Guest blog by Kelly Green

You dedicate your lives to helping children, in what is undoubtedly one of the most difficult and important professions a person can choose -- teacher. Thank you to every teacher worldwide!

As many of you begin a new academic year, I want to introduce you to a fantastic free app from Microsoft called OneNote that supports collaboration, planning, organization, and saving time. Every teacher endeavors to save time in a very hectic job. The OneNote app is part of Office, Office Online, and recently released, OneNote for Mac just may be the ticket you have been looking for to save time.

With Microsoft OneNote, you can create digital notebooks that support academic standards and education outcomes across disciplines, collaborate with colleagues on special projects, and organize lessons, units of study and resources all in one location. Teachers can access their student's OneNote notebooks to grade assignments using digital inking or share feedback on essays using the record voice feature. Students may use OneNote across content areas and grade levels, and use OneNote to compile and organize unstructured information, research, and content. OneNote supports research, collaboration, information management, communication, note taking, journaling, reflective writing, and academic requirements.

A Few Notes about OneNote

Something for everyone

OneNote is an idea processor, a notebook, an information organizer - some even call it an "add-on pack for your brain". Many people find OneNote indispensable after they start using it, and we hope you do too!

OneNote can help if you need to:

• Ensure you don't lose any information that you think is important.
• Organize scraps of information that don't fit well into e-mail, calendar, or formal documents.
• Gather and refer back to notes from meetings or lectures.
• Collect research from the Web or other sources and annotate it for yourself or others.
• Keep track of what you need to do next and not miss anything.
• Work closely with other people on a project sharing notes and files.

OneNote will complement your activities in Microsoft Office Outlook®, Word, and other programs in the Microsoft Office program through several integration features. As an example you can send important email messages straight to OneNote and place them within the project or section you are working on.

Capture ideas and gather information

You can quickly capture meeting notes, brainstorming notes, ideas and thoughts, audio from discussions, video from interviews, diagrams, and other pieces of information using the keyboard, pen or recording capabilities in OneNote.

You can also gather clippings from the Web, e-mail, miscellaneous materials for projects, customers, and classes, files, pictures, and other purposes using convenient integration with your Web browser and the Office system.

Keep things organized

With OneNote, all this information stays in one place. It is easy to organize it, or pile it together (if that's your preference), and then search and find it again - search is so powerful in the product you can even search words found in pictures and audio or video recordings! Since OneNote uses the familiar concept of notebooks divided into sections with pages, you can get going right away.

Be prepared

Having all this information at your fingertips will keep you always prepared: for the next meeting, for writing a final document or e-mail message, for doing a task, for talking to a customer, for going on a trip, and other events. You can flag items in your notebooks as Important or To Do and then quickly gather summaries of information you have flagged this way. OneNote is fully customizable so you can adapt it to your work style.

A team effort

You can also work with your whole group- in a shared notebook that everybody can edit at the same time and view even while not connected to the network. OneNote seamlessly merges the changes each time anyone updates the notebook. A shared notebook is a great way to see what information the team has gathered, what files and notes are available as sources, even what action items remain for the team to work on.

A Few Features in OneNote

Familiar Office Ribbon interface

Like all Office products, you can access the most often used tools through the Ribbons at the top. The Home Tab is mainly where you work with text. In OneNote, you can click anywhere on a page
and start typing.

Translation

Within OneNote, is the Translation feature. Simply highlight text, select translate and the language to translate into and Voila! The right column is replaced with the translation.

Password Tool

The last tool on this ribbon I want to show you is the Password tool. This is great when you are building a notebook that your students access to get content. Maybe you are working on building a lesson, but you don't want your students to see it yet. You can create the section and then password protect it until you are ready for them to see it. Important reminder! Remember your password as there is no recovery tool!

OneNote Toolkit for Teachers

To help teachers get started using OneNote today, we've created the OneNote Toolkit for Teachers . In this toolkit, you'll find information on

• Getting started using OneNote

• Creating Lesson Plans using OneNote

• Inserting Existing Teaching Materials into your OneNote Notebook

• Creating Shared Notebooks

• And much more!

OneNote Materials for Trainers

For teacher trainers, we've created four resources to support your delivery of an in person professional learning experience.

Trainer's Guide - this guide is used by the trainer providing step-by-step instructions on how to deliver The Ultimate Collaboration Tool: An Introduction to OneNote teacher academy. The guide includes topics covering basic features and functions of OneNote, using OneNote as a personal organizational tool, using OneNote in the classroom, and Using Notebooks for Student and Teacher Collaboration.

Trainer's PowerPoint Deck - this deck supports the trainer as they guide teachers through the training.

Agenda - the agenda provides a description and details of the professional learning offering, as well as a listing of the sessions covered in the training. All four resources may be downloaded here.

Participant's Handout -- see below for download - this handout, created as a OneNote notebook, used by participants for following along during the session and note-taking is a great takeaway reference that includes tips, tricks and shortcuts for using OneNote.

You can find these training resources on Microsoft's Trainer Portal under Product Training, www.mseducatortrainer.com.

Look for more articles on the benefits of these resources to support teaching and learning and please provide comments on the value of these resources to support teaching and learning.

Kelly Green is a senior manager supporting the US education team at Microsoft. She is responsible for the development of the US Innovative Teachers programing. Programs include the Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE), MIE train the trainer, MIE master trainer, and the MIE Fellowship. Kelly has nearly 30 years of experience in education as a teacher in Kentucky, special assistant at the US Department of Education and director of policy and state partnerships for the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF). Ms. Green holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kentucky and a Master's degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

It's school time again! A time of mixed emotion – exciting to be back in the thick of things but maybe a little sad that summer is over. Your first day of school might be full of all or many new things: new teachers, new friends, and maybe even a...(read more)

A new school year brings excitement, a little apprehension, and maybe even relief that summer's hot weather is coming to an end. For educators, the start of the new school year is the perfect time to set the tone for a productive year ahead. For many teachers, this means finding the most engaging and empowering technology and apps to inspire students to learn.

Teachers are increasingly turning to Microsoft to ensure their classrooms' digital transitions - and ultimately their student outcomes - are positive and successful. "What Windows has done is listen to the voices of the teachers out there, and designed their product around that," says Tim Gerard, a teacher in Tallahassee, Florida. "It is the platform on which the students can interact with the rest of the world."

Here's a look at why Gerard and other teachers are excited about what Windows can do for students, and for overscheduled educators:

Technology has the power to expand the impact of education, and accelerate the growth potential of every student, educator, and school. That's why Microsoft is committed to partnering with schools at every stage. "Flexibility is important," says Bill Nimmons, IT Director at Leon County Schools in Florida. "Because what may work at the elementary school level may not be the same kind of device that you want to use at the secondary school level."

For teachers and students alike, technology also paves the way for more information and productivity from anywhere, at any time. Unique features like the stylus and the split screen on the Windows 8 tablet devices are enhancing the way teachers and students interact with technology and each other in the classroom. And using OneNote, teachers and students can take digital notes and create and share digital notebooks. As one school leader points out, "Some of our teachers love to have OneNote open, and in the other window they've got their electronic grade book so they're just putting in the scores as they go."

Whether it's through teacher training, professional development and networking opportunities, or the right mix of Windows devices and applications that can simplify personalized learning, Microsoft is dedicated to finding the right solution for each educator's unique challenges and each student's personal learning style.

