15 Best YouTube Channels to Learn Web Development From [Updated for 2020]

15 Best YouTube Channels to Learn Web Development From

As Written by: Marlon on creativeglobalideas.com
If you are looking for a career in web development or it is simply your area of interest it can be hard figuring out where to start from. You could go for a short course but that will cost you some money. Some courses are expensive than others. Why spend money when you can learn web development at your home? Yes, you can learn web development without ever leaving your house. You can watch tutorials on YouTube and gain web development skills. Here are the 15 best YouTube channels to learn web development from.

We've updated this article for 2020.

As time goes on and technology continues to innovate, the lines have blurred a bit when it comes to ownership between web developers and IT. With so many software platforms available and the rise of the digital marketing trend, marketers, in general, are being required to have more technical skillsets. But let's make sure we understand the differences when it comes to the role of a web developer and an IT specialist, such as a technical engineer.

Technical engineers are IT experts who design, install and maintain computer systems. Their role includes building, configuring, testing, troubleshooting, and maintaining all sorts of systems consisting of the IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, and networks.

Web developers are programmers and can be considered software engineers that build web applications.

Web development could be considered in some cases a very small part of IT. However, we deal with many clients that ask for both, and while our IT staff is amazing, we don't provide web development support. Many IT folks get asked about web development and vice versa for web developers. It's important that they are kept separate. Bottom line, don't bite off more than you can chew.

If we can help you with your IT needs, let us know.

Now that we understand the difference, here it is, the ultimate list of YouTube channels for web development.

PS - we saved the best for last so make sure to check them all out!

 

 

 

web development managed solution

15) Code-Course

This a great channel for beginners to learn the ropes. There are some great videos that will explain everything you need to know about making CSS and about PHP.

14) Dev Tips

On Dev Tips you get tutorials weekly about specific topics. The videos are in great detail and will help you to start from scratch. The creator also shares his own personal experiences which can be insightful for newcomers that have less experience.

13) Level up TUTS

This channel covers a wide range of topics from WordPress to JavaScript. It also covers design tutorials and using design and sketch applications. A new video is uploaded twice a week.

12) J-REAM

If you are looking for Programming tips and courses to learn from then this is the channel for you. You will get to learn a lot from this channel. This is a great channel for beginners as well as people that have had some experience with web development.

11) Learn Code-Academy

If you are serious about a career in web development then this YouTube channel will help you become a professional web developer.

10) Mackenzie Child

This channels covers various topics from coding and design to making web applications. You can learn about 12 different applications from blogs to PINTEREST.

9) Derek BANAS

You can find videos about programming in so many languages on this YouTube Channel. You can learn Dart Swift and Visual C here.

8) Starhere.fm

Besides all the rest of the things, the other channels above teach you this channel you give you tutorials on prototyping and wireframes.

7) TUTS+ Web Design

TUTS+ provides a wide array of useful tutorial videos for becoming a professional web developer. This channel covers a variety of topics from the basic to the pro level. You can get it all here.

6) Adam KHOURY

This channel will help you master SQL, PHP and CSS.

5) Coder’s Guide

This guide will teach you about coding. You can start simple and climb the ladder to more advanced courses.

4) Brad Hussy

This channel features courses on coding, CSS, PHP and how to make your own website. You can also learn how to become a great freelancer and earn some money with the skills that you have learned.

3) Google Chrome Developer

This channel will explain the fundamentals and how to use web applications. On this channel you can learn about Google Polymer.

2) Google Web Designer

This channel will tell you all there is to using the Google web designer tools. Something you should learn if you are looking to be a great web developer.

1) CSS Tricks

As the name tells you this channel is about CSS tricks. You can also learn about WordPress and responsive designs.
These were the 16 best YouTube channels to learn web development from. If you are looking to make a name for yourself in the web development world and do not know where to start then this is where you should be headed.

 

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How Keiser University is transforming its business with the cloud

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As written on enterprise.microsoft.com

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It’s 7:00 a.m. on the first day of a new academic session, and the servers at Keiser University are running at full power as students, faculty, and staff ramp up for a new month of learning. Twelve hours from now, the peak will drop for the evening, and some of those servers will shut down, saving the university thousands of dollars. A few days from now as students settle into their new routines, activity will drop during the daytime, too, so the system can run efficiently on even fewer servers.
Fortunately for the IT department, the system reboots, cranks through the data, and keeps everyone running at full speed all on its own, leaving IT staff with more time to be creative. In fact, today, Associate Vice Chancellor of IT Andrew Lee and his team are focusing on a paperless financial aid system. The ability to test new applications without the upfront capital needed for a traditional on-premises environment allows Keiser to stay on the leading edge of technology while saving the university precious time and funds.

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As Associate Vice Chancellor of IT at Keiser University, Andrew Lee handles everything that has to do with digital technology, ensuring that teachers and students have the tools and tech they need every day. When he joined Keiser 18 years ago, the IT department consisted of just two people serving five schools and 1,500 students.
Today, the university has 31 locations and close to 20,000 students. Andrew’s goal is to keep the school as “state of the art” as possible as it grows. He constantly looks for new technology that will help him do that while staying within budget.

Migrating an entire datacenter to Azure

Eighteen years ago, the university’s data was stored in a physical datacenter where the school owned the hardware. After transitioning to a “sort of” cloud, as Andrew describes it, where the hardware was leased and some of the infrastructure was paid for, he began looking at a full cloud solution.
“Everything was on the chopping block, and moving to the cloud just made sense,” Andrew says.
Microsoft Azure offered scalability and the ability to change on the fly. That sparked a fire in Andrew and his IT team, and now they’re moving the entire datacenter into Azure. With the new pay-as-you-go model, they don’t need up-front capital, and they have exactly as much as they need at any given time.
“It used to be that if we needed more storage, we had to lay out more capital expense. In Azure, we just log in and those resources are up and running within hours.” It’s a welcome change from the days of a physical datacenter with AT&T hosting. “Back then, we paid $35 – $40k every month. In Azure, I’ll have resources and servers that outshine anything we had there, and pay $5-10k less a month.”

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Without the restrictions inherent in a traditional system, Andrew and his team can be much more creative without breaking the budget. New ideas and projects can be tested and deployed without the red tape, and that means faculty can dream up new ways to educate their students, and those dreams can turn into reality much quicker.
“We’ve effectively gone from an old jalopy to an Italian sports car,” Andrew says.
With 2 million personal records, ensuring security is critical. And when it comes to compliance, Azure offers the ability to back up as much data as necessary for as long as it’s needed.
“In Azure, compliance is a no-brainer, and when you need more storage, you simply add it,” Andrew says.
Beyond Azure, Keiser University has migrated to Office 365 and is beginning to use more of the tools at their disposal. Staff and students who prefer to use their own devices on campus can quickly and securely connect to the school’s systems with Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), and servers are secured, updated and patched with Microsoft Intune. Phishing attacks are the most common cyberthreat on campus, but by leveraging Active Directory, the IT department can help make sure accounts stay secure.

