating in the training you will receive a certificate for your participation and become a Microsoft Innovative Educator.

• Microsoft Teacher Train-the-Trainer Workshop (two-day). For K-12 trainers of teachers, participate in a 2-day hands-on learning designed to provide you the opportunity to bring Microsoft training to your schools and communities. Participants review Microsoft training content and receive materials to leverage for their local training. By participating in the training receive a certificate for your participation. You will also have the opportunity to apply for the Microsoft Innovative Educator Trainer program.

• Teacher Academies in the Classroom by Eduscape Learning. For K-12 educators, a one-day professional learning day to learn about Microsoft tools for the classroom, including Windows 8, OneNote, Office 365 and more. Receive a certificate for your participation, become a Microsoft Innovative Educator, and receive course to continue to build on your learning. Cost: $115 US.

• Virtual Teacher Academy Series. And, if you cannot be with us in person, you might consider joining us in our Virtual Teacher Academy Series.