Find more resources for teachers here:

• Teacher resources, offers, and training
• Empowering educators with technology

Recently, my bride shared with me that the parents of my daughter’s classmates had been calling to ask for counsel on whether or not they should allow their children to place their school work in cloud service providers offered by the school district. The core issue is the ambiguous privacy terms or lack of clarity regarding the protection of their child’s online data privacy. In many ways, schools have presented parents with a binary choice to make without clear communication on the implications of either choice or whether a better alternative exists.

I have been so outspoken on this issue at home and across the country that I almost felt it was a rhetorical question. However, the questions themselves and the quarters from which they are drawn highlight that families are becoming more savvy about the digital learning transition in our schools. The recent security breaches with online service providers to retail stores have personally affected families. Moreover, families (at least those in my North Texas community) are increasingly more concerned about schools protecting their kids both in the physical world and the online world. Data privacy is quickly becoming a mainstream conversation.

Microsoft’s position on student data privacy remains crystal clear–student are not products–they nor data about them should be used for commercial purposes–today or in the future. Furthermore, the data created, shared, collaborated by students, the locations they connect, the devices they use, and the relationships they make should never be offered, collected, or improperly used for collateral commercial activities by a third party. Cloud services providers and educational technology companies that capture student data, metadata, and academic byproducts derived from the use of their service need to be explicit and disclose how that student data is used, archived, retained, and disposed. That information should be available to schools and families at any time, on any device, in an open-readable format.

Security and innovation are often times at odds with each other. How can schools thrive in a cloud-first and mobile-first world if data about students can be siphoned and commercialized by second or third parties–knowingly or unwittingly? This is the central question we want to entertain and seek perspectives at the SXSWedu 2015 conference panel. Can Innovation and Data Privacy Coexist?

Join us in supporting this ongoing conversation by voting yes for the panel here. You can add your voice to the conversation by leaving your questions on the comments below. I’ll answer many of them here and the best we’ll save for the panel discussion at SXSWedu to entertain unscripted in real-time.  Thanks for your support.  I look forward to seeing you again, SXSWedu 2015.

 

The post Data Privacy: Can Innovation and Privacy Coexist? appeared first on Higher Innovation.

Hello fellow Moms and Dads! It’s almost time for our kids to go back to school. So, I want to share some must-have additions for your School Supply List 2014-2015.

Microsoft is enabling students success in the 2014-15 school year with Student Advantage. Student Advantage is Office 365 for Students. Students can install all of the popular Office apps that they need not only for their creative work in school, but also for the hottest, high-growth careers. Getting Student Advantage is free if your child’s school district has an Microsoft Office 365/Professional Plus for faculty and staff.

Students can install and use all of the Microsoft Office tools on up-to-five personal devices. That’s Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access, Lync and so much more. These are not watered down, lite editions. These are not simple document readers. These are the real deal Office apps that students need proficiency to be college and career-ready. Also, if your students need assistive technologies, Microsoft Office provides the most robust support for learners with special needs.

I encourage you to check back in with me over the next few posts. We’re going to take a fun look at school supply list from across America and remix them with technology for learning. Your student’s school supply list may be among them, so it will be a lot of fun.

Take care.

The post School Supply List 2014-2015 – Student Advantage appeared first on Higher Innovation.

Guest post by Mary Perisic, senior marketing manager at Microsoft

Microsoft is excited to sponsor EdmodoCon 2014, Edmodo's virtual full-day conference focusing on teacher professional development! We're passionate about making a difference in education and we know equipping teachers with the tools for success is pivotal to transforming educational outcomes.

Join me on the new Microsoft Community on Edmodo where I look to continue the conversation beyond EdmodoCon.

For now, here are 5 resources to get you started:

1. Proficiency in Microsoft Office is the #3 most requested skill from employers according to IDC, and the Student Advantage program provides Office 365 Pro Plus for students at no additional cost, when your school licenses Office for staff and faculty. Offer details are here.

2. Maintaining classroom control when students have devices in their hands seems to be top of mind for many teachers, especially during online assessments. See how James Madison Middle School is addressing this issue and then take advantage of TestPolicy's FREE, no commitment subscription for the 2014 -2015 school year.

3. Student privacy is a top priority for us and Bing in the Classroom helps bring the transformative power of technology to schools with a classroom version of Bing's ad-free safer search, enabling schools to earn Surfaces for classrooms, and the offer of digital literacy lessons.

4. Looking for a few good educations apps? We've curated a list of 100 great education apps to get you started. Download the list and link directly from the app title in the pdf to the download in the Windows store.

5. And don't forget to download Edmodo for Windows, which was published last month. We had Jan Mills demo the unique split screen, charms integration and live tile capabilities at ISTE.

Please join us on the Microsoft Community on Edmodo -- I look forward to "seeing" you there!

Post by Anthony Salcito, Vice President, Worldwide Education

There are few things that inspire me more than witnessing energetic, innovative, enthusiastic students in action, which is why I look forward to this week every year: the Microsoft Imagine Cup.

In its 12^th year, the Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world's premier student technology competition. Since its beginning, more than 1.65 million students from more than 190 countries have participated in the Imagine Cup. It is a phenomenal community, where whip-smart students 16 years and older -- from all over the world -- share ideas, have fun, and get to be a part of "the next big thing." At Microsoft, we believe technology can play a profound role in teaching and learning, creating a direct and life-long impact on student outcomes. The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the embodiment of this belief.

This week, the Imagine Cup World Finals are taking place in Seattle, and I will be there, along with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who will be on-hand to judge the best student projects. You can witness the showdown live on Friday August 1^st at 8:30am Pacific Time, by tuning in to the live stream of the Imagine Cup World Championship awards ceremony. There are some pretty incredible prizes to be won…including a private meeting with Bill Gates. Along with Satya, two other VIP judges will be on hand: Hadi Partovi, the founder of non-profit Code.org, and Erik Martin, the general manager of Reddit.com, amongst many other high-profile judges.

Each year, students create projects for the Imagine Cup based on three categories: Games, Innovation and World Citizenship. I will be meeting and talking with all of the 2014 finalists, and sharing those conversations on my Daily Edventures blog. In the meantime, here's a quick glimpse at just a couple of the teams and their education-focused projects:

Games:

• Team "Brainy studio" from Russia. Their project, "Turn On," is a platform adventure game that tells story of an electrical spark, which is trying to restore electricity in the city. Some of the cool features include synchronization of gameplay process between different devices using Windows Azure.

Innovation:

• Team "Flipped.uy" from Uruguay. Flipped is a cloud-powered platform to create, host and distribute online courses. It is meant to enhance the classroom experience by giving support to interactive learning techniques (such as flipped classroom and team-based learning).

World Citizenship:

• Team "I copy you" from Qatar. Their project is aimed at helping autistic students enhance their learning abilities and communication skills by introducing a friendly robotic learning tool.

Also this year, Seattle's Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) and Microsoft will host Imagine Cup Day on August 2^nd. On this special day, the museum will open its doors for free to the public and the Imagine Cup world finalists will showcase their projects as part of a special one-day only event. Please join us at MOHAI and bring the family. There will be lots of kid friendly activities. Additionally, we are thrilled to partner with the University of Washington, which will house the student finalists in the university's latest high-tech living spaces.

