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Limitless Learning: How Microsoft's Educational Tools help Students Remote and in The Classroom

Content of the article Public schools in Coquitlam (B.C.) could not have predicted the outbreak.



The B.C. municipality's schools were perhaps more prepared than most to deal with the challenges that COVID-19 presented to learning.



It is in large part due to its partnership Microsoft. This partnership provides the use of Microsoft's suite of cloud-based educational, interactive, and interactive tools that enrich learning experiences in the classroom.



Stephen Whiffin, chief information officer and director of instruction for the Coquitlam School district, says there has been a broad movement to adopt technology in schools across Canada for a while.



Making use of information technology to enhance learning for the school district's 30,000 students has been a primary goal for a few years in the past.



"We'd been focusing for a long time on the introduction of Microsoft 365 Education because it has a range of tools that a majority of people are already familiar with."



He notes that Microsoft's familiarity is essential for educators and students to to quickly take on the software. The school district was able to switch to an online, at-home learning format following the pandemic.



Whiffin says that all of our teachers owned laptops and had Microsoft software installed on them. The IT infrastructure was also there to support this rapid shift.



The school board bought new equipment and equipment that run the most recent cloud-based Windows 10 operating systems. This allows for seamless synching with Microsoft 365 Education tools. Microsoft also provides IT management tools that let administrators manage connected devices networks, networks, and other resources.



Article content It also offers its own Surface brand of touchscreen tablet/laptop/desktop hybrids for exceptional performance in educational settings, with affordable to premium price points.



Microsoft's educational tools are built on Office 365, the most popular software for business globally. Microsoft offers a free version its education software to students and teachers across Canada through the partnership with school boards. This provides access to powerful tools such as Teams, PowerPoint, Excel and Word on their personal devices for learning, as well as access to Minecraft Education Edition. Parents and students can also access add-ons specifically designed for classroom use.



Whiffin states that Microsoft Teams, a core communication tool within the M365 suite, includes special plug-ins for education. This allows remote learning as well as working in the classroom.
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Furthermore, Microsoft's education bundle includes apps such as OneNote Class Notebooks, which allows teachers to easily create virtual spaces for individual, one-on-one, group and classroom activities.



However, it's more than just software. Whiffin claims that Microsoft offers the complete package which is crucial in a time when learning is expanding beyond classroom walls.



"All the resources must be aligned not only for learning, but also to provide the infrastructure to support learning, whether in the classroom at home, in the classroom or wherever education has to be taken.



Article content All Microsoft 365 Education Tools are backed with unparalleled security and privacy features, Whiffin says.



"That was absolutely critical, so parents and educators were confident that students would be safe using the tools," he says. "Without that trust it would have been much more difficult to implement these tools in our classroom."



Microsoft's 365 Education suite proved to be a powerful tool for remote learning during the outbreak. However the most striking evidence of its transformative power was the fact that teachers and students have continued to use it even after returning to in-person learning.



He adds, "That's a testament the quality of education as well as the effectiveness of the tools that can enhance it."



Central to the Coquitlam school district's success is Microsoft's unifying platform which fulfills the demands of students, teachers and other support staff.



Whiffin says that Microsoft 365 Education offers one set of tools that can assist students in learning, whether they are using Excel to build presentations, PowerPoint to crunch numbers or Teams to communicate in real-time.



Click here to learn more about Microsoft 365 Education or download the suite.


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