Microsoft Teams improves connections in education

AFTER MANY months of COVID-19 and the strict efforts taken by governments to reduce the spread of the disease, educators and students continue their efforts to adapt to the realities of remote and hybrid learning. Microsoft is committed to continue delivering efficient remote-learning tools like Teams as the main digital education hub to improve connections between educators, students and parents/ caregivers.

In an effort to improve digital tools available to schools, Microsoft Education compiled teacher findings on what has been working, what challenges persist, and what they expect during this school year. Nearly 500 educators and institutional leaders around the world shared:

• Fifty per cent said “keeping students engaged digitally” and “student participation” are the top challenges they are facing during remote and hybrid learning.

• Eighty-seven per cent of educators said they expect to use technology more than before once in-classroom teaching resumes.

• For institutional leaders, one of their biggest challenges in the shift to remote learning was ensuring staff readiness and building educators’ confidence for remote teaching.

• Teachers are pivoting to game-based learning to help maintain attention span, create a sense of community, and express creativity.

Educators require a central hub of digital tools for remote learning to ensure strong student engagement and to maintain secure digital classrooms. Hence, over 150 million students, faculties, institutional leaders, and teachers have been actively using Microsoft Education products – with Teams for Education as that hub — to engage students in remote learning.

In order to meet the needs of educators and students around the world, Teams for Education has improved its new features for the 2020-2021 school year:

• Expanded audience view of up to 49 participants (7x7 grid view) and ability to upload custom backgrounds;

• Virtual breakout rooms, enabling students to meet and collaborate in small groups;

• Students can raise their hands during class meetings;

• Educators can view attendance reports and class insights;

• A breakdown using i ntelligent data analytics that distils how students are engaging with class meetings, assignments and more;

• Increased security policies for safer online classrooms;

• Together mode, where students can be shown in a theatre instead of being separated in boxes, for a more playful and relaxed style.