Ensure your school leadership team is across the opportunity afforded by new technologies, by hosting a complimentary Microsoft in Education seminar. Find out more information by visiting our website.
Your end-to-end solution begins here.
To book a Microsoft in Education seminar at your school or for more information, please email nzeducation@microsoft.com.
With Student Advantage, your school can enable all your students to have the full Microsoft Office software for personal use, at no additional licensing cost*.
This is a benefit of the Ministry of Education’s agreement with Microsoft, where every state and integrated school in New Zealand is eligible to get Office 365 ProPlus software for your students.
Find out what your next steps are to take up this fantastic benefit here!
*Datacom may charge an administration fee, for further details please contact Datacom at nzschool@datacom.co.nz.
Microsoft offers free professional development for faculty and staff, on-demand courses on teaching with technology, and provides rich resources in the online Microsoft Educator Network. To learn more, visit: mseducatornetwork.com.
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Office 365 ProPlus includes all the familiar and full Office applications, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and offers the ability for these to be locally installed on up to five devices and available offline. This also includes Office for Mac and Office for iPad.
To enable your students to get Office software for their personal use, the next steps are:
If you already have the Office 365 cloud service:
If you don’t have the Office 365 cloud service:
You can contact Datacom to find out more and take these steps at nzschool@datacom.co.nz.
Communicating to Students and Parents
We are very excited to feature another one of Sam McNeil's blog posts, showcasing yet another example of the exciting work St Andrew's College in Christchurch is doing in facilitating 21st century learning in the classroom. You can view his original blog post here. We encourage you to browse through his previous posts too, you won't be disappointed! Love your work Sam!
"We are fortunate at St Andrew’s College that there are a number of teachers that are “flipping the classroom” in various ways and using a number of different technologies to support this. Examples already blogged about include:
One of the common tools that has been used by a number of these teachers is the ageing Microsoft product called Community Clips. This has been a reliable piece of software for creating screencasts however it has struggled with new devices, failing to support the native resolution of the Surface Pro3 devices we are trialling with a number of teachers in various classrooms.
Enter Office Mix.
This relatively new product is a free plugin for Microsoft Powerpoint that allows you to record your screen, voice and video all at the same time. Additionally, it allows your Powerpoint to become interactive, with students able to complete quizzes directly within a slideshow.
The key feature that appealed to Mr Hilliam was the recording of his screen in full, native resolution and the ease with which he was able to launch recording. Whilst the older Community Clips also allowed you to select a section of the screen to record, this is far easier in Office Mix.
Because Office Mix records native resolutions the files can become quite large – it’s not unusual for these to get up to around 400MB for a 10minute video clip. However, because most of the teachers at St Andrew’s College subsequently upload them to YouTube.com the size is less relevant. YouTube automatically streams the best quality video that the user’s internet connection supports, so those with high speed can comfortably watch in HD.
I recently asked Mr Hilliam to demonstrate this combination of Microsoft OneNote and Office Mix recording to a visiting delegation of Principals and Senior Leaders from the Independent Schools of New Zealand and this is the video he made on the fly:
Year 9 class solving algebraic problems
SUMMARY:
St Andrew’s College has interactive whiteboards in every classroom in the Preparatory School from Years 4-8 and these are used widely by the teachers and students. However, these units, projectors and associated software are expensive to purchase and install.
It’s intriguing to see how alternative configurations can deliver equivalent functionality, but also extend on it in two important ways:
Whilst SurfacePro3 tablets are not cheap, we are currently trialling them with five classroom teachers across Maths, English and the Preparatory School. The initial feedback is that they would happily hand back their school-supplied laptop and use the SurfacePro3 as their primary and only device full time.
I was pleased to hear this, especially after I have set the challenge of writing school reports on the 12″ screen of the SurfacePro3 and only using the web interface of our Student Management System (Synergetic).We have also pre-ordered a number of ScreenBeam Pro for Education miracast units. These units have additional security enhancements for classrooms, and also come with a VGA / HDMI converter so existing older style VGA projectors do not need to be replaced immediately.