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Empowering educators and administrators to focus on what matters

For now, faculty, staff, and students are in the learning curve phase. Everyone has access to Office 365, and many are using OneNote and OneDrive to share documents and collaborate. Andrew’s IT department is doing the heavy lifting, migrating servers, data, and email to the cloud. Next up will be training and demo days to show faculty and staff all the tools that are readily available.
For educational institutions looking into a cloud solution, Andrew advises that it boils down to where you want to put your resources.
“In a cloud scenario, I’m out of the hardware business. After 18 years in this position, the thing that’s always caused the problems is hardware,” Andrew says. “Controller cards, fans, CPUs. Those are the things that come crashing down. With Azure, they’re a non-issue. All that redundancy is already there.”

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The best part? “No phone calls at 8 a.m. on a Sunday.” Andrew and his IT team sleep better at night knowing that the hardware pieces that tend to bring the system down go away. And that means they’re able to focus on being more of a partner in delivering technology so that faculty, staff, and students can get exactly what they need to do their work quickly and efficiently.

What’s next?

Andrew’s vision for the university is one where faculty and staff can register their own devices and have quick access to the resources and software they need, safely and securely, without even involving the IT department, or needing their support. Which will free up the IT team to continue looking for ways to use technology to continue simplifying resources, delivering new solutions, and lowering costs.

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For Andrew, the light bulb moment was realizing that, with Azure, his team could stand up a demo environment and throw hardware at it, acknowledging the pitfalls and configuring it—all in one day–saving time and money in the deployment stage. Andrew fully optimizes Keiser University’s cloud investment, and he’s leveraging the fact that he can ride the wave of resource needs instead of keeping everything at 100% and waiting for ebbs and flows.
Microsoft is proud to partner with Andrew and Keiser University to keep up with the pace of change in their digital transformation journey.

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Updated portal and new languages for Microsoft Forms

Updated portal and new languages for Microsoft Forms

As written on blogs.office.com
Today, we’re introducing several updates to Microsoft Forms, including improvements to the Forms portal, more languages and right-to-left reading support.

Microsoft Forms portal improvements

We are introducing significant improvements to the Forms portal page. With the new design, users will see a snapshot of each form, which includes the form title, background image and number of responses. The new search box, on the upper right corner, will help users quickly find a form either by its title or owner’s name.

Image shows an updated Forms portal page, displaying snapshots of each form and the new search box.

Updated Forms portal page.

Image shows a Forms portal page with the search results for forms with “quiz” in the title.

Search in Forms portal page.

More languages and right-to-left reading support

With this update, we’re introducing 26 new languages to Forms—bringing the total to 68 languages. We are also enabling RTL (right-to-left) reading support for Hebrew and Arabic users, so users can create and respond to forms, as well as view forms results.

Image shows a form using right-to-left reading support.

Forms RTL (right-to-left) reading support.

Create your own form or quiz

Educators can easily create a new form or quiz, add questions, customize settings, share their forms and check on the results. Just follow these simple steps:
  1. Sign in and create a new survey form or quiz form.
  2. Adjust the settings for the form.
  3. Share the form with others.
  4. Check the form results.

Learn more about using Forms

To learn more, see Copy a form, Delete a form, Share a form or quiz as a template and Share a form to collaborate. Many other top tasks and answers can be found on the What is Microsoft Forms? page, and on the Forms FAQs.
Also, read “Individualizing instruction with the new Microsoft Forms” by Laura Stanner, Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Expert.

Modern classroom collaboration with Office 365 for Education

Modern classroom collaboration with Office 365 for Education

By Kirk Koenigsbauer as written on blogs.office.com
At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We believe that education unlocks potential and that technology can play a decisive role in helping the students of today create the world of tomorrow. At our event in New York City earlier today, we announced a set of new strategic investments in education, including exciting new innovations in Office 365 for Education and a preview of Office in the Microsoft Store for Education.
New innovations in Office 365 for Education
With more than 100 million active users, Office 365 empowers individuals, teams and entire organizations to communicate and collaborate. Office 365 for Education builds on this foundation and adds education-specific innovations like the OneNote Class Notebook and Learning Tools—creating the most complete, intelligent and secure service for teaching and learning. It offers the broadest and deepest toolkit for content creation, personalized learning and modern classroom collaboration. And best of all, Office 365 for Education is free for students and teachers!
In March, we released Microsoft Teams, a chat-based workspace, as the newest addition to Office 365. And at our event earlier today, we introduced new classroom experiences in Teams—new features that make Teams in Office 365 for Education the digital hub for teachers and students. These new innovations are in limited preview today and will be broadly available this summer.

The new classroom experiences in Teams will help teachers manage their daily workflow more easily than ever before. Using Teams, they can quickly and efficiently create classes with automatically populated student rosters from their school information system; share files and teaching materials; make announcements; divide the class into project groups and monitor progress; create, distribute and grade quizzes; deliver personalized learning with OneNote Class Notebooks; and distribute, collect and grade assignments. And because Teams is a digital hub, students can work together anytime, anywhere, and on any device; teachers can connect with their peers and continue their own development in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs); and school administrators can communicate and collaborate with their entire staff.
Modern-classroom-collaboration-with-Office-365-for-Education-1
Even more exciting, the new classroom experiences will also help prepare students for the future. Anthony Newbold, principal at Bear Creek Middle School in Fairburn, Georgia, is an early adopter of Teams and helped us demonstrate the value of these new capabilities for teachers and students at our event this morning. He observed, “These new features do more than just simplify routine tasks. They also help students develop the communication and collaboration skills they’ll need to be successful in the future.” Word, Excel and PowerPoint Online already allow students to co-author documents in real time. But the rich, persistent conversation experience in Teams takes classroom collaboration to a whole new level. This running class discussion allows everyone to read, contribute and learn at their own pace—in class or at home. And moderation controls allow a teacher to easily delete a message, mute a student or pause the conversation. Teams conversations can include just about anything students need to work together, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents; OneNote notebooks; and Planner for group projects. And with just one click, the text-based discussion springs to life with voice and video—making it the ultimate collaboration experience.