I hope you join me in offering congratulations to all the teams who competed in our National and Online Finals, to the 170+ teams who made it to the World Semifinals, and now to the 35 teams who have made it all the way to Seattle. And be sure to tune in to the live stream of the Imagine Cup World Championships, where Satya Nadella will crown the victors live on August 1. Giving students the right tools to become innovators and leaders is at the core of Microsoft's mission, so it is a pleasure to see so many brilliant students come so far in developing their very own projects - projects that may one day change the world.

-Anthony

I know it is summer time and we're relaxing but many teachers out there are already getting geared up for the fall. If you're a new teacher, you have probably already called your principal to see when the first minute is you can get into your classroom. If you're a veteran teacher, you already know where all the good bulletin board paper is hidden and how to fix the laminating machine when it starts to act up so you are probably still in vacation mode. Regardless of where we are in our teaching careers we can all take the time to learn new things. If you pick just one thing to learn this summer that can enhance what you are doing in your classroom then take a sip of your lemonade and look at Office Mix at www.officemix.com

Office Mix is a new, free plug-in for PowerPoint 2013 that I describe as an easy e-learning tool with built-in analytics. While most add-ons like this just keep to themselves, Office Mix also ties the content you've created to a free online portal where you can share your lessons with students, colleagues, or anyone else in the world!

Here's how it works:

1. Install the plug-in from www.officemix.com

2. Open a new PowerPoint or start with an existing lesson (check out this Pinterest page for PP lessons and ideas: http://bit.ly/1ru5YGC)

3. Look for the new ribbon at the top labeled "Mix" and then record video and audio, write, and draw on your slides.

4. Add quizzes for formative assessments, labs from Ck-12 and PHET Interactive, and other interactive content from Khan Academy, Geogebra and more.

5. Upload your mix to the Microsoft cloud to create a link to share with your students. They don't have to have PowerPoint, any modern browser on any device will do!

6. See the results. When students click on the link, Mix can tell you how much time was spent on the content as well as collect the results of the quizzes.

 

The concept of the flipped classroom is fantastic but often requires hours and hours of prep work as well as using new and sometimes expensive tools for video editing, production, audio recording, web development, hosting content, and more. Office Mix allows for free and easy content creation but with the understanding that you don't have to go for a full flip to start creating useful instructional content for students. Use what you have and give it super-powers!

After a second sip of lemonade, most of you will also see the immense value in giving this tool to your students to create and share their own content. Our students have unlimited potential, it is up to us to guide them and to give them the right tools to succeed. My advice is always this, don't be afraid that your students might be better with technology than you, they'll admire and appreciate you just for giving them the opportunity to use it.

Examples:

• Lesson Launcher on photosynthesis that I created
• Training file for Office Mix that you can use

Hope you enjoy Office Mix!

David Lopez
Microsoft Fellow and Master Trainer

At this week's Worldwide Partners Conference in Washington, D.C., Microsoft will be sharing news about new and expanded cloud services and some incredible innovations in productivity. But just as important, we'll be recognizing our many partners who work tirelessly - day-in and day-out - to develop technology that changes lives. It's a commitment we share and it's what makes the Microsoft education community so strong. One of those committed partners is ITWORX, a Microsoft partner for over 15 years and Microsoft Public Sector Education Partner of the Year.

ITWORX Education provides K-12 teachers, students, parents and school leaders with rich, customized e-learning platforms that feature teaching, learning, administrative and reporting tools. The Dubai-based company has delivered customized solutions to over 1,400 schools in Europe and the Middle East, and their customers are seeing results. According to Badria Yousif of the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education, "By partnering with ITWORX Education we can enable our children to learn smarter, and at their own speed."

ITWORX Education solutions are not only easy-to-use, they foster the connections and collaboration that are so critical in 21^st century learning. Mobile apps like EduShare, StudyLIVE and TeachLIVE are integrated in a Connected Learning Gateway (built on the SharePoint platform) to support anywhere/anytime learning, creating virtual classrooms through Office 365. Parents can get involved in their students' learning journey through ParentLIVE. And learning apps like Fun2Learn, MathSprint and A-B-C Kinetic make lessons fun and engaging for students, leading to better learning outcomes.

At a recent awards ceremony recognizing their exemplary work at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Smart Learning Program in Dubai, ITWORX CEO Hatem Sallam noted, "We are embracing a new era of education with mobile technology solutions which allows the school environment to be connected, anytime, anywhere. Integrating technology in the lives of students, faculty, administrators and parents is a dynamic endeavor but it can also be challenging to evolve the mindsets and practices of the individuals."

As it turns out, evolving mindsets and practices is exactly what ITWORX is doing, and doing well. Of course, ITWORX is just one of our many incredible partners on this important journey. I'd also like to recognize Corinth, Dell, and Learning Possibilities, Ltd. - all finalists for Education Partner of the Year and, in their own unique ways, key contributors to global education reform efforts.

Transforming education for the 21^st century is a complex mission that requires many partnerships - between schools and communities, parents and teachers and, in the case of Microsoft, between a myriad of developers and hardware manufacturers who are taking the proven Windows technology platform to new heights. Through innovative apps and approaches like those from ITWORX Education, we are making significant progress in education reform - together.

-Anthony Salcito

Vice President, Worldwide Education at Microsoft

 

 

 

Are you getting ready to make the Student Advantage benefit available to your school or university?

 

Visit Office.com/GetOffice365Resources to download a wide selection of easily customizable emails, print materials, templates, and more designed to help deliver a clear, school-wide message.

 

This combination of digital and print communications will:

• Announce that Office 365 ProPlus is free for all students at the school
• Communicate the benefits of these newly available tools
• Inform students how to access and install Office 365 ProPlus
• Promote overall awareness and usage of these services on an ongoing basis  

 

Example image

 

 

 

 

Example messages

In order to help our students prepare for success this school year, we’re providing Office to every one of our students at no charge. With Office 365, your child will now have access to the latest version of Word, for writing; Excel, for spreadsheets; PowerPoint, for presentations; OneNote, for organization and note taking; and much more. Install on up to 5 compatible PCs and Macs, plus 5 tablets (including iPad!)

 

 

 

______________________________

Thanks for joining us today!

Zion Brewer

______________________________

 

Great news, beginning today Yammer Enterprise will ship with all Office 365 A plans at no additional cost. The availability was announced yesterday in this blog post. Schools are facing increasing pressure to provide faculty, staff and students with the...(read more)

Great news today we announced the availability of Yammer Enterprise in your Office 365 Education tenant.

I put together a quick FAQ to help with the launch:

 

What is Yammer Enterprise?

Yammer Enterprise is an enterprise social platform providing seamless, open sharing, and cross collaboration within your campus/district/school. It is a transformational technology which has changed the way we work inside of Microsoft where we share ideas, thoughts, find information and ask questions where previously we may not have had this insight.

See an excellent overview and demo of Yammer here and here:

 

What are the requirements for Yammer to work?

All HTML5 browsers are supported see here which is consistent with the Office 365 browser requirements and there are also mobile/tablet apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone and Windows 8.1. See here.

 

Yammer for Windows Phone 8

Yammer for iOS app

Yammer for Android app

 

Yammer for Windows 8.1 app

Does this cost extra to use in my Office 365 Education tenant?

No, it is included with A2 and A3 SKUs.

 

Can I use this with external users? Does this require an additional license?

Yes, you can use it with external users parents, partners, companies with no extra licensing required.