From what we have seen these units also hold the wireless connection more reliably and are easier to connect to than the existing miracast units we currently use.
These technological advancements are definitely contributing to a smarter, and more evolved version of the traditional whiteboard."
Again, you can access Sam's full post and other fantastic work here. Awesome stuff!
It was just about a year ago we announced Student Advantage, a benefit that allows eligible students to get Office 365 from their school for free. One drawback to Student Advantage—the onus has been on the school to initiate the service, create an account and order the Office 365 license on behalf of the student.
Today we’re making it easier on the school IT department with a new self-serve model for students that lets them sign up for the free service on their own.
If students are 13 years-old of age or older, here’s what they can do the check your eligibility and get Office for free:
Here’s what qualified students will receive:
Sign-up for students is available in the U.S. today, and will expand worldwide later this year.
In order to be eligible for this benefit, the student must attend a school that has purchased Office organization-wide for all faculty/staff via the Microsoft Volume Licensing program.
These changes not only make it easier for students to get Office, but it makes managing the services easier on school IT. In the past, organizations were required to initiate the service, create accounts and order the free licenses on behalf of their students. All this needed to be done prior to students being able to access Office and OneDrive. The new self-service model removes all of that unnecessary friction and delay by simply allowing eligible students to sign up for the service themselves, while maintaining the same level of control, flexibility and security institutions have come to expect from Office 365.
We have even more great news to share—we’re also announcing that faculty and staff will soon be able to access the same Office 365 ProPlus benefit as their students. This means that any organization purchasing Office for all of their faculty and staff can now include an Office 365 ProPlus subscription at no extra cost for all students, faculty and staff.
Extending the Office 365 ProPlus benefit to faculty and staff ensures that teachers are using the latest versions of Office and the same feature set as their students. It will allow teachers to install full Office on up to five PCs or Macs and unlock the editing capabilities of the Office apps for iPad. It also gives them access to all their Office documents both at school and at home. With Office 365 ProPlus teachers can take advantage of great Office apps and add-ins like Office Mix to record and publish class lectures.
Teachers in the U.S. can sign up for Office 365 ProPlus in October and expand to worldwide teachers later this year.
You can contact Datacom to find out more by emailing nzschool@datacom.co.nz.
Applications close on the 26th September, we don't want you to miss out!
We posted all the details last week, but we're posting them again this week - just so you are fully aware of the eligibility requirements and benefits of applying and becoming a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert. This is a unique opportunity for Kiwi talent, and we are so excited to showcase the some of the most innovative educators in New Zealand in this prestigious and global program.
We’re looking for top educators, ready to spread the word about the great things they are doing in the classroom from across NZ. The Microsoft Innovative Educator - Expert Program is an exclusive program created to recognise pioneer educators who are using technology to transform education.
Microsoft is seeking top innovative educators who are using Microsoft technologies to engage students and their peers in innovative ways to positively impact learning. We’re particularly interested in educators who are actively mentoring others, active in social media and have a passion for and a desire to share their experiences.
As a Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Expert, you will be asked to advocate and share your experiences with peers and policy makers on effective use of technology in education. The NZ MIE Expert community will also provide access to fellow innovative educators to share valuable experiences, lessons and best practices and work together as a community to promote ideas to innovate in teaching and learning.
This is a non-paid, ambassador program, however you will receive some fantastic benefits as an MIE Expert. Benefits include your own Windows 8 tablet, mentoring from experienced innovative educators in the MIE community, and other rewards such as a chance to attend the Microsoft in Education Global Forum in Microsoft HQ, Seattle, in March 2015.
Applicants will be evaluated based on their learning activity, application form and interview if called. Click here to apply.
Please note, this job advert says for Auckland - but teachers from all over the country may apply! Applications close 26th September.
As part of the application you will be asked to provide details of a particular learning activity that is a good example of your Microsoft in the Classroom story as well as a simple cover letter and program relevant resume.
