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.

The U.S. Navy is using drone boat swarms to keep harbors safe

us-navy-drone-boat-managed-solution

The U.S. Navy is using drone boat swarms to keep harbors safe

By John Biggs as written on techcrunch.com
The U.S. Navy is testing a team of drone boats to protect harbors here and abroad. The boats, which are basically autonomous versions of the Rigid Hull Inflatable, are connected to a AI routing system called CARACaS. In original 2014 tests the boats worked separately to protect ships in a harbor and the new routing system now allows them to swarm as a team to surround and neutralize threats.
The system is also running an automatic vehicle identification system that allows the boats to assess friends and foes on the high seas.
Autonomous boats work well because, well, there isn’t much to hit in the ocean. These boats are especially useful in keeping unwanted boats away from Navy vessels and because they work in concert they can patrol a spot and then mass together to prevent a threat. The best thing? These aren’t special, custom-made boats. The Navy is simply outfitting standard boats with AI and control mechanisms and letting the loose making it far easier to retrofit older “dumb” boats and recruit them into the coming machine army.

Taking Office 365 to the College Campus

office-365-college-header-managed-solution

Taking Office 365 to the College Campus

By Kelly Cronin
Before Office 365, I was using a $5 planner from Target, some Word documents, some Google Docs, a million Notes in my iPhone, and Five-Star Notebooks to take notes in class, stay "organized", and keep both my personal life and grades afloat.  Although plenty of people had told me about cool note-taking tools, I was a stubborn college student that thought whatever I was doing was good enough.  When I first started my internship with Managed Solution, I was taught how to use almost all of the Office 365 apps, which I never thought I would be using in my personal life. The more used to the apps I got, the more I realized how much they could help me outside of work too. Here's how Office 365 can be used for any college student looking to stay organized and productive:

Let's start with OneNote.

My boss was not exaggerating when she told me OneNote is life.  I first used OneNote for school by keeping all my syllabi in one place.  Before, I had to constantly re-download the syllabus for each class just to look at the class schedule, rules about assignments, and how to contact the professor.  With OneNote, I keep all of this information in one place, both on my computer and my phone, so no matter where I am I can instantly check out the syllabus for any of my classes.  OneNote lets you drag and drop files into a document, so you can click on the document, or you can choose to have the document uploaded as text, so you'll see exactly what comes from that document in your OneNote as text. I prefer to have both:
offce365-college-1-managed-solution
My study guides have gotten a major makeover thanks to OneNote.  I re-type all my notes from class and any added points from lecture slides into OneNote to create the ultimate study guide, where I can easily bold, highlight, make tables, lists, and even add images into any of my notes. Since I can keep these in the same section as my other class notes and info, I don't have to keep track of a gazillion documents like with Google Drive.  OneNote also has "tags" that can let me mark things as important, set up as a reminder, or create a check-box for a to-do list. The best part is while I'm walking over to my exam, I can pull up my study guide on my OneNote mobile app and do some last minute cramming.
office-365-for-college-2-managed-solution
Did I already mention you can take OneNote anywhere?  When you need to print something, having a copy of your document wherever you go is pretty much every college student's life saver.  For starters, almost none of us have an actual working printer (there are currently three broken printers sitting in my house), which I now consider a mythical creature at this point. This means we have to constantly send ourselves documents to print at the library right before class.  When you already have a million things to do that week and you were up cramming all night for three exams, forgetting to send yourself your study guide is basically a given.  Office 365 finally came up with the best solution to make sure your grades don't suffer from your brain overloads.  OneNote can be accessed online with your Microsoft account.  OneNote Online will automatically have all the notebooks and pages you have in your OneNote so you can access your notes and documents from any device.  Instead of worrying about whether or not my file will open from my email, I have peace of mind knowing as long as I put something in my OneNote, I can access it from anywhere with OneNote Online.

office-365-college-3-managed-solution

Planner - Time to get organized.

 Every college student knows the secrets to procrastination - pretend you're actually being productive even while putting off all of your assignments.  One of the best is making lists of things you have to do (and then not actually do them until tomorrow).  Planner in Office 365 gives you a simplified, satisfying way to keep up with all of your tasks.  As the end of the semester gets busier and busier, I've been completely reliant on adding tasks into my Planner to make sure I keep track of absolutely every thing I have to do.  To start, I set up different groups that organize what needs to be done:
office-365-college-3-managed-solution
As I create a new task, I can add notes about what needs to be done, set a date for when it needs to be done by, and make comments as I work on it.  Adding details about all my tasks helps me look in one place and one place only for all I need to know about what to get done.  For mass amounts of paperwork to fill out, I can add a checklist for each item, so I need what I've done already and how much more is left to do.
office-365-college-5

 

Ace presentations with Sway.