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Teams gets even better with partners, and today, we’re announcing four new integrations from education tech leaders busuu, Canvas, Flipgrid and Kahoot!. From directly within Teams, teachers can now help students learn a language with the busuu quizbot; access all their information and tools in Canvas; add video discussions with Flipgrid; and easily create and share Kahoot! learning games. All four integrations will be available this summer, and we’re committed to bringing more partners on board before the beginning of the next school year.
A preview of Office in the Microsoft Store for Education
Also at our event earlier today, Terry Myerson introduced Windows 10 S, a new Windows experience streamlined for security, simplicity and superior performance in the classroom. We’re pleased to announce a preview of Office in the Microsoft Store for Education starting in June—so teachers and students can enjoy the power of the full-featured Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps on Windows 10 S devices.
This preview of Office contains the Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps you know and trust, now delivered and updated from the Microsoft Store for Education. There are some differences in the apps that are worth calling out. The apps delivered from the Store will use new Store-based install and update technology; the apps will only be available in 32-bit format; and while web add-ins are fully supported, Office COM add-ins aren’t supported on Windows 10 S. The preview period will allow us to make sure things are running smoothly before we make Office in the Microsoft Store for Education generally available later this calendar year, and the apps will automatically be updated by the Store at that time. Additionally, it’s important to note that OneNote is already available in the Store today and the Teams app will be available in the Store in the third quarter of 2017.
Schools can install the preview on devices using the Set Up School PCs app or Microsoft Intune for Education. The preview will also be available for consumers through the Windows Store and can be activated on a Windows 10 S device with an Office 365 subscription.
We live in exciting times, and the pace of change can be breathtaking. With our new investments in education, we’re empowering the students of today to create the world of tomorrow. The new classroom experiences in Teams will not only help teachers manage their daily workflow more easily than ever before, they’ll also help students develop the communication and collaboration skills they’ll need to be successful in the future. And Windows 10 S will open a new world of possibilities in education. Combined with the power of Teams, OneNote and the full-featured Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps delivered from the Store, this new Windows experience will offer an affordable and easy-to-manage learning platform—inspired by teachers and students and streamlined for performance and simplicity.

 

Microsoft creates a physical programming language inclusive of visually impaired children

project torino - managed solution

Microsoft creates a physical programming language inclusive of visually impaired children

As written on blogs.microsoft.com
These days, most kids get their first introduction to coding through simplified tools that let them drag and drop blocks of commands, creating programs that can do things like navigate mazes or speed through space.
A team of Microsoft researchers and designers in the company’s Cambridge, UK, lab is taking that concept one step further. The team has created what they are calling a physical programming language. It’s a way for kids to physically create code by connecting pods together to build programs.
The system, called Project Torino, is designed to make sure that kids who have visual impairments or other challenges can participate in coding classes along with all their classmates. But Cecily Morrison, one of the researchers working on the project, is hoping the system also will be appealing and useful for all learners, regardless of whether they have visual impairments or other challenges.
“One of our key design principles was inclusion. We didn’t want to isolate these kids again,” she said. “The idea was to create something that a whole mainstream class could use, and they could use together.”
The ultimate goal is even more ambitious: To get more kids with visual impairments and other challenges, such as dyslexia or autism, on the path to becoming software engineers and computer scientists.
“It’s clear that there’s a huge opportunity in professional computing jobs,” Morrison said. “This is a great career for a lot of kids who might have difficulty accessing other careers.”
A project like this can serve two goals: Technology companies say they are struggling with a “digital skills gap” that is leaving them without enough engineers and coders to meet their needs, and experts say it can be difficult for visually impaired people to find meaningful, accessible career paths.
The World Health Organization estimates that 285 million people worldwide are blind or visually impaired, and the vast majority of those people live in low-income settings. In the United Kingdom alone, the Royal National Institute of Blind People says only one in four working age adults who are blind or partially sighted are doing paid work.
Steve Tyler, head of solutions, strategy and planning for the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which is working with Morrison on the project, said coding has often been thought of as a promising career path for people with visual impairments. In recent years, however, computer science has come to rely much more on pictorial, graphical and conceptual coding methods, making it harder for kids with visual impairments to get exposed to the field.
Tyler said systems like Project Torino could help provide that path.
“This, for us, was a core reason for running with a project like this and supporting it,” Tyler said.
Tyler, who has a background in education, also said there is currently a woeful lack of resources for visually impaired children who have an interest in coding or more generally are ready for an introduction to mathematical and strategic thinking. That’s a huge problem because a child’s first introduction to these concepts can be a make or break moment for whether they end up being interested in pursuing a career in those types of fields.
Traditionally, Tyler said teachers have used chess to teach those kinds of strategic concepts to visually impaired children.
“I see this project a little bit like that,” he said. “It brings to life, in a 21st century way, that kind of ability to teach children these new concepts.”

From left, Louisa Turtill, 9, and Khadijah Pinto Atkin, also 9, use Project Torino. The physical programming language is being designed with the help of children to make sure it is inclusive of their needs. Photo by Jonathan Banks.

From left, Louisa Turtill, 9, and Khadijah Pinto Atkin, also 9, use Project Torino. The physical programming language is being designed with the help of children to make sure it is inclusive of their needs. Photo by Jonathan Banks.
The Microsoft team has spent the last year or so testing the system with a small group of about a dozen students. Nicolas Villar, a senior researcher in the UK lab who was instrumental in designing Project Torino, said one of the unexpected pleasures of the project is the opportunity to work with kids who have a very different way of experiencing the world.
For example, he said, the team originally made the pods all white, until the kids with limited vision told them that more colors would help them. And although in electronics there’s often a push to make things as small as possible, with this project they found the kids were more engaged when the pods were larger, in part because two kids working together would often both physically hold the pod and touch hands as part of that teamwork.
“We really honestly designed it with them. It was a collaboration,” Villar said of working with the group of kids. “We thought we were going to be doing something for them but we ended up designing with them.”
Now, they are working with RNIB to do an expanded beta trial of about 100 students. The researchers and the RNIB will be recruiting potential participants for the trial in mid-March at the VIEW conference for educators in the United Kingdom who work with visually impaired children.
For now, the beta is focused only on the UK, which has spearheaded a massive effort to get more kids interesting in coding. Eventually, they hope to make it more broadly available to teachers and students outside of the UK.

A lesson in computational thinking


Project Torino is geared toward kids age 7 to 11. Using the coding tools, students can do things like make songs, even incorporating silly noises, poetry and sounds they create themselves.
As they build their code, Morrison said they learn the kind of programming concepts that will lead to careers in computer science or related fields.
“It is very specifically about building up concepts that will enable them to become computer scientists, programmers, software engineers, computational thinkers,” she said. “It gives them that computational base to whatever direction they go, and a shared vocabulary about what computing is.”
Morrison and her colleagues also have created a curriculum for teachers who want to use Project Torino. She said the teachers do not need to have a computer science background to use the curriculum – in fact, they assume that most teachers will not have any expertise in coding.
The system also is designed to grow with kids. Once they have mastered the physical programming language, Morrison said they also have created an app that allows kids to transfer the coding they have done with the physical system into text-based code, and then use other assistive technologies to continue coding.
“We’re mapping a pathway from the physical to something that a professional software engineer could use,” she said.