 

What scenarios in education can I use Yammer Enterprise?

The possibilities for using Yammer in education are endless. Here just a few scenarios that might help get the ideas going:

• Classroom collaboration – teacher to student, student to student, mentoring, questions, announcements
• Teacher collaboration – teacher to teacher sharing, sharing ideas/lesson plans
• Campus/School collaboration – campus communities – freshmen, sports, interests/clubs, announcements, questions/answers, financial aid, etc.
• Departmental collaboration – professor sharing, collaboration, information sharing
• Projects – project information, graduate student projects, sharing of ideas
• IT helpdesk – questions, information sharing
• Research – sharing ideas, working cross teams, working with external parties securely
• Alumni – Alumni collaboration, announcements, jobs
• Parents – parent discussion, collaboration, feedback
• External collaboration with researchers, companies, other universities/schools

 

If I have an existing Office 365 Education tenant what do I have to do to get Yammer Enterprise?

If you already have A2 or A3 academic skus enabled the ‘Yammer Enterprise’ license will just appear in your tenant. You do not have to order anything additional to make this work.  You still have to activate Yammer within your Office 365 Education tenant. See steps here and Activation FAQ here.

 

If I am using Yammer Basic for my school/campus already what do I have to do?

The good news is you can upgrade your Yammer Basic to Yammer Enterprise. See steps here.

 

Where can I find more information on learning about Yammer or deploying Yammer?

Please visit this training link here and deployment link here for more information on Yammer.

 

I will be posting a more detailed Yammer Enterprise deployment in this blog coming soon.

​In this second decade of the 21^st century, the power of technology to connect, collaborate, and create is undeniable. Nowhere was that more apparent than at the annual International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference this weekend. In this era of anytime, anywhere access, the power of presence and in-person conversations are still of utmost importance.

We showcased our devices and cloud services like Office 365, highlighted new apps like TestPolicy and new programs like Office Mix, but more importantly, we taught hundreds of teachers how to use these tools to propel their teaching. We know, as schools make this digital transition to technology in the classroom, the success of those initiatives depend on the teacher and meaningful professional development.

Within and Beyond the Microsoft Booth

We are committed to empowering teachers with skills and resources to prepare students for success in their next opportunity. I was thrilled to see the demand—lines out the door and standing room only classes—for an interactive training session led by our Microsoft Innovative Educators (MIE).

In our booth, we hosted additional training sessions and presentations on many of our solutions. There were showcases on Office 365 for cloud-powered teacher and student collaboration. Matt Wallaert showed the power of Bing in the Classroom for ad-free, safe search. Isaac Harris introduced the new Office Mix for PowerPoint super-powered creation and curation of interactive learning content. Finally, Bob Chung, CEO of AssistX debuted the newly announced secure device management for assessment app—TestPolicy. We explained the solutions and talked with educators about the goals they are trying to accomplish with technology to better prepare students for college and career readiness. Throughout each of our engagements, it was evident that the right technology can make a difference in shaping learning experiences – both now and in the future.

Top Themes

As I look back at all of the great conversations I had throughout the conference, I see a couple of top themes rising to the surface:

• Impact is dependent on the teacher . Technology itself will not solve the issues facing education. It won’t decrease unemployment rates or increase test scores, graduation rates, or mastery of skills. Technology solutions, when robust and used appropriately can encourage teachers to think differently, be creative, and engage students in ways beyond imagination.

• True personalized and targeted learning can happen with the right analytics. An age old question asked by teachers is, “who read last night’s assignment?” A variation would be “who completed the homework?” With Office Mix, teachers know which students attempted and completed the work through data stored in a secure, private Office Mix cloud service. This enables classroom conversations to be more productive by focusing on areas of interests and challenge for each student.

• We must redefine and advance the locus of learning for students and teachers. Today, when many of our students rely on the device in their hand and a Wi-Fi connection to learn, we must ensure students get value out of being in the classroom with the teacher, our schools cannot become mere Wi-Fi hotspots for web-based curriculum content. Schools must transform into “learning hotspots” with people, activities, and resources that serve competency development and mastery.

These are topics and discussions that we will continue to explore as we work to ensure this “digital transition” is truly transformational for improving student success. We must ensure learning is evolving and engaging as we must work to solve the number one problem in our country—we must graduate more students not just prepared for the jobs of the future, but also able to fill the vacant jobs of today.

ISTE Sweepstake Winner

As part of our effort to get the right technology tools in the hands of teachers to empower their creativity, we ran a special sweepstake designed for ISTE 2014 attendees. Yesterday, we announced that Allyson Hensley from Farmington R-7 School District Farmington R-7 Public Schools (“Go Knights!”) in Farmington, Missouri will receive 200 Dell Venue 11 tablets, 200 Pearson Online Learning Exchange (OLE) Licenses, and 2 Ergotron Charging carts. Approximately worth $126,000 USD, the sweepstake package is expected to help the teachers and students in Farmington use the power of mobile technology to inspire creativity, curiosity, and collaboration within the classroom and beyond. By merging the devices with Pearson’s mobile-learning environment, the Farmington teachers will be able to easily use quality K-12 teaching resources and create customized lessons.

Above all, ISTE 2014 reminds me of Microsoft’s enduring role and value in enabling teachers and students to navigate through some of today’s toughest challenges. Technology can have a significant impact in transforming education, but the solutions and programs must support long-term goals for greater learning and success. I often challenge educators to ask themselves “what world am I preparing my students to succeed and thrive? Consider that the graduating high school class of 2025 is entering the second grade this fall. They graduate in the middle of the third decade of the 21^st Century. Can you imagine the college, career, and creative opportunities of the next decade? I hope so! The learners of the next decade aren’t coming—they are already here. At Microsoft, our focus remains on empowering educators with the capacity and support they require to ready students for their next opportunity.

ISTE 2014 has just wrapped up and I’m inspired by the enthusiasm of my fellow educators to embrace new tools that offer innovative ways to connect with and teach our students. This year, I had the opportunity to present in a session with Microsoft and meet with colleagues to share my experience with Office Mix and the potential I see for its use in the classroom. Office Mix is a tool that meets a real need - and I think flipped and blended classroom teachers will be particularly excited to get a peek into its capabilities. But as educators, we all know that a tool is only a tool until it becomes part of a solution, so I wanted to start with some background and to talk about how I see Office Mix addressing some of my teaching goals and challenges.

For me, it started with a problem that I saw in teaching my AP Calculus AB course. I had a packed AP curriculum to get through and lecture was taking up too much class time. I didn’t feel like my classroom environment was the curious, inspiring space I had envisioned it would be and I simply did not have the time to address student’s needs as individuals. I needed to find a way to get back to creating a calm and excited classroom environment despite the packed curriculum.

In 2010, I established a solution to my problem – offload the lecture to video, to be watched for homework, so that class time could be spent doing the real work – sitting with students individually and in groups, watching them interact with their classmates, joining in on discussions they were initiating, and guiding them in their learning.

Today is the last day of ISTE 2014 but it has become clear from this year’s conference that schools are more connected than ever, incorporating laptops, tablets, and even phones into day-to-day instruction. But these devices need a strong information ...read more

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been one year since Surface was at ISTE. Since then, we have been working hard to get Surface in the hands of teachers and students in 30 markets around the world. Some of the schools who have adopted Surface over the past year include the Supreme Education Council of Qatar, Tuckahoe Common School District, St. Andrews Anglican College, St. Patrick’s College,Williston Northampton School,Twickenham Academy, CDI College, and many others.

