Since the COVID-19 outbreak first hit China, our education customers in the country have done amazing things to keep students engaged while they transition to remote learning.<\/p>\n
Now, as the rest of the world continues to contain the virus, schools and universities are holding more and more classes online.<\/p>\n
However, teaching and learning from home is a big change for most people. Without a physical classroom, how can you check that students are engaged and progressing? How do teachers and faculty stay connected?<\/p>\n
We want to help wherever we can. Which is why we\u2019ve asked the expert online teacher Koen Timmers to write a guest blog on our website called: Nine tips to make your remote lesson a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Plus, Microsoft Teams remains available to educational institutions for free, through the Office 365 A1<\/a> package. This provides a completely free, customisable hub for remote learning, including video meetings, online versions of the Office 365 apps, as well as compliance tools and information protection.<\/p>\n Microsoft Teams provides a complete remote learning experience, on a single platform accessible via phone, tablet, PC or browser.<\/p>\n It means teachers and staff can create their own virtual classroom<\/a>, add selected students, share lessons, create assignments, collaborate virtually in real-time, do grading and provide personalised feedback \u2013 all through a single hub.<\/p>\n Here are some extra tips for teaching with Microsoft Teams:<\/p>\n We\u2019ve created a series of webinars<\/a> that can be accessed on-demand to help teachers become more effective on Teams. And we\u2019re always adding to our Microsoft Learn Educator Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are some other free resources, available to you right now:<\/p>\n Keeping your students engaged and focused can be a challenge, especially if everyone involved is doing remote learning for the first time. People need support\u202fto help make it work. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve created a\u202fRemote Learning Guide for students and parents<\/a>. Here are some of the most useful tips:<\/p>\n At Microsoft Education, we provide several free tools to help those students who would ordinarily need special assistance with their reading, writing, maths and communication.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll find a fully-categorised list of Microsoft accessibility tools on our website<\/a>. You may also find this blog<\/a> useful \u2013 it\u2019s written by Microsoft’s Chief Accessibility officer, Jenny Lay-Flurrie, and it\u2019s titled Tips for your at-home students with disabilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve also made interactive click-through guides across reading<\/a>, writing<\/a>, maths<\/a> and communication<\/a>. Plus, there’s a demo on Microsoft Inmersive Reader<\/a>, which is designed to help students improve both reading and writing \u2013 and it\u2019s been integrated into lots of apps already<\/a>.<\/p>\nA more effective virtual classroom<\/h2>\n
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Support and training available to you right now<\/h2>\n
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Keeping your students engaged<\/h2>\n
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Ensuring remote learning remains inclusive and accessible<\/h2>\n
Keep in touch<\/h2>\n