 No matter what your major is, every semester you will create at least one presentation, typically with a group, to present to the class.  Google slides are often the top choice for group projects, as just about everyone has a Gmail account to use and collaborate on the project with.  But Google slides editing features are extremely limited.  Minimal slide themes, limited font formatting options, and few visualization selections make each presentation seem almost, if not exactly, the same.  Sway in Office 365 is an easy fix to sprucing up a presentation, and it is just as easy to use as Google slides or PowerPoint.
One of the best parts about Sway is it's complete customization.  You can add different cards: Headers, Text, Image sliders, Image galleries (in multiple varieties), Videos, Tweets, Audio, and more.  You can even embed a Sway within a Sway (yes that's Sway-ception).  These can be grouped together by heading, so instead of having seven separate slides all relating to one topic, Sway can keep them all grouped together.

office-365-college-sway-1-redo-managed-solution

If you need a more eye catching color theme, or want to change the font and feel of the text throughout the presentation, use the Design feature:

office-365-college-sway-2-managed-solution

Sway offers tutorials and guides on how to do just about anything the application has to offer.  And since Sway can be used in Office 365 online, your presentation is automatically saved and can be accessed anywhere.  Still not convinced?  Check out one of my latest, interactive Sways:

Start getting professional on Word.

College isn't just about taking classes and passing exams (and beer pong).  Starting your career often begins in college.  With helpful professional templates on word, building a solid resume can be completely simplified.  Choose from a variety of templates, from crisp and clean to creative and captivating.  Inputting your information into the template is quick and easy, so you can worry more about what goes into your resume than how you need to format it.

office-365-college-word-1-managed-solution

If you're like me, you've probably applied to hundreds of part-time jobs and internships when you should be doing schoolwork.  Needless to say, you need your resume on pretty much any device, whether it's to update your website link or to print from your friend's computer.  When you use Word Online with Office 365, your work automatically saves as you make changes.  This makes sure your documents don't get lost between sending yourself a million email attachments every time you switch devices.  You can access your word files from anywhere, and make changes as needed.  Update resumes and cover letters alike, without worrying about whether or not you've saved the latest version.

office-365-college-word-2-managed-solution

Making the most of Office 365.

Nobody says college will be easy, but Office 365 is here to help.  When you start working on new classes, learn how to do your own laundry, and lose your voice at every Saturday football game, college can seem like a complete whirlwind.  Use the Office 365 tools for education to keep track of everything going on in your life.  Not only will you learn how to use tools for the modern workplace, Office 365 can help you stay on track to make sure college is the best four years of your life.

Computer Science Education Week

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

computer-science-education-week-manage-solutionComputer Science Education Week

By Kelly Cronin
The first full week of December is Computer Science Education Week, celebrating the importance of computer science education for both students and educators alike.  Computer science education has the power to shape our future, and it is becoming more and more prevalent in classrooms all over the country.  Take a look at how new technologies are benefitting computer science education.

Managed Solution displayed the HoloLens at CalPoly Cyber Security & Awareness Fair

Managed Solution participated in the 2016 Cal Poly Pomona Cyber Security & Awareness Fair.  The fair aimed to bring awareness to the world of Cyber Security where our entire world is progressing into an internet connected world.  At the fair students and faculty got to experience a variety of speakers that have in-depth knowledge of the Cyber Security do’s and don’ts and experience in the Cyber Security field, a poster contest where students displayed their research of pressing issues in the Information Technology Industry, and a hands-on exhibit that allowed students to experience the world of a typical attacker on Internet of Things products.
Read the full press release here >>

Students demonstrate their HoloLens apps after a quarter of VR and AR design

At the University of Washington, a computer science classroom is equipping their students with HoloLens headsets to let them develop their own apps. One app developed is called HoloScanner, which redesigns the process of scanning a room and turns it into a game that can then be used for other apps. Other apps include augmented reality cooking, a painting app, and more.
Check out the HoloScanner app video and more here>>