 

OneNote Class Notebook add-in now includes grade scales, improved LMS integration and sticker customization

onenote for classroom updates - managed solution

OneNote Class Notebook add-in now includes grade scales, improved LMS integration and sticker customization

 As written on blogs.office.com
Since launching the OneNote Class Notebook add-in a year ago, hundreds of thousands of teachers have downloaded and started using the add-in. Teachers all over the world have saved time in distributing assignments, individualizing learning, connecting to their existing systems’ assignments/grades and reviewing student work all within Class Notebooks.
First-grade teacher at the Ashton Elementary School, Rachel Montisano, said, “Now, with two clicks, I can send out all the tabs/pages I created or wanted to share with the students. Truly remarkable! Microsoft had just given me a tool that made me an even more effective teacher and gave me time back!”
Today’s updates for the Class Notebook add-in for OneNote desktop update include:

Grade scale support for Canvas and Skooler

Last spring, we released Assignment and Grade integration for the OneNote Class Notebook. A top request from teachers and schools using Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Student Information Systems (SIS) has been to support additional assignment values beyond just 1-100 points. Many LMS and SIS have richer grade scales—such as custom points, letter grades, pass/fail, percentages—and teachers want to be able to have more flexibility in the assignments they create.
Today, we are releasing the initial updates to allow grade scale support, depending on the LMS or SIS being used. The first two partners that support grades scales are Canvas and Skooler. The Class Notebook add-in will support different grade scales, based on what the specific LMS or SIS supports.
In the example below, a teacher can choose a “Letter Grade” type when creating the assignment, and the assignment will be created in Canvas with that attribute. When the teacher goes to enter grades under the Review Student Work choice, a letter grade can be entered.
Example of grade scale support in Canvas.

Skooler joins the OneNote add-in family

Today, we welcome Skooler to the Class Notebook add-in family for assignment and grade support. Watch the Getting Started with Skooler video to learn more. As mentioned above, our Skooler integration will also add grade scale support.
To see the current list of committed education partners, please visit our new OneNote Education Partners page.

Stickers—now includes the ability to customize

Last month, we announced the arrival of stickers for OneNote Online and Windows 10. Today, the Class Notebook add-in for OneNote 2013 and OneNote 2016 for the desktop includes stickers, including the ability to customize them. To add a sticker to your page, check the Insert menu after you install the latest version of the add-in. We will release more sticker packs in the future—based on student and teacher feedback—so stay tuned!
OneNote Class Notebook add-in updates 2
Customizable stickers in OneNote desktop.
Since the school year started, we’ve been making improvements to the Class Notebook add-in for OneNote on the desktop. To update your OneNote Class Notebook add-in, just click the Update button on your toolbar to download and install the latest version. If you’ve never installed the Class Notebook add-in, you can get it from the OneNote Class Notebook website.

What the coming educational VR revolution teaches us about the tech’s future

Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) juvenile in water, over-under scene, Muskoka near Rosseau, Ontario, Canada.

What the coming educational VR revolution teaches us about the tech’s future

By Pete Sena as written on techcrunch.com
Imagine the following scenario: A fifth-grade science class has just begun and the teacher makes a surprise announcement — today the students will be dissecting a frog.
I’m sure you remember dissecting a frog as a kid — the sour-pickle odor of formaldehyde, the sharp scalpels slicing into rubbery skin. You don’t have to be an animal rights activist to grimace a bit thinking about it.
But here comes the paradox. In this scenario, like-minded fifth-graders who are queasy about cutting open animals are excited to participate in this dissection. Indeed, no animal was harmed when the specimens were collected. What’s more, the teacher promises the students that they won’t have to clean up a messy station afterward.
How? Thanks to the paradigm-shifting creations of zSpace, an educational VR/AR company, students can harmlessly dissect an animal on an interactive screen known as the zSpace 200. Students wear a special pair of glasses equipped with sensors and use a stylus that allows them to engage with a virtual image that can be turned or even disassembled.
By importing VR/AR into the classroom, one minute students can explore the anatomy and organs of an animal without harming it, and the very next build and test circuits or set up experiments that test Newton’s laws.
For young students who have been inundated by tech in almost every other domain of their lives, this form of learning comes naturally.
“Kids say, ‘Well of course it should be like this.’ They believe they should be able to reach into a screen, grab something, pull it out, and interact with it,” said Dave Chavez, chief technology officer of zSpace.
While VR is often discussed as a gaming technology, the gaming applications of VR are simply the first wave in a sequence that will profoundly shape the way we experience content over the next five years. Educational startups have been working on VR material for classrooms ranging from kindergarten through medical school. Current estimates project that the global edtech market will reach $252 billion by 2020; VR will capture a big chunk of this pie.

The next step in the democratization of knowledge is VR.

As for parents (and the rest of us), we continue to adopt the tech slowly. In 2016, only 6 percent of Americans will own a VR headset. While this can be attributed to cost and other barriers to entry that are being knocked down as the technology evolves, learning more about how VR is being used to reshape student engagement and communication teaches us more about how it will soon shape our digital experiences by serving as a conduit for previously impossible connections.
“Virtual reality puts people first,” said Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg after his recent demo onstage at Oculus’ Connect Conference. “It’s all about who you’re with. Once you’re in there, you can do anything you want together — travel to Mars, play games, fight with swords, watch movies or teleport home to see your family. You have an environment where you can experience anything.”

The democratization of experiences

Throughout history, monumental developments have expanded society’s access to education. In the early first millennium BCE, the first written alphabets appeared and provided an easy medium for recording information relevant to the common good, whether it be a religious text or a business transaction.
The following centuries witnessed the creation of books and libraries, which then allowed for written content to be stored and accessed by more than just the super-wealthy.
Johannes Guttenberg’s invention of the moveable-type printing press in the 1450s made it even cheaper and more efficient to publish and purchase books on subjects like philosophy, mathematics and commerce. In the 20th century, the computer and internet transformed educational access more than any other past advancement, democratizing the world’s collective knowledge to anyone with a connection.

A student’s capacity to discover and learn will no longer be limited to the environment around them.

The next step in the democratization of knowledge is VR. This emerging educational platform will make it possible for students to virtually visit museums in other continents, communicate in virtual learning spaces with fellow students in Johannesburg, Beijing or Sydney or attend a lecture at a prestigious university thousands of miles away. It can not be overstated how important this is for the future of education — a student’s capacity to discover and learn will no longer be limited to the environment around them.
From a UNICEF Teacher’s Handbook based on facilitating the education of children around the world:

“Children learn best from experience. Children learn by doing, using their senses, exploring their environment of people, things, places and events. They learn from first-hand and concrete experiences as well as vicarious forms of experiences. Children do not learn as effectively when they are passive. Active engagement with things and ideas promotes mental activity that helps students retain new learning and integrate it with what they already know. If it is not possible to always provide concrete, first-hand experiences for the student, efforts must always be exerted so that the student will be able to understand the concept in a clear and concrete way.”