We’re inviting educators from the all over New Zealand to apply for the MIE Expert program today. Click here to apply. Please note, this job advert says for Auckland - but teachers from all over the country may apply! Applications close 26th September.
This post was originally blogged on the St Andrew's College e-Learning Stories blog, here. We are so excited to re-post it here on our blog, as yet another fantastic example of the innovative work St Andrew's College is doing around e-Learning. Enjoy!
It started as a way to help her students organise their notes, but Year 11 Dean and English teacher Jacqueline Yoder quickly found that Microsoft’s OneNote had a lot more potential.
“It has an extensive collaborative capability which allows students access to all my folders, and lets me see their work,” she says.
By using OneNote, an electronic version of a traditional binder, Jacqueline can access students’ online exercise books so if a student has a question she can see what they are working on and make suggestions, especially if she notes they are going off track.
“I didn’t want a place just for storing documents. I wanted kids to interact, not to struggle to use their devices, and to have a ring binder in the sky.”
With some help from Director of ICT, Sam McNeill, Jacqueline created a folder on OneDrive to which she uploads everything.
“My two English classes don’t have books they only use OneNote – that’s their method of storing all of their work and assessments.”
Jacqueline also does all her marking online making her classroom effectively paperless.
“The students hand in nothing. I do a lot of colour coding in my feedback so they get back a far more visually enhanced assignment. I am also experimenting with oral feedback.”
This involves inserting a video into her feedback providing a medium for more detailed analysis. It’s a different way of marking and works for students who struggle with English and find it difficult to read a marking schedule.
But does it make better English students?
“The evidence of my first trial group who have gone into Year 11 is that teachers say they are doing very well at NCEA. OneNote doesn’t replace teaching, it’s a tool to help students organise their work so they can find everything they need. It gives me a way of providing more informative feedback on a regular basis because I can literally comment immediately.”
It’s this combination of staying organised and engaging feedback consistently over time rather than just at the end of an assignment, that Jacqueline says makes the difference.
Another attraction is the software’s collaborative potential. Because work is stored in the cloud, it offers opportunities for students to work together. Jacqueline’s Māori students are working on shared presentations and movies.
While the thought of adopting technology can be daunting, Professional Learning Groups are available. Jacqueline is keen to share the knowledge among StAC teachers that the software is more than just a word processor.
“It makes learning seamless. When it’s time to write reports I have all the information at my fingertips through those shared notebooks. Parents have real time access to their child’s learning so they can see what they’ve done during the day. It’s a triangle of student, teacher, parent, which is a powerful way to make learning happen.”
For Jacqueline, using technology such as OneNote is about the student owning the learning – transferring the ownership of the learning from being teacher centred to student centred.
“It’s a move from where the teacher owns all the information on the student in a folder to the student having the ownership of the learning and being able to access to look and learn from it in real time.”
Increasing use of technology also fits in with the school’s commitment to lifelong learning.
“Because technology is evolving all the time, you can’t think you’ve ever mastered something. It’s exciting to push the system and discover where it will take you next.”
Rector Christine Leighton says it is exciting to see how St Andrew’s teachers are embracing opportunities through e-Learning.
“Teacher voices are really powerful and to be able to share that voice with other teachers, as well as parents and greater numbers of students is very effective. Teaching is not staying enclosed in a classroom.”
We are very excited to announce that we have now added Phonics supports to our Chekhov cloud services and tools – allowing early-grade teachers (and teachers of English as a foreign language) to create free eBook resources which will read themselves aloud to learners on any Windows or Windows Phone device. Anyone, anywhere can access these Azure-based services and create a new eBook in a matter of minutes. Every book they create can be published as a Windows 8 App, a Windows Phone App and as a free print-on-demand PowerPoint file. Educators (and students) can add their text, illustrations/photos and recorded audio - which will now include narrated audio for the phonemes which construct each word, which as we know is of huge educational value to beginning readers.