HackingSTEM: Using Computational Thinking to Understand Earthquakes

Millions of students worldwide are in the process of discovering the possibilities of instructing machines to accomplish tasks. Whether completing the Minecraft Hour of Code tutorial, or watching a Pixar In a Box episode on Khan Academy, the spirit of discovery, experimentation and the art of Computer Science is celebrated while students build core 21st century software engineering skills.
This month, the Education Workshop has partnered with the California Academy of Sciences and KQED to combine coding with mechanical engineering and data science to empower students to use computational thinking to experience how engineers and computer scientists are working together to mitigate the impact of earthquakes.
Learn all the details here >>

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Minecraft: Education Edition officially launches

minecraft-education-edition-managed-solution

Minecraft: Education Edition officially launches

By Sarah Perez as written on techcrunch.com
Following months of testing and free trials for early adopters, Microsoft announced this morning that its learning-focused version of the popular Minecraft game, Minecraft: Education Edition, is now available for purchase. The game is available in 50 countries and in 11 different languages, the company said, and will include the Classroom Mode companion app that lets teachers manage settings and interact with students in the game.
Microsoft had first announced its plans to develop a version of the game for educators at the beginning of the year, after acquiring the learning game MinecraftEdu for an undisclosed sum. The company then built upon that library of lessons and activities to develop programs for teachers across a variety of subjects, including STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), history, language, and art, for example.
At the time of the deal, Microsoft had said it made sense to move in this direction given that Minecraft was already being using in over 7,000 classrooms in over 40 countries worldwide, even without Minecraft’s official involvement.
With that market in mind, Minecraft: Education Edition got off the ground, and now offers lessons for kids as young as five up to teens and even college students.
Teachers were given free trials during the testing period, ahead of today’s official launch, in order to offer feedback and try Minecraft in their classrooms. The company in September said that, during these trials, over 35,000 students and teachers have used the software.
The companion app Classroom Mode was previously announced, along with the November launch date. This new app lets teachers change the variables for the world, offer up items to students, communicate with students, and transport students virtually from a central interface.
Now live, Minecraft: Education Edition is no longer free, but will instead cost $5 per user. Volume pricing will be available for larger institutions.
The software will also continue to be updated over time, notes the company, to include new game features from other editions of Minecraft. At launch, the official version includes all the latest updates previously available in the Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition beta, says Microsoft.
In addition to the software, Microsoft offers a dedicated website for educators at education.minecraft.net, where they’ll find lesson plans, tutorials, starter worlds, and collaborate with others. There’s also a more structured program called Minecraft Mentors available, which will team a teacher new to Minecraft with others with experience to learn how to use it in the classroom.

 

Get ready for the first truly Digital Decade

first-digital-decade-managed-solution

Get ready for the first truly Digital Decade

By John Biggs as written on techcrunch.com
No matter how this election ends one thing is clear: what happens online in the next decade will have an increasingly important effect on our daily lives. Until recently politics, warfare, commerce, and education has mostly been offline. That will change drastically in the next ten years.
But isn’t the world already digital? Most of it is but the places that it isn’t – parts of rural America, the third world, huge swathes of Asia and India – are getting more bandwidth than ever. Our devices are constantly online and listening and our homes are full of things that glow, beep, and buzz.
Look at the news. The FBI is using Malware “like a grenade.” Legal pot sellers are using Bitcoin to skirt banking regulations. The coffee shop has been replaced by the Facebook thread. The two biggest crises of this US election are based on the infallibility of network memory. In one corner Clinton was constantly attacked for an email server and on the other side Trump was attacked for things he said in passing that spread like kudzu through the Internet. Ultimately both sides used the Internet to magnify their message.
Social media is just the beginning. We are already offloading most of our petty tasks to computers and as they get smarter we’ll offload even more.
A plugged-in fried of mine expects commercial quantum computing to come online in five years. This means we’ll have more computing power available to us (and our cloud services) than ever. Our devices are constantly listening and at the ready and self-driving cars are coming faster than we expected. While many technologies, including blockchain, will take decades to mature we can expect parts of these technologies to embed themselves in our lives in the next few years.
We must react to these changes quickly or be quickly left behind. The digital-first government services cropping up in Estonia and the pro-startup movement in Poland are perfect examples of countries doing it mostly right. The bad news is that legislators are bailing water out of a sinking boat and not plugging existing holes. Banking regulation is woefully behind the times as is the slow crawl of drug legalization. There are no clear ways forward to catching and trying international cybercriminals and in an era when the next military attack could come from the Internet that’s pretty scary. 3D printing is a great hobby but it quickly get derailed by talk of 3D printed guns and drone bombs. We are at once ignorant of the extent and danger of our digital world and deathly afraid of it.
The next ten years will require us all to understand the vagaries of email servers, how to react when the credit card system is shut down by Anonymous, and how to avoid getting hit by ransomware. We’ll be plugging in more and more often and the world may look like an episode of Black Mirror if we don’t start actively separating the online and offline by putting our toys away and looking each other in the eye. And, in the end, the pace of change will keep rising, leaving the angry, the afraid, and the uneducated behind. I’d wager it’s our collective mission to make sure that doesn’t happen and, if it does, that the damage is limited and the lessons learned are the good ones.