With educational VR, it will always be possible to provide concrete first-hand experiences. While the current cost of adoption is too high for VR to reach under-funded schools, it will eventually decrease, as is almost always the case with new technologies. In the time that it takes, I’d bet the world becomes a fully connected place.
The internet democratized knowledge, VR will democratize experiences. It will continue to shrink an increasingly globalized world and facilitate better communication and collaboration across physical spaces. It will be the next innovation in the transmission of knowledge that not only shapes how we learn, but how we conduct business and maintain relationships with our friends, family and like-minded people, wherever they may be.

How VR enhances communication and collaboration

Increasingly, the success of businesses hinges on their ability to communicate and collaborate.
VR is the perfect medium for achieving these ends. Because VR will become a more and more integral part of the business world, the earlier students are exposed to non-gaming uses of VR, the more prepared they will be to interact in the virtual work spaces of tomorrow.
Some students learn best by hearing, others by seeing. With VR, you get the best of both. Educational visionaries that develop educational VR hardware and software are not just improving learning; they are rethinking it altogether.
One of the features that distinguishes the aforementioned zSpace 200 from other VR educational technologies is that students can easily collaborate and speak with one another while using their VR computer.
“The most profound thing I’ve ever heard a teacher say is that many technologies build a barrier between us and the kids but this seems not to,” said Chavez.

Far too often, VR is mistaken to be a solitary, lonely experience.

But even VR platforms that place the user in virtual worlds are not necessarily isolating experiences. Immersive VR Education, a developer headquartered in Ireland, has created a social learning platform called Engage. Engage gives educators the tools to create their own lessons and immersive experiences, all without needing to commit a line of code. Inside these immersive lessons, teachers and students can connect and use collaborative tools like an interactive whiteboard.
“In virtual reality when the avatar is two feet away from you, it really feels like they are two feet away from you,” said David Whelan, CEO of Immersive VR Education.
Whether inside the Coliseum or a hospital ER room, Engage allows educators to transport their classroom to wherever it is most relevant to the students.
“People learn best through experiences or doing tasks themselves. So if you are teaching, say, Aircraft maintenance and you are working on a Boeing engine. [In VR] You can bring in an engine, you can bring in parts, and have 4 or 5 students come in and collaborate in the virtual space. You [the educator] can say, ‘Alright guys you have 45 minutes to put this engine together and the students can lift parts that may weigh 4 or 5 tons, and manipulate them quite easily,” said Whelan.
For now, apps like this are primarily designed to shift how students and teachers interact in today’s learning spaces. In the future, educational work spaces such as Engage lecture halls will double as business boardrooms or co-working spaces for creative problem-solving.
Far too often, VR is mistaken to be a solitary, lonely experience — as a technology for play that enables escapists to further isolate themselves in a digitally created world. But this could not be further from the truth. Indeed, Facebook has invested so heavily into VR because their company’s vision is to connect the world.
“This is really a new communication platform,” said Zuckerberg after acquiring Oculus. “By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.”

The challenges facing educational VR in the U.S.

Much of the material VR companies are innovating for classes will not be purchased for personal use but by school districts, colleges and universities. The price for the hardware and software will not be cheap. For example, the Oculus Rift retails for $599.99 at Best Buy. Persuading these constituents to adopt VR/AR will be a challenge.
Marketing will be critical for getting constituents to adopt VR in schools and higher education. VR edtech companies will need to develop innovative marketing strategies that drive educational organizations to invest in VR. The impediments facing the adoption of VR edtech are similar to those VR faces in being adopted in other domains. Once parents see the upside of educational VR, they will become more comfortable with VR enhancing other forms of communication and its application in other work spaces.

VR educational companies will need to get creative not just when it comes to promoting VR to educators but also speaking with local and state politicians.

Convincing early adopters to buy into educational VR systems like zSpace and Immersive will be critical for its spread.
To give an example, one of zSpace’s biggest challenges is simply to get people to see it. Once young kids see it, they are enamored.
“I’ve seen a kid run out to the curb and yank his mom out of the car…and tell her ‘Mom, look at this! Look at what I did!’ It makes me want to tear up,” said Chavez.
“A lot people see VR as a gaming or entertainment peripheral, so the biggest challenge is getting educators who have been teaching lessons the same way for years and years to change their mindset,” said Whelan. “We have to convince them that it isn’t just a new way of providing the same old content, this a completely new way of teaching.”
Especially during this time when state legislatures are gutting educational budgets, VR educational companies will need to get creative not just when it comes to promoting VR to educators but also speaking with local and state politicians. This latter group must be persuaded that educational VR is worth the price. To persuade them, educational VR firms need to get in front of parents, students, teachers, administrators and political leaders. Educational VR innovators must convince them that the windfall warrants the upfront investment.

The next horizon in VR education

Where will educational VR head next? One possibility is that museums will begin to use 360-degree cameras and transform their collections and elaborate corridors into material that students all over the world can interact with by wearing an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Imagine a sixth-grade student in rural Arkansas putting on a VR headset in his social studies class. The teacher tells the class, “Today we are going to visit one of the greatest art collections in the world, the Louvre.” The app then transports the student to the gallery that houses Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
What would normally cost several thousand dollars and constitute a luxury trip that most American students could only dream of can become an immersive, interactive component of the students’ curriculum.
These virtual spaces will consist of customized avatars that can express features ranging from happy to confused. It won’t be long before a fourth-grade class in Newark, New Jersey will be able to go on a virtual school trip to the British Museum with a class of fourth graders from Kyoto, Japan. While the kids are on the virtual school trip, their parents can attend to their VR business meetings.
You may think this sounds like sci-fi, but 10 years from now this futuristic school trip to the Louvre may seem like the Atari of VR.
“I’m old enough to remember when computers came into schools first in the late 80s and early 90s. They sat there for years gathering dust because teachers didn’t want to touch them,” said Whelan. “But just like computers, VR will creep its way into education. In fact, I believe it will be adopted much sooner because people my age are teachers and accustomed to the rapid change of technology.”
Whelan also points out that VR set-ups are actually much cheaper than early PCs.
“When PCs first came out they were two or three thousand dollars, now you can get a really decent VR headset connected to a PlayStation for under 800 dollars, and the technology is just going to become cheaper.”
VR will be the next link in the sequence that has witnessed the human urge to connect and enhance communication stretching back several thousand years. It is a reimagination of what education can become and it will prepare students for a connected future of democratized virtual experiences and global communication and collaboration.