We’ve also built a strong set of relationships with Education application partners including AssistX,Nearpod, Learning A-Z, Edmodo and many more whose solutions work great on a Surface in the classroom. As well as software partners, we’ve also worked very closely with hardware partners to provide premium Surface Education accessories including charging carts from both Anthro and Ergotron, wireless display receivers such as the ScreenBeam Pro Education Edition, and various sleeves and protective covers from partners like Incipio and Brenthaven.

Throughout the past year, it’s been a great to hear all the stories from school administrators, educators, and IT directors about how they’re using Surface at their schools, and we also love getting feedback about how we can make Surface even better for Education. Here are a few examples from teachers we caught up with from ISTE last year:

“We are starting to see how the Surface behaves nicely with Microsoft Active Directory. Like: That everything matches what teachers already know, and that you can connect to USB thumb drives and other peripherals. Suggestions: video editing would be nice, and a better way to view personal and school email in one place. Also make it compatible with SMART Notebook and smartboards.”

“This Surface is the single best gift I have gotten from school. It is a life changer. If you took it back today, I would go get another with my own money before I made it home. I use it for work and play. And my students love using them in class”

“We are a private Christian school and we often take mission trips -- so we have been sending the Surface with our mission teams to take pictures, journal, skype, etc. The Surface is just the right size for traveling. There has not been a huge learning curve for anyone, which has been nice. But the keyboard took time to get adjusted to.”

“I used the Surface extensively at the ISTE conference last June and at other professional development meetings since. It’s small enough to carry easily; and the attached keyboard enables me to take notes. Until I got the Surface, I’d never really used the OneNote program. But it’s become my favorite way of recording notes and photos from meetings and events.”

“When I showed the principal that we could acquire the equivalent of an Ultrabook with longer runtimes and a full software suite for a fraction of our estimated costs, she got behind my proposal to purchase a charging cart and 25 Surfaces for shared use in the upper grades.”

St Thomas School and Selinsgrove School District join the growing set of schools using Surface

Over the past couple months, I’ve had the great fortune to visit several of our Surface Education customers and talk with teachers and technology directors who are transforming education through their vision, persistence, and willingness to try new things.

St. Thomas is a private K-8 school in a beautiful lakeside neighborhood in Bellevue, Washington, a short drive from the Microsoft offices in Redmond. Kimberly Meacham has been the ICT Director at St. Thomas for the past eight years, and when I met her, I was struck by her practicality and straightforwardness. When I asked her why she does this job, she responded, “I love making people and processes more efficient and allowing them time to do what matters most.” This quest for constant improvements in the way they do things at St. Thomas, coupled with Kimberly’s willingness to try new things and the school’s close proximity to Microsoft, means that St. Thomas is often the first to roll out new Education technology innovations and provide us with candid feedback about what works in the classroom and what doesn’t. St. Thomas is using Surface and Surface Pro devices in their 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms, and when asked about the goals for 1:1 computing for these grade levels, Kimberly responded, “What I hope to see is that the technology really allows us to spend more time differentiating and personalizing learning, and really reaching kids in ways that work for them. And at the same time, allowing the teachers to have the capacity to be working in all these different ways because technology makes it easier and more efficient.”

Selinsgrove Area School District is a small public school district located in the picturesque Susquehanna River Valley in Central Pennsylvania. Like many public schools, Selinsgrove relies mostly on public funding for their technology projects. Last year, Selinsgrove received a state grant to help improve literacy in their schools. They knew they wanted to focus their efforts on literacy through digital learning tools, and unlike in previous years when they had used their funding to acquire e-reader devices like the Kindle Fire, they decided to opt for a device that would be more versatile. Faith Bastian, a Literacy Coach at Selinsgrove, explained to me that, “The major challenge was the students couldn’t create documents on the Kindles. They couldn’t take notes. They couldn’t do a PowerPoint. They couldn’t create a Word document. So, it, they really couldn’t create anything on them.” So they purchased Surfaces. Many teachers are still exploring all the different ways that they can use Surface in their classrooms. Nicole Sassaman, a middle school teacher commented, “Teachers are thinking of more ways to incorporate the Surfaces in their curriculum every day. We have the common core they have to abide by, but they now have flexibility in how they teach that. The Surfaces enable teachers who are very creative to come up with some innovative and interactive lessons that keep students engaged and working collaboratively.”

Surface Pro 3 plots the path ahead in Education

Looking ahead to year two of Surface in education, we see Surface being even more effective for teachers to use in the classroom, and for administrators to deploy and manage the device. We are already seeing a great deal of interest among teachers, school administrators and also private and higher education institutions for the new Surface Pro 3 with its larger screen size, improved aspect-ratio for reading textbooks, and best-in-class digital inking experience. For example, Rob Baker from Cincinnati Country Day School talks about his thoughts on the Surface Pro 3 in a previous blog post.

The past year has been the start of a great journey for us, and as our VP of Education, Anthony Salcito, puts it, “In education, we all have work to do,” and Surface is just getting started!

We all know that students today excel at using their devices and apps on them.  But using this technology to be more organized and collaborative in the classroom isn’t naturally ingrained in most. OneNote is a great app for any device a student brings ...read more

By: Mary Perisic, Senior Partner Marketing, Microsoft

Did you know there is a large variety of apps in the Windows Store and more are being published every day? Apps are great tools, and on a Windows device, they can be more than standalone tools. For example, apps can uniquely empower teachers to transform the classroom experience into a personalized, productive learning environment while also enabling them to maintain control of their class.

Here are five apps that are available for tablets, laptops, and PCs that can keep things simple in the modern classroom:

1. Class Policy – this application puts teachers in control of the students’ devices, ensuring they stay on task. It allows teachers to use their device to lockdown student computers and launch applications and specific files. Technology has always been a double-edged sword in education. It’s a great learning tool, but it can also be a huge distraction. ClassPolicy enables teachers to maximize the benefits of technology while minimizing the negatives.

2. Test Policy – this is an app that enables teachers and test proctors to completely lock down student devices from their own device. For instance, when teachers are ready to administer formative tests, mid-terms, or finals, Test Policy allows teachers to use their device to lock down student devices and monitor these devices throughout the entire test. This is the only application that enables the proctor to have full control and monitoring capabilities, and is only available on Windows devices. The app will be available at no cost to all Windows 7 and Windows 8 users in education for the 2014-2015 school year. Also coming this fall, the app will be available to schools in the U.S. with plans to rollout around the world in the future.

1. eBackpack – this app helps teachers to paperless. They can easily assign, collect, review, annotate and return work to students. It supports various types of “paperless” formats including graph paper and music paper. It also enables offline access and calendar integration. Additionally, one of my favorite features is that it enables teachers to grade with annotations, while also offering the option to use audio or video for giving feedback.

1. Edmodo – an app that creates a virtual hub for a class, Edmodo enables students to collaborate, discuss topics, participate in polls, and more. In addition, teachers can use the app to create and assign group projects for students. They can also use Edmodo to create a community for teachers within a school or across a school district for virtual collaboration and discussions. The app is available worldwide and in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, Swedish, and Portuguese.