4 Reasons Windows 10 is the Right Classroom Technology for Your School

windows-10-for-the-classroom-managed-solution

4 Reasons Windows 10 is the Right Classroom Technology for Your School

By Pamela Perez as written on securedgenetworks.com
What's the point of implementing classroom technology? Is it to make the curriculum more fun and exciting, maybe it's to make teaching less tedious? While these two examples might be a true bi-product I don't think these were the main factors taken into consideration when a school board or CIO creates their technology strategy.

From my time writing about the K-12 IT environment I've realized that deploying classroom technology is about three main points:

  • Offering teachers, administrators and students tools to increase efficiency, transparency and organization
  • Creating a more interactive and more personalized learning environment
  • Preparing students to be responsible digital citizens ready for a technology driven society

From software to hardware there are new ed tech tools becoming available almost everyday and it's critical that school IT leaders keep up with what's available and potentially valuable for their schools.

Recently Microsoft released its next big operating system in Windows 10 and it’s a huge overhaul from Windows 8. The start button is back for starters, which is a clear indication that Microsoft is finally taking user feedback into consideration.

The biggest thing to note however is how some of the new Windows 10 features are perfectly suited for education, empowering both teachers and students to become better organized, more interactive and just flat out more productive.

To give you a better idea how Windows 10 can help position your school to take on new developments in digital learning, we’ve listed 4 reasons why Windows 10 is the right classroom technology for your school.

1. Better presentations with note sharing

The new Windows OS comes with a brand spanking new browser called Edge, which is faster and less resource-heavy.

Educators can also take advantage of the new Web Note feature that will allow them to scribble notes directly on the web page using a stylus or fingers. The pages can be shared easily with the class for more efficient presentations.

“Obviously this works best on a touchscreen Windows device like a Surface, but it works with a mouse too, and will be perfect for interactive whiteboards,” writes educator Jonathan Wylie.

Edge manages your reading list as well, so when using the app on a small tablet it becomes your eBook reader.

2. Augmented Reality in classrooms

Augmented Reality has been around for a while but not quite in classrooms. With Windows 10, students can have completely immersive experience through Hololens (Holograms).

There are enormous learning possibilities with AR. For one , students can model designs before construction. They can also take trips to virtually anywhere in the world and it would be like they’re right there.

AR combines the physical with the digital world and this in itself makes Windows 10 an invaluable tool that can inspire your students and teachers.

3. Every student’s new research assistant

Cortana is Microsoft's new personal digital assistant and with Windows 10 she has now come to desktops and notebooks. Students can call her up for different program features including helping with research projects and assignments.

Cortana will also make sure that students keep up with their daily tasks.

“Beyond reminding you of appointments, due dates, and traffic concerns Cortana really supports the execution of required academic tasks in the day. This is essential for students who need support in their executive functioning,” writes Martha Jez, the director of professional development programs at Fair Chance Learning.

Cortana is in the early stages of development, which means we will see more personalized learning opportunities for students in the future. Reports did mention that WindowsPhone integration is already available and Android and IOS compatibility will come soon.

4. Facial recognition for logins

When conducting online classes, it always takes a while to log everybody in and it can be very time consuming. Windows 10 takes care of that with Windows Hello.

Hello uses a 3D camera to authenticate users through facial recognition, shaving off a huge chunk of logging time.

However, you need RealSense 3D cameras installed for this special feature and at the moment the cameras are only available in a few configurations, including the HP Sprout.

In any case, you can opt to use a fingerprint scanner for log-ins without using a password.