Try it out: Windows 10 in the classroom

Try it out: Windows 10 in the classroom

As written on technet.microsoft.com
Are you an educator? If so, use this guide to learn how to use the Windows 10 operating system in your classroom. Discover how to personalize devices running Windows 10 for use in the classroom and use the built-in apps to make learning more productive and effective. The advanced user features in Windows 10 help you run and manage apps in your classroom to achieve your learning objectives more easily than other operating systems and even previous versions of Windows.

Review the lab environment

There is an online lab environment that you can use to perform the exercises in this lab. This lab environment contains all the virtual machines, users, and files that you need to complete these exercises. You can use this lab environment without charge and it is available online at all times.
Perform the following steps to access the lab environment online:
  1. In Microsoft Edge or Microsoft Internet Explorer, browse to TechNet Virtual Lab: Teacher Try-It-Out.
      Note: If you are already signed in using your Microsoft account on Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer, then you can go to step
  2. On the TechNet Virtual Labs page, click Sign In.
  3. On the Sign in page, enter your Microsoft account and corresponding password, and then click Sign in.
  4. On the TechNet Virtual Labs page, click Launch Lab. TechNet Virtual Labs builds the lab environment and displays the lab environment once completed as shown in Figure 1.

windows-10-education-managed-solution

The Content tab (as shown in Figure 1) contains the step-by-step instructions for completing the lab exercises.

The Machines tab (as shown in Figure 2) contains the list of virtual machines that you will use in the lab exercises.

windows-10-education-2-managed-solution

The Support tab (as shown in Figure 3) in the lab environment lists information about the lab environment and provides access to frequently asked questions about the lab interface.

windows-10-education-3-managed-solution

Sign in to, and personalize, Windows 10

So, you just received your new Windows 10 device. What's the first thing you'll do? Sign in. In this section, you learn how to configure your Windows 10 sign-in experience and customize it for yourself or your students.

Configure sign-in

You can sign in to Windows 10 by using a traditional password, a PIN, a picture password, or the facial-recognition capabilities in Windows Hello.

Use a PIN to sign in to Windows 10 instead of your password (similar to the PIN or password you use on your mobile device). Or, use Windows Hello, which allows a Windows 10 device to recognize you through digital imaging, such as Kinect for Windows or the Intel RealSense sensor. (Note that because no such device exists in this virtual environment, the Windows Hello feature will be disabled, even if you define a PIN.)

Windows Hello integrates with Microsoft Passport to allow other software to leverage the Windows Hello sign-in page. For example, a public website could use Microsoft Passport to authenticate a user who signed in through Windows Hello.

Finally, you can set up a picture password instead of a traditional password. With this feature, you define gestures on a picture that you can use to uniquely identify yourself.

Perform the following steps on the WIN10 virtual machine (VM) signed in as Lori Penor with a password of Passw0rd:

  1. Click Start (as shown in Figure 4), and then click Settings.

windows-10-education-4-managed-solution

 

  1. In SETTINGS, click Accounts.
  2. In ACCOUNTS, click Sign-in options.
  3. Review the options, specifically, the Passwordoption, which allows you to change your password.
  4. Under PIN, click Add.
  5. In First, verify your account password, in Password, type Passw0rd, and then click OK.
  6. In the Set up a PIN dialog box, in New PIN and Confirm PIN, type 1234, and then click OK.
  7. Under Picture password, click Add.
  8. In Create a picture password, in Password, type Passw0rd, and then click OK.
  9. In Welcome to picture password, click Choose picture.
  10. In the Open dialog box, go to Pictures, click PicturePassword, and then click Open.
  11. In How's this look, click Use this picture.
  12. In Set up your gestures, select the three gestures that you will use as your picture password. The simplest gesture is to use three mouse clicks (or touches) on the tips of three of the flower petals (as illustrated in Figure 5).Location of gestures on a picture password
    Figure 5. Location of gestures on a picture password
  13. In Confirm your gestures, repeat the three gestures that you just selected (as shown in Figure 5).
  14. In Congratulations, click Finish.
  15. Close Settings.
  16. On the Start menu, click Lori Penor, and then click Sign out (as shown in Figure 6).Location of an account
    Figure 6. Location of the Lori Penor account on the Start menu
  17. Sign in as Lori Penor by using the gestures you created.
    note icon Note: If you are unable to sign in with the picture password, you can still sign in by using Lori Penor with a password of Passw0rd.
  18. Personalize the lock screen and account pictures

In Windows 10, you can personalize the lock screen to show app status and provide essential information, even when the device is locked. This information is similar to the notifications you see on a Windows Phone device's lock screen. You can also add a picture to your account, which helps identify you as the owner of the device.

Perform the following steps to personalize the lock screen and account pictures:

  1. On the Start menu, click Settings.
  2. In SETTINGS, double-click Personalization, and then click Lock screen.
  3. Under Choose an app to show detailed status, click the plus sign (+), and then click Calendar (as shown in Figure 7).Lock screen settings
    Figure 7. Lock screen settings
  4. Under Choose apps to show quick status, click the second plus sign (+), and then click Mail.
  5. Under Choose apps to show quick status, click the third plus sign (+), and then click Alarms and Clock.
  6. In Settings, click back (as shown in Figure 8), and then click Accounts.Back button
    Figure 8. Back button in Settings
  7. In Accounts, click Your account.
  8. In Your account, under Your picture, click Browse.
  9. In the Open dialog box, go to Pictures, click LoriPenorPicture, and then click Choose picture. The picture for Lori Penor is displayed.
  10. Close Settings.

Explore Microsoft Edge

One of the important new Windows 10 features is Microsoft Edge, a web browser that provides an enhanced user experience over other web browsers, allowing you to take notes by using your finger, stylus, or mouse and keyboard on web pages. You can save your notes, and then look at them anytime. You can also share your notes with other users.

Microsoft Edge builds on the reading features found in Internet Explorer by providing Reading view, which allows you to view web pages in an easy-to-read format. Microsoft Edge also allows you to create a reading list, where you can identify web content that you want to read in the future. In addition, Microsoft Edge is the default PDF reader in Windows 10.

note icon Note: You can determine the name of a Microsoft Edge icon by hovering the mouse pointer over the icon or right-clicking the icon (as shown in Figure 9).

Microsoft Edge icon hover
Figure 9. In Microsoft Edge, hover over or right-click an icon to see its name.

Figure 10 identifies the icons on the menu bar in Microsoft Edge. Use Figure 10 as you perform these tasks to help identify the icons.

Microsoft Edge menu bar icon names
Figure 10. Microsoft Edge menu bar icon names

Explore note taking in Microsoft Edge

In Microsoft Edge, you can make notes on any web page displayed in the browser by using your finger or a stylus on touch devices or a mouse and keyboard on non-touch devices. You can then share these notes with other teachers or students.