1. Social Express – this application can help K-4 students who have trouble with collaboration or social skills. In particular, the app features a diverse array of animated characters that inspire young students to emotionally connect with them. It also includes “webisodes,” which provide an immersive and emotionally-safe environment for kids to learn conflict resolution and how to express their emotions and ideas.

That’s just a small sampling of the apps available in the Windows Store. To learn more about the range of education apps available, start with this curated list of 100 Great Education Apps. Click on any app title in the list and it will take you directly to the app in the Windows Store for more details or instructions to download.

If you are at ISTE, come visit us at the App Bar in Microsoft Booth #914, where you will see classroom-based scenarios demonstrating many different apps, including 11 Awesome Apps for Flipping Math and 12 Apps to add steam to STEM. You can also follow me at @MaryPerisic.

By Margo Day, Vice President, U.S. Education

Technology has been making inroads in classrooms around the world for years now, but there have remained significant – and stubborn -- barriers to success, especially around access, security and affordability. The good news is that, as manufacturers and vendors continue to streamline and simplify mobile and cloud-based technology, those roadblocks are beginning to fall away.

But even with the right tools and access, successful classroom technology implementations are no guarantee. Educators must be able to effectively use and manage this technology in ways that improve learning outcomes while also ensuring this technology is affordable. This is no easy feat. Technology empowers teachers to offer immersive, engaging lessons and to streamline testing, while also helping save schools space and money. But if not managed properly or provided at low cost, this same technology can take away valuable teaching time and stretch budgets.

That’s why we’re so excited to announce some incredible, game-changing solutions that our partners are announcing at this week’s ISTE 2014 conference. For educators working to manage all of the technology that supports 21^st century learning activities, these tools will be transformational.

AssistX TestPolicy App 

One of these new tools is TestPolicy, a first-of-its-kind, next-generation device management app from AssistX specifically optimized for Windows 8. This AssistX TestPolicy App provides a best-in-class testing experience, and offers the easiest way for educators to effectively lock down Windows devices and administer online assessments, including Common Core State Standards assessments from Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). With a single click, this app seamlessly shuts down all open applications and locks testing devices, preventing students from accessing anything but the test.

TestPolicy solves many of the testing and classroom management challenges that schools face across the U.S., and is compliant with all assessment requirements. Most important, it delivers the kind of streamlined control educators need to confidently implement digital solutions in the classroom, something competitive platforms don’t offer. And best of all, the app will be available at no cost to all Windows 7 and Windows 8 users in education for the 2014-2015 school-year. Come the start of the school year this fall, the TestPolicy app will be available to schools in the U.S. with plans to rollout around the world in the future.

See TestPolicy in action at James Madison Middle School in California.

Sebit VCloud

Also at ISTE this week, Sebit is launching the Sebit Global Education Cloud, VCloud, a complete solution designed to facilitate learning through instruction, communication, collaboration, and assessment. This single platform enables teachers and students to manage courses and personal portfolios, access content, and provide top-to-bottom analytics and reporting.

What sets Sebit VCloud apart – aside from being available only on the Windows 8 platform -- is its robust functionality. If a school has deployed tablets to all of its students, teachers can use the Sebit VCloud to manage class sessions, distribute content to student devices, manage application restriction on student devices, issue tests and quizzes, and even utilize real-time polling for instantaneous feedback. Not only does this save teachers time, it also involves students in their own learning experience – a key factor in keeping students engaged and enthusiastic.

Microsoft has led the way in education transformation for more than three decades and we know that digital technology opens up countless opportunities for students. We can confidently claim that we offer the best tools for education available today through Windows 8 and that student safety and privacy rights are at the forefront of our policies. No other company comes close to what Windows 8 offers educators in terms of security, flexibility, accessibility and affordability.

We believe that the new opportunities that technology brings require thoughtful evaluation and responsible and comprehensive approaches that allow our children to learn with technology in an engaging, safe and respectful manner. Microsoft is committed to helping schools face the challenges of digital transition head-on – from educator training to curriculum development, to resourceful devices and services that can simplify personalized learning. And by working with partners like AssistX and Sebit, our powerful education ecosystem continues to grow stronger.

Throughout the week, we will be sharing even more exciting news from ISTE 2014. Thank you to our many partners who have joined with Microsoft in building a new education system that respects the right of every child to a quality education, and provides each of those students with the best opportunity to succeed in school and in life.

This Saturday, June 28, kicks off the four-day ISTE 2014 conference and we’re happy to share some exciting stories about how people are using OneNote in education. Today we take a look at how the teachers at Cary Academy in Cary, North Carolina, seamlessly ...read more

June 26, 2014 | Cameron Evans, Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Education, Microsoft

It’s that time of year again. This coming weekend, I will be joining my Microsoft Education colleagues at the annual International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference in Atlanta to learn about and share how technology can help students, teachers, and administrators be successful within the classroom and beyond. This is a focus of ours throughout the year as part of our global company-wide Microsoft YouthSpark initiative so I’m always looking forward to learning more and sharing with educators about the many resources we have available to help empower their students.

One particular topic we will be focusing on at ISTE is how we as an industry – along with some of the top educators around the world – can help to truly innovate and transform the learning experience for students in this new digital environment. I see successful districts and teachers moving toward a more interactive, immersive, and personalized learning experience and it’s clear that this is the future of education.

My colleagues and I are looking forward to advancing this conversation and showcasing solutions to help schools succeed in this digital transition. From devices and apps, to productivity and connectivity tools, we’ll be demonstrating how technology from Microsoft and our partners can improve and transform education, and more precisely, learning.

We have some great thought leaders offering sessions for ISTE attendees:

Spotlight Sessions

• Sunday, June 29 —Robert Baker, director of technology, Cincinnati Country Day School, will be presenting “ You really can have it all! ” In this session, he will be sharing how Windows 8 tablets with touch, ink and laptop functionality remove all constraints for educators, and allow IT departments to manage, support, upgrade and scale efficiently.

• Monday, June 30 —I will be leading an interactive lecture, “ The Great Pyramids of Math, Minecraft, and MakerBots ,” which will focus on how the new Math-Science standards can be applied using open-world gaming, 3D prototyping, and problem-solving using Windows devices. This session will bring to life the interesting and new ways we can use technology and gaming to redefine project-based learning activities, especially in tougher subjects like mathematics.

• Monday, June 30 —Shanen Boettcher, general manager, Startup Business Group at Microsoft, and Stacey Roshan, a teacher from Bullis School, will be presenting a session, “ Make online lessons FAST with tools you know .” The session will feature examples of how Office Mix can be used as a fast and easy way to create and share interactive online lessons using PowerPoint. Developed in cooperation with Microsoft Research and based on direct input from educators, Office Mix is a prime example of how Microsoft is responding to teachers’ desire for technology that doesn’t require time-consuming training to master.

Hands-On Learning

Throughout the event, we will have a Microsoft Experience Center (MEC) in GWCC B401, offering educators a hands-on introduction to the Microsoft productivity and mobility platform.

• Learn about OneNote, a digital note-taking tool that can be used on any device, anywhere.

• Experience new Windows 8.1 applications for planning, teaching, and testing.

• Check out the new Surface Pro 3, the tablet that can replace your laptop.

Free Stuff!

Because we know that not all teachers have the latest versions of OneNote and PowerPoint available to them, Microsoft is offering teachers attending ISTE a one-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365 for free. If you’re a teacher interested in experiencing the benefits of Microsoft’s cloud productivity suite, be sure to bring the required papers and stop by our booth to take advantage of the Office 365 Giveaway.