This may be a “nice to have” feature right now but with how new technologies are popping up here and there, it wouldn’t surprise me if manually keying in passwords will be obsolete in the near future.

A teacher’s journey with Skype in the Classroom

 

A teacher’s journey with Skype in the Classroom

By Iro Stefopoulou as written on blogs.skype.com

The start of an inspiring adventure

In August 2013, while all my friends were enjoying the sea and the sun in Greece, I was spending the summer holidays in my new apartment getting ready for the next school year, trying to find new resources and ideas that would attract my students’ interest and motivate them. It was that summer that I discovered Skype in the Classroom. I immediately knew that I had struck gold and that this community would be life changing for my students and me as a teacher.

I started exploring the possibilities and was like a kid on Christmas day: Skype lessons, guest speakers, virtual field trips to places around the world and classroom projects and collaborations. What would that mean for my learners? How would it influence their learning experience? Could it transform the way students perceive the world? Would my students feel that they are part of a global learning community?

Going back to school that year, I was super excited about my new discovery that could virtually break down the walls of my classroom. I had searched the Skype in the Classroom lessons for days to decide where to begin, and settled on the Night Zookeeper’s lesson. I scheduled a Skype call to meet the person who would deliver the lesson and chatted with him for a while. I now feel really proud to call Paul Hutson the Night Zookeeper my friend as what he did for me and my students was unique, unforgettable and the stepping stone for what followed next.

During the rest of 2013, I used Skype every week. I started participating in global projects with my classes, making use of Skype in the Classroom to create a global environment for my students. At the end of that school year it was clear that my students had started thinking beyond the walls of our classroom and every connection or project they participated in was turning them into thinkers, leaders and doers. The borders of our small town seemed non-existent as we communicated in real time with schoolchildren from all over the world, doing various activities and projects together. Not only did my pupils practice their English (Greek is our first language), they also became citizens of the world, and learn about facts and problems concerning other communities, the natural world, traditions, customs and so much more.

Becoming a Skype Master Teacher

Throughout that first school year of using Skype in my classroom, I met countless teachers who have become friends and mentors. One of them, Dyane Smorokowski encouraged me to apply to become a Skype Master Teacher. I had no idea what it meant at the time but I decided to apply because I had a passion for global learning and the vision for providing my classroom with more opportunities.

Becoming a Skype Master Teacher, and joining this amazing group of innovative and game-changing educator pioneers, has allowed me to develop as a person and as an educator. It gave me to opportunity to collaborate with teachers from around the globe on several global projects that had a great impact on my students’ lives and changed their perspective and understanding of the world. I also started sharing best practices with other educators at conferences and delivering online professional development courses through Skype.

After joining this program, in addition to feeling excited and proud to be part of this amazing group of teachers from all around the globe, I felt that I belonged to a family. I can proudly say that I belong to a family of like-minded educators with whom I can share ideas, best practices, collaborate on projects and help each other when needed.

Join the Skype Master Teacher Program

We are really excited to announce that the Skype Master Teacher Program is opening its doors to even more teachers. Teachers who have been selected as Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts (MIEEs) can complete their self-nomination to join this program. MIE Experts are teachers work closely with Microsoft to lead innovation in education. They advocate and share their thoughts on the effective use of technology in education with peers and policy makers, provide insight for Microsoft on new products and tools for education, and exchange best practices as they work together to promote innovation in teaching and learning. The self-nominations are open until September 15th.

What other Skype Master Teachers say about the SMT Program

“The Skype Master Teacher Program is special to me because it is about people who empower and impassion me. If I have an idea that I want to try or a project that I’m experimenting with, I know I can count on my SMT tribe to give me input or jump in with me. They are the risk-takers and change makers who make me a better teacher, and help me grow stronger as an educator.” – Gina Ruffcorn, MIEE, Skype Master Teacher, Iowa, USA

“I love being part of the SMT Program because it connects me with an amazing group of passionate educators who inspire me constantly.” – Steve Auslander, MIEE, Skype Master Teacher, Indianapolis, USA

“Being a part of the Skype Master Teacher Program has definitely made me a better teacher. This is a group of inspiring, innovative and supportive educators who are doing game-changing things for kids. Skype Master Teachers dream big for kids, and support each other to make dreams and ideas, big or small, a reality.” – Stacey Ryan, MIEE, Skype Master Teacher, Kansas, USA