Perform the following steps to explore note taking in Microsoft Edge:

  1. On the taskbar, click Microsoft Edge.
  2. In Microsoft Edge, on the menu bar, click Hub, click Favorites, and then click Microsoft Edge - The Browser for Doing (as shown in Figure 11).Microsoft Edge Hub and Favorites
    Figure 11. Microsoft Edge Hub and Favorites.
  3. On the menu bar, click Make a Web Note.The Make a Web Note menu opens, as shown in Figure 12.Make a Web Note menu
    Figure 12. The Make a Web Note menu in Microsoft Edge
  4. On the Make a Web Note menu, click Pen.
  5. On the web page, click and drag the pen to draw a circle around the Introducing Microsoft Edge heading, as shown in Figure 13.
  6. On the Make a Web Note menu, click Highlighter.
  7. On the web page, click and drag the highlighter to highlight The brand new browser for doing text, as shown in Figure 13.
  8. On the Make a Web Note menu, click Add a typed note.
  9. On the web page, click next to the Introducing Microsoft Edge heading to create an empty note (as shown in Figure 13).
  10. In the note, type Need to increase the font for this heading, as shown in Figure 13.Web page with notes
    Figure 13. Web page with notes
  11. On the web page, click next to the coffee cup in the picture.
  12. In the note, click Delete (the trash can icon).
  13. On the Make a Web Note menu, click Eraser.
  14. On the web page, click the highlighting to remove it from The brand new browser for doing.
  15. From the Make a Web Note menu, click Save Web Note.
  16. In Name, type Notes on Microsoft Edge home page, and then click Add.
  17. From the Make a Web Note menu, click Share.
  18. Review the information in the Share panel, and then click elsewhere to close the Sharepanel.
  19. From the Make a Web Note menu, click Exit.
  20. In Microsoft Edge, open a new tab.
  21. On the menu, click Favorites, and then click Notes on Microsoft Edge home page. The webpage with your web notes opens. You can see all the notes and highlighting you made earlier in this section.
  22. Close the tab.
  23. Leave Microsoft Edge open for the next section.

Explore reading features in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge has many features for reading web content. Often, web pages are cluttered with advertisements and nonessential information. Reading view in Microsoft Edge eliminates the advertisements and any nonessential information from the content so that you can read it in a concise manner. Reading view retains the pertinent graphics and pictures associated with the content.

Microsoft Edge also has a reading list, which is similar to the familiar Favorites found in both Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. The reading list is specifically designed to help you and students keep track of web content that you want to read at a later date. The process of adding items to your reading list is similar to adding a Favorite website.

Perform the following steps to explore Microsoft Edge reading features:

  1. In Microsoft Edge, open a new tab and browse to http://www.msn.com/news.
  2. Review the content on the page, and then choose a news article.
  3. In the news article you're reviewing, on the menu, click Add to favorites or reading list.
  4. In the drop-down panel, click Reading list, and then click Add. You can use the Microsoft Edge reading list to keep track of content that you want to read.
  5. On the menu, click Reading View.
  6. Leave Microsoft Edge open for the next section.

Explore Microsoft Edge PDF print and read functionality

You can print web content to PDF in Microsoft Edge (or in any other Windows 10 app). You can also read PDF files in Microsoft Edge. In this section, you browse to web content, print the page to PDF, and then view the PDF in Microsoft Edge.

Perform the following steps to explore Microsoft Edge PDF print and read functionality:

  1. In Microsoft Edge, on the menu bar, click Hub. Click Favorites, and then click Windows 10 Specifications.
  2. On the menu bar, click More actions, and then click Print (as shown in Figure 14).
    Print menu
    Figure 14. Print menu option on the More actions menu
  3. In the Print dialog box, in Printer, select Microsoft Print to PDF, and then click Print. Windows 10 displays a notification about the .pdf file being stored in the Documents folder.
  4. Close Microsoft Edge.
  5. In File Explorer, go to Documents, and then double-click Windows 10 Specifications - Microsoft.pdf.
  6. Review the .pdf file in Microsoft Edge.
  7. Minimize Microsoft Edge.

Explore the Mail and Calendar apps

Another improvement in Windows 10 are the redesigned Mail and Calendar apps. Both apps have been reimagined to provide a better user experience for both touch and mouse users. Also, both apps more closely model the familiar Microsoft Outlook user experience.

Explore the Mail app

Microsoft has made several user experience improvements in the Windows 10 Mail app. One of the design goals for the Mail app is to have a great user experience for both mouse and touch users, and the app now more closely resembles Outlook.

Perform the following steps on the WIN10 VM to explore the Windows 10 Mail app:

  1. On the Start menu, click Mail.
  2. In the Mail app, click Add account.
  3. In the Choose an account dialog box, select the type of account for your personal email account.
  4. Add your email account based on your personal information.
  5. When you have added your email account, on the Accounts page, click Open inbox.
  6. In the Inbox, select various email messages and view them in the reading pane. The menu interface at the top of the app provides a touch- and click-friendly experience for accessing email.
  7. Click Settings (the gear icon) in the lower left portion of the Mail app.
  8. In Settings, click Accounts, and then click back.
  9. In Settings, click Options.
  10. Under Notifications, select the Show a notification banner check box.
  11. Under Notifications, select the Play a sound check box, and then click away from the Settings panel to close the panel.
  12. Minimize the Mail app.

Explore the Calendar app

As with the Mail app, Microsoft redesigned the Calendar app for easy click or touch. Like Mail, the Calendar app now more closely models the calendar user experience in Microsoft Office.

Perform the following steps on the WIN10 VM to explore the Calendar app:

  1. On the Start menu, click Calendar.
  2. On the Accounts page, click Open calendar.
  3. On the menu, click Day.
  4. On the menu, click Work week.
  5. On the menu, click Week.
  6. On the calendar displayed in the left panel, click a day 2 weeks in the future.
  7. Click New event.
  8. In the new event, in Event name, type Project Update Meeting.
  9. In Location, type 12th Floor Conference Room.
  10. In Start, select 11:00 AM.
  11. On the menu Save & Close.

The event is saved and displayed in the calendar. As with the Mail app, you can see that the Calendar app is optimized for mouse and touch, providing a user experience that mirrors Outlook.

Access apps, data, and information

You can access your apps, data, and information by using the Windows 10 Start menu, Cortana, and the taskbar. In this section, you learn how to access your apps, data, and information more quickly and easily than in previous versions of Windows.