These are just a few highlights of our activities for ISTE. For more information, please stop by our booth #914, or check out a blog post about all of our upcoming sessions.

Also be sure to stay tuned to this blog and follow @Microsoft_Edu, @EDUCTO, #MSFTEDU, and #ISTE2014 as we will have more updates from ISTE throughout the week.

 

Guest post by Bill Nimmons, IT Director of Leon County Schools, Tallahassee, Florida 

In Leon County Schools, our vision is to provide a competitive, 21^st century learning environment that provides engaging, differentiated and individualized instruction for our students. We also believe it is important to extend the learning environment beyond the regular school day to support learning as an on-going process. This vision sets the standard for providing our teachers with what they need to empower our 34,000 students with necessary 21^st century skills that prepare them for the competitive, global workforce of tomorrow. We believe a successful 1:1 mobile learning program is a crucial part of that vision.

When Leon County Schools started our journey toward a 1:1 initiative, we created a mobile learning committee to discuss, research, and evaluate how other districts have approached 1:1 mobile programs. We wanted to learn about their success, and -- just as important -- their failures.

As we evaluated the different options available, it became clear that the operating system that offered us the most flexibility was Windows 8.

See our story:

Why Windows 8? When Leon County Schools set out to become a 1:1 school district, we did so with our teachers as our number-one focus. What will they teach? How can we minimize any disruptions to teachers and students in the classroom? For us, it was about the curriculum, not the technology. Key to this approach was choosing an operating system that minimized the need for additional training by our teachers and students, allowed us to use existing curriculum and applications without limitations and minimized the need to retrain technical staff on additional software to support our 1:1 environment -- all things that Windows 8 allows us to do.

Carlos Fernandez, Coordinator of Instructional Technology at Leon County Schools, says, "We wanted to make sure that the tools were familiar to our teachers but were also relevant to students. We wanted to use the proper tools, like Microsoft Office, like Office 365 and OneNote in collaboration with other web applications, so our students can get different flavors of content, interactivity, and engagement." The beauty of Microsoft Windows 8 is that it allows us to take advantage of the business class tools we already use and own today.

By definition, any school district that makes the move to 1:1 significantly increases the number of devices that must be maintained and managed on a daily basis. This can mean an even greater investment beyond the devices, something many 1:1 implementations fail to take into account. Windows 8 allows Leon County District to continue to use the technology we've already invested in like Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) for managing devices across the network and Microsoft Systems Center for Endpoint Protection (virus protection software).

Equally important was having maximum flexibility in the types of devices we could use in our 1:1 program. What may work at the elementary school level may not be the same device that you want to use at the secondary school level. Windows 8 provides the flexibility to select devices based upon your specific need at a particular grade level and at a price you can afford. Regardless of the device chosen (laptop, tablet, or other device) we know that our district-supported curriculum is available, we have the infrastructure in place to manage the Windows 8 environment, and our teachers, students, and staff are already familiar with the Microsoft environment that we use today.

How is it working? "You see students, and the light goes on," says Scotty Crowe, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning. "They're engaged, they're excited, and they're using devices." At Augusta Raa Middle School, Principal Giselle Marsh noted, "It is our job as educators to ensure we are presenting them [students] with information but in a 21^st century way." At Buck Lake Elementary, fourth grade teacher Alexandra Adams noted that since the Windows 8 devices were deployed, "Learning is fun for them now - it takes them to them to the next level.”

Leon County Schools in Tallahassee, Florida launched the initial phase of our 1:1 digital initiative during the 2013-2014 school year. Watch this video to learn about the district's objectives for the initiative, hear initial student reactions and learn why the decision was made to standardize on the Microsoft Windows 8 platform and Office 365.

We are proud to join the ranks of many other great U.S. school districts who are forging 1:1 mobile learning paths including Miami-Dade Public School District, West Virginia Department of Education, Chester County School District, Fresno Unified School District, Baltimore County School District, and Houston Independent School District.

Innovating in education is about more than just the device, and Microsoft not only understands this, they provide training, support, collaboration and a true partnership in learning. As Carlos Fernandez says, "Microsoft helps us empower education. Leon County Schools now has the right 1:1 mobile learning tools in place, and that's leading to huge success."

- Bill Nimmons, IT Director of Leon County Schools, Tallahassee, Florida

More Information

• Why Microsoft in Education
• Empowering Educators with Technology
• Devices, Mobility, and Apps for Learning
• Windows Deployment in Education

His point was not to train on how to use Windows Movie Maker. Instead, it was to demonstrate how we should use tools that are freely available to us to create products that can engage our students; and more importantly, to show how easy it is to offer our students the tools to create and then take ownership of their learning. I had never been to a conference before and I didn’t know Kathy Schrock from Katie Couric but in spite of my inexperience I stumbled upon something that I have repeated countless times in trainings and talks that I have done. Towards the end of his talk Rushton said, “If you want more technology in your classroom, show that you use what you already have.”

Bright, Shiny Things

In choosing what we do, what we listen to, and what we take away from ISTE it is so easy to get caught up in the next new bright shiny object that with a small phenomenal fee will transform your classroom overnight, teach your students for you, make you coffee and bring you the morning paper. Believe me when I say I have been hooked by those things before. But for the most part, when I got back to my classroom, I still had to work with the tools that were provided to me and my students.

The great thing about the Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Teacher Series at ISTE is that they introduce to you how to use the tools that you probably already have! Beginning on Sunday you can hear about OneNote (now FREE on ALL platforms) as the Ultimate Collaboration Tool. Office 365 in the Classroom will discuss the benefits that you get from your districts implementation of a cloud-powered Office. Don’t miss 30 free tools in 60 minutes and go on a whirlwind ride through free tools from Microsoft like Photosynth, Photo Gallery, Chronozoom, Microsoft Math, AutoCollage, Songsmith and many more.A personal favorite of mine is entitled, “Are you in the Mix?” which showcases a free plug-in for PowerPoint called Office Mix. If you are looking for a free, easy e-learning content development tool that provides you with analytics, Office Mix is for you. See a complete list of offerings created for teachers by teachers.

When you use tools that you already have, not only are you demonstrating to your district or administration that you’re capable, you’re showing yourself and your students that success comes from taking the resources that you have been given and making your own bright, shiny objects. See you there and if you’re not able to come, follow me on Twitter for conference updates! @davidzepol

This is great new site we just launched showing all the new features and upcoming features of Office 365 listed here:

Show features launched, rolling out, and in development (upcoming features) in your tenant.

Drilldown descriptions of the feature.

Visit the Office 365 roadmap site here.

Q&A with Margo Day, vice president of U.S. education, Microsoft and Dr. Agnes Slayman, Superintendent of Chester County School District, South Carolina

Our partnership with the White House's ConnectED initiative is based on our interest in bringing lower cost technology into the classroom, empowering students and teachers with the best learning environment, and providing schools with the tools being used by businesses around the world to prepare students for success in the future.

ConnectED, which aims to connect 99 percent of U.S. students over the next five years to the digital age through next-generation broadband and high-speed wireless in their schools and libraries reached its one-year anniversary on June 6th. I'm passionate about the program, because it can be used by K-12 public schools of all sizes across the nation, including schools in rural communities. South Carolina's Chester County School District, which is comprised of more than 5,526 students, is one rural school district that is using technology to ensure all of its students have access to the devices and tools they need to be successful in both the classroom and the community.

