If you’ve never used SharePoint before, and you’re now exploring your options with SharePoint Online you might want to know about some simple tips to get you started!

Where are the Web Apps?

Out of the box, SharePoint Online behaves a little bit like the picture above. The question I get asked most often by my customers is how they can create documents in the browser?

To make this process a little easier we have provided a simple template to help get you started. You can grab it free from the Office 365 for education website, along with a simple step-by-step guide on how to install and configure it. Once installed it will allow you to create documents in the browser:

Now, with a single click your users will be able to create new Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote documents directly in the browser, as well as being able to edit documents you’ve already created or uploaded.

How do I invite external users?

The next most popular question is how customers can invite users to contribute to their SharePoint Online environments with an email address?

In just a few steps you can configure this functionality. First, navigate to Site Actions ¬ Site Settings ¬ Site Collection Features, then activate “External user invitations” feature, as pictured below. This enables sharing for the entire site.

After activating, you will notice a new option in Site Actions: “Share Site”. Users can be invited to view (Team Site Visitors), or contribute to the site (Team Site Members).

Click on “Share Site” to bring up the options for sharing:

Type in the email addresses for your external users in the either the view-only (Team Site Visitors) or contribute (Team Site Members) fields along with a custom welcome message and click Share. Your users will then be sent an email that looks similar to this:

By clicking on “Accept your invitation!” the user will be taken to a screen with two options and they can choose to log in with. If the customer has a Hotmail account or an Online Services ID they can sign in with those credentials, or sign up for a Windows Live account.

That’s it! You’ve now shared a site with an external user.

You can find out more by reading up on the SharePoint Online service description, and in the Office 365 community.

The upgrade process from Live@edu to Office 365 has begun! And if your organisation has an IT Academy subscription then you have access to the Office 365 training material and the ability to gain one of the latest Microsoft Office 365 certifications.

Through using the IT Academy, your organisation’s IT staff can be completely proficient in Office 365; meaning they can deploy faster and reduce any issues that may arise when migrating users to the new environment. From a Network Manager’s point of view, training is offered at academic prices, suggesting the woes of a training budget are minimised. Furthermore, if your organisation has implemented SSO with Office 365, your credentials will also log you into the IT Academy resources like eLearning.

This means that you can use IT Academy to support your organisation’s adoption and implementation of Office 365; permitting the full promotion of features and benefits to all staff and students, allowing learning objectives to be enhanced.

For instance, you have all of these Office 365 resources available with an IT Academy membership:

  A table showing the education materials and courses available to the organisation via IT Academy.

For more information on how to access the training and what you can gain from it, view this presentation.

Do you wish to move your institution to the cloud with Office 365 Education or try out the services,  but you’re not sure what to do?   Join the webcast series presented by experts from the Microsoft Office 365 US Education team that have helped academic institutions across the US deploy Office 365 Education.   

These provide an introduction to the services, a technical overview, and information on the deployment options available for your migration to the cloud.  

Each webcast is beneficial for IT staff at institutions of all sizes, and designed to assist your District or Campus deployment of the Office 365 services for messaging, communication and collaboration.  

We host the series weekly - so you can start and progress to the next step whenever it fits your schedule. 

When you're ready, start by attending part I. Office 365 Education - Introduction, held every Tuesday 1pm - 2pm Pacific Time - Click to choose event and register.

You will learn about Office 365 for Education, and how to enroll a trial tenant, verify a domain, and obtain user licenses. 

Following the webcast,  enroll an Office 365 Education tenant at http://education.office365.com

Ready to get more detailed technical view, and have signed up for an Office 365 Education tenant? -  attend part II. Office 365 for Education Technical Overview, held every Thursday 1pm - 2pm Pacific Time -  Click to choose event and register.

This will help you understand the technical capabilities and requirements for migrating to the cloud, and identifying your institutions visions and needs.   (Note: you'll need to attend a Tuesday Webcast and complete the pre-work, before attending a Thursday Webcast).

Following the webcast,  enroll into your Office 365 Education tenant a domain that you own.

Ready to deploy the services in production, and have enrolled a domain you own in your Office 365 Education tenant?  - attend part III. Office 365 Education - Deployment, held every Wednesday 1pm - 2pm Pacific Time - Click to choose event and register.

This will help you understand the options and plan your deployment. It explains the terminology, compares the deployment options, and describes the tools that are included with Office 365 Education.  (Note: you'll need to attend a Thursday Webcast and complete the pre-work, before attending a Wednesday Webcast).

We look forward to seeing you on the webcasts!

Are you looking to move to Office 365, but you’re not too sure on how?

Quest are offering a free webinar on Office 365 which provides an overview of the product and also the best approach to prepare and migrate from a legacy platform; ensuring that all your data remains confidential and secure.

The webinar will cover:

• An overview & demo of Office 365 for Education
• Best practice in migration to Office 365
• What benefits made customers decide to go with Office 365
• Project approach: Prepare, migrate, co-exist & manage
• Ensuring the security of your confidential data
• Migrating from legacy Microsoft Platforms
• Migrating from Notes or GroupWise
• Migrating from Google Mail
• Summary of best practices and recommendations
• Case Studies

This is a really useful webinar for any organisations who want to move to Office 365 for education from their current platform. It’s also beneficial for those who want to find the best method of migrating available to them and talk to experts who have helped existing customers through the process.

Check the date and register now.

Did you know that if your organisation has an Academic Agreement in place with Microsoft, you can have a subscription to the Microsoft IT Academy?

This is a global program what provides resources and curriculum for your institution to deliver inspiring and cutting edge technical courses and skills; and not just to students, but faculty and technical staff too.

For instance, in terms of Office 365 you have all of these resources available with the IT Academy programme:

A table showing the education materials and courses available to the organisation via IT Academy.

The Microsoft IT Academy provides one low cost curriculum for all students and staff; it’s comprised of 250 e-learning courses, practice tests, a library of over 500 e-reference books, lesson plans as well as a digital literacy curriculum. As part of the package, IT Academy also provides access to DreamSpark; which has free software for staff and students and includes programs like Visual Studio and Server 2012.

There are also academic discounts available on official courseware and certification licences. Recently, IT Academy has introduced an offer called Second Shot; this allows a student or staff member to retake an exam should fail the first time round.

As an organisation you would receive a Teacher Certification Start kits, which includes 10 Microsoft Office Specialist exam vouchers and 20 Microsoft Technical Associate exam vouchers; meaning a reduction in training costs, professional development opportunities and a chance to learn about different products entirely, permitting you to utilise them completely within your learning environment.

Microsoft is committed to delivering valuable resources that equip students with the best skill set, showing employers that they can stand out from the crowd. In this respect, Microsoft has been working in conjunction with the awarding body AQA, to ensure that its resources available in the IT Academy programme such as MTA, support CS and ICT GCSE courses; and if students follow up the learning with the certification it demonstrates to future employers that they have business ICT skills. The academic impact of a MOS certification can be extremely positive. From a recent Certiport study, 87% of student’s worldwide say they were able to complete assignments in less time and 60% of student’s worldwide are taking on more complex projects.

For information on pricing and to see how you can add ITA to your Academic Agreement please, view this presentation.