Start apps by using the Start menu

The new Start menu in Windows 10 is an elegant blend of the Windows 7 Start menu and the Windows 8.1. Start screen. Perform the following steps to start apps from the Start menu:

  1. Click Start, and then click All apps.
  2. In the list of apps, scroll down to Microsoft Office 2013. Expand Microsoft Office 2013, and then click Word 2013.
  3. Close Microsoft Word 2013.
  4. On the Start menu, click All apps.
  5. Click above the list of apps (which brings up an alphanumeric matrix).
  6. In the alphanumeric matrix, click M. Expand Microsoft Office 2013, and then click Excel 2013.
  7. Close Microsoft Excel 2013.
    note icon Note: Starting apps by using the Start menu in Windows 10 is similar to the user experience in Windows 7 for keyboard and mouse users.
  8. Press Windows logo key+A to open the Windows 10 Action Center.
  9. In the Action Center, click Tablet mode.
  10. Click Start. The Start menu now takes up the entire screen, just like in Windows 8.1. In tablet mode, Windows 10 converts to a touch-friendly user interface (UI). Although you made this change manually, Windows 10 can automatically detect whether the device is in tablet mode, a feature called Continuum.
  11. In the upper left corner of the Start menu, click the menu icon (three horizontal lines). The same UI you saw previously for keyboard and mouse interaction appears.
  12. Press Windows logo key+A to open the Windows 10 Action Center.
  13. In the Action Center, click Tablet mode. The Start menu reverts to the keyboard-and-mouse-friendly UI. Again, you made this change manually, but in a convertible device (such as the Surface Pro 3) this change would happen automatically if you added or removed the keyboard.
  14. Click anywhere on the screen to close the Start menu.

Find apps, data, and information by using Cortana

Cortana allows you to search your local device and the Internet for apps, data, and information. You can access Cortana by using your keyboard or by voice command. Perform the following steps to find apps, data, and information by using Cortana:

  1. On the taskbar, in Search the web and Windows, type Word. Cortana returns a list of results. At the top of that list is the locally installed copy of Word 2013.
  2. On the taskbar, in Search the web and Windows, type LoriPenor. Cortana returns a list of results. At the top of that list is the LoriPenorPicture.png file that you selected earlier for the user profile.
  3. On the taskbar, in Search the web and Windows, type Windows 10. Cortana returns a list of results, including local files that have Windows 10 in the name, web searches that relate to Windows 10, and apps in the Windows Store that relate to Windows 10.
  4. On the taskbar, in Search the web and Windows, type What is the cube root of 55. Cortana returns the correct answer (3.80295246).
  5. On the taskbar, in Search the web and Windows, type Distance between Los Angeles and New York.
  6. Click the first item in the list of results. Cortana opens Microsoft Edge. The first result in Bing is by Bing Maps, showing the driving distance between Los Angeles and New York (2,778 miles).
  7. Close Microsoft Edge.

You can perform these same tasks by using voice commands on devices equipped with a microphone.

Manage apps on the Start menu and taskbar

Managing apps on the Start menu and taskbar is again a blending of the Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 user experiences. You can pin apps to the Start menu (just as you could with the Windows 8.1 Start screen), and you can pin apps to the taskbar (just as you could in Windows 7). Perform the following steps on the WIN10 VM to manage apps on the Start menu and taskbar:

  1. On the desktop, right-click Recycle Bin, and then click Pin to Start.
  2. Click the Start menu. The Recycle Bin appears as a tile on the Start menu.
  3. On the Start menu, right-click Recycle Bin, click Resize, and then click Small. Windows 10 displays the Recycle Bin tile as a small tile.
  4. On the Start menu, right-click People, and then click Pin to Taskbar. The People app appears as an icon on the taskbar.

Run and manage apps

Running and managing apps in Windows 10 is more intuitive than in previous Windows operating systems. Desktop and Windows 10 Universal apps are treated as equals in Windows 10. Windows 10 introduces Snap Assist, which helps you snap multiple apps on your desktop for optimal viewing. Finally, Windows 10 supports virtual desktops, which allows you to have multiple logical groupings of apps so that they are easier to manage and use than on a single desktop.

Manage running apps

Perform the following steps on the WIN10 VM to manage running apps:

  1. On the taskbar, restore the Mail app that you minimized earlier.
  2. In the upper right corner of the app, view the Minimize, Restore, and Close buttons. Then, click Restore. (You may remember that Windows 8.1 apps only started in full-screen mode and took up the entire desktop. In Windows 10, these apps behave more like a traditional desktop app and are similar to the user experience in Windows 7 desktop apps.)
  3. In the upper left corner, on the title bar, right-click Mail. The standard Windows system menu appears, with the Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, and Close options.
  4. Minimize the Mail app.

View multiple apps

You can view multiple apps in an optimal visual arrangement by using the Windows 10 Snap Assist feature. Perform the following steps on the WIN10 VM to view multiple apps:

  1. Restore the Mail app.
  2. Click the Mail app title bar, and then drag the title bar to the left side of the desktop. When the mouse pointer hits the edge, a visual queue lets you know when to release. The Mail app is snapped to the left side of the desktop.
  3. In the list of apps on the right side of the display, click the Calendar app. The Calendar app is snapped to the right side of the display.
  4. Click the Calendar app title bar, and drag it to the top of the desktop. The Calendar app is maximized.
  5. Minimize all apps.

Manage virtual desktops

Virtual desktops in Windows 10 provide you with another layer of productivity when you're running multiple apps. You can use Windows 10 virtual desktops to give the appearance of running your apps on multiple systems. For example, you could have one virtual desktop dedicated to working on grades while using another virtual desktop to present information to your students.

Perform the following steps on the WIN10 VM to manage multiple virtual desktops:

  1. On the taskbar, click Task view. In Task view, you can see the list of apps running in your current desktop. You can click any of the apps to bring that app into focus.
  2. In the lower right portion of Task view, click New desktop. Desktop 2 is added to the list of desktops.
  3. In Task view, click Desktop 2.
  4. On the taskbar, click Word 2013.
  5. On the taskbar, click Task view.
  6. In the lower right portion of Task view, click New desktop. Desktop 3 is added to the list of desktops.
  7. On the Start menu, click Store.
  8. On the taskbar, click Task view.
  9. In Task view, click Desktop 1. The original desktop appears.
  10. Press Windows logo key+Control+Right Arrow to move to Desktop 2.
  11. Press Windows logo key+Control+Right Arrow to move to Desktop 3.
  12. Press Windows logo key+Control+Left Arrow to move back to Desktop 2.
  13. On the taskbar, click Task view.
  14. Close Desktop 2. Any apps running in a desktop that you delete are automatically moved to another desktop. For example, notice that the apps running in Desktop 2 moves to another desktop.
  15. Open the new Desktop 2.

You can use the Windows shortcut keys, your mouse, or touch to move quickly and easily between virtual desktops. Use virtual desktops to keep track of your different tasks and apps so that you can be more efficient and effective.