After learning about Chester County School District Superintendent Dr. Agnes Slayman's unique approach to using technology to help connect students and prepare them for the future, I was inspired and wanted to share her story so that other school districts might see a way forward when presented with the obstacles Chester County had to overcome. Below are some highlights from a conversation where Dr. Slayman shared how her school district has implemented technology to help teachers and students transition to a 21^st Century classroom.

Margo Day: Why is it especially important in a rural area like yours for students to have access?

Dr. Agnes Slayman: For students growing up in beautiful Chester County, South Carolina, there are special opportunities that come from living in a tight-knit community - strong and lasting relationships develop outside the school day on ball fields, playgrounds and parks. Although we appreciate our county's small towns and rural setting, we do want our young people to have a global perspective so they can understand and identify with others beyond our daily boundaries. This exposure to world history, culture, views, and ideas is dependent on the use of technology to broaden our students' educational experiences. It guarantees that our graduates-whether they choose to be life-long residents of our county or not-are ready to compete in a 21^st century global economy.

MD: What were your reasons and how were you able to create a partnership with the local broadband supplier?

AS: Our district school buses traverse more than 826,000 miles each school year-proof that many of our students do not live near our schools. With a district as large as ours, taking the Internet to our students was necessary to ensure they are able to use their tablets to complete assignments and research projects after school hours. Although our local telecommunication providers do offer home internet services county-wide, many families simply cannot afford the service. Realizing personal finances were creating an educational gap, I called on Truvista Communications (serves most of Chester County) and Comporium (serves one Chester County community) to create a first-of-its kind private business/public education partnership in South Carolina. These companies placed Wi-Fi hotspots in strategically-placed locations, such as parks, libraries, a private business, fire stations, etc., throughout the entire county. Now students, can visit these close-to-home hotspots and use their district-issued devices to safely connect to the Internet free of charge.

MD: How did you engage your students in the decision making process?

AS: As part of our district's communication plan, I created five Superintendent's Cabinets (Teacher, Support Staff, Administrator, Parent, and Student), which meet throughout the school year. Cabinet members are always briefed on important district news, such as our hiTEC 1:1 initiative, and then encouraged to ask questions and offer suggestions to strengthen ideas and programs. The Cabinets have been an excellent way to both disseminate information to our stakeholders and guide me and my senior staff in our daily decision making process. Student Cabinet members were given their tablets weeks before their peers so as to become familiar with the devices. These student leaders were instrumental in helping their classmates-from offering tips on operating the tablets to advocating the coolest apps to download-during the initial rollout of tablets. Since we rolled out the devices, we have continued to meet with all Cabinets to get feedback on hiTEC. Suggestions received during these round table discussions have strengthened our program and alerted us to issues that needed our immediate attention.

MD: What devices are you using and what's your rollout plan?

AS: Windows-based devices were selected based on our priorities of Microsoft Windows 8, a long battery life, and durability. Although the device was a key part of our 1:1 initiative, we understood that the device was merely an educational tool. What we had to rollout was a whole new approach to teaching; we needed our teachers, students, parents, and community members to embrace the use of technology in learning and applying vast amounts of instant information. We first entitled our initiative hiTEC, which means "Helping Integrate Technology, Education and Careers." After creating a fun and catchy logo, district leaders began to showcase and explain hiTEC advantages during the various Superintendent Cabinet meetings, at teacher faculty meetings, and during community meetings (such as Lion's Club, Rotary, church gatherings, etc.).

In September 2013, the district hosted a hiTEC celebration to launch the technology initiative and update county and state leaders, as well as local business owners, on the economic advantages of our innovative program. Three teachers and their students completed several lesson demonstrations on the devices using Windows 8. These demonstrations were excellent examples of just how hiTEC will prepare our graduates to be capable and productive employees in the new workforce. Through the media and district-distributed letters, parents and guardians of high school students were urged to attend a free hiTEC orientation sessions. These orientations gave parents/guardians and their students detailed information regarding the hiTEC program. This same information is now available on the district's website and is still promoted through district and school Facebook pages.

As we continue to move forward with hiTEC, our district will begin training high school students to be part of our district's Information Technology Department's school repair teams. These students, under the supervision of our own technicians, will learn to repair malfunctioning tablets and printers for their teachers and classmates, all while gaining valuable work experience that directly links their education with future employment.

MD: Do you believe that leadership plays an important role in a 1:1 rollout?

AS: As technology quickly changes today's classroom, we still have technology immigrants teaching technology natives. It is for this very reason that our district leaders are so important—they are needed to reassure teachers that technology changes are positive and that technology rich lesson plans lend students to critical thinking and mastery of content. Our leaders double as trainers who build teachers' tech skills and confidence. District leaders are also the face of the project for parents and community members, who may have questions about technology-integrated teaching and learning.

MD: What suggestions do you have for other school leaders working toward 1:1?

AS: A 1:1 initiative is much more than handing tablets to students. Creating a specific and concise vision and technology goals for the district is a great starting point. Talking with districts who have sustainable, successful programs can help in developing your own goals. Once these goals are set, it is important to complete a self-evaluation of the district's current technology situation. Questions include: what type of infrastructure do we have to support a 1:1, how will we finance the project, how tech-savvy are our teachers and students, etc. Combining the self-evaluation results with the district technology goals will give leaders a clearer road map to success.

MD: We know you value professional development for your teachers. Why do you think it's important to have all teachers engaged early on in the shift?

AS: We already have excellent teachers who are well-trained and caring professionals. They understand the need and importance of reaching all students and motiving them to succeed. However, in a 21^st century classroom, the teacher is no longer the only access point to information. Rather, the teacher is a facilitator whose lesson plans direct students down individual learning paths. Technology professional development for our teachers is therefore designed to boost instructor confidence in using the latest technology to convey content, reinforce new skills, and engage students in learning. No matter how technologically advanced our society becomes, we believe that it is always the interpersonal relationships between a teacher and his/her students that ultimately lead students to academic success. Often times we see this interpersonal relationship and connecting between teachers and students amplified because students are more engaged.

MD : Have you provided training for your teachers?

AS: The transition from a traditional classroom to one that incorporates cutting-edge technology on a daily basis cannot happen in a single school year. Our district leaders understand that this switch will be at least a 3-5 year process. Our district has committed to continued training for teachers and administrators, including approximately 15 different training opportunities for teachers and weekly learning during "Tech Tuesdays" for all high school teachers.

MD: How are you using technology to engage students in learning?

AS: Thanks to the financial support of another community partnership, Springs Creative, this fall, students in Chester County will virtually meet weekly with classes in foreign countries, such as China, Malta, and Greece. The idea is for students and teachers on both sides of the camera to share curriculum and begin building real relationships, grooming our students to function in a workspace without walls. Imagine completing a 5^th grade research paper on Chinese culture with first person references and resources - this includes face-to-face conversations between Chester County students and their Chinese counterparts without anyone stepping foot on an airplane.

Whether students work together in a classroom using OneNote or Office 365, or collaborate digitally with friends in other countries, they will be developing the exact skills companies will soon demand of their most valued employees. Our district is committed to excellence for all students, and we see technology use and training as an integral part of education.