Microsoft Helps to Empower Students and Teachers to Create the World of Tomorrow, Unveils New Education Offerings
Arabella Mason
Microsoft has today announced a set of educational products and services, inspired by teachers and students, including a new experience of Windows 10 S, along with new experiences in Microsoft Teams for a modern collaborative classroom, new features in Minecraft and mixed reality that spark creativity, a range of Windows 10 S PCs for K-12 classrooms and the perfect Windows 10 S device for students – Surface Laptop.
Microsoft introduces Windows 10 S
Windows 10 S is a new experience of Windows streamlined for security and superior performance. With Windows 10 S, applications teachers and students download come from the Windows Store where they are first verified for security, and then locally they each run in a safe “container” – ensuring consistent performance of the system. In the classroom, this ensures fast login times and consistent performance, enabling everyone in the classroom to start learning quickly, and stay focused without distraction.
Windows 10 S offers the power of full-featured applications, with experiences like the full version of Office 365, including all of the capabilities of Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint, among others. With Windows 10 S, educators and students will have access to their favorite and most-used applications across STEM, learning tools, secure assessment tools, content publishers, interactive whiteboards and more.
Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 S also makes it easier than ever for students to organise research and manage school projects with the new Tab Preview Bar. With the support for Windows Ink in Microsoft Edge, students can make notes directly on a web page and share them with a classmate. Microsoft Edge is compatible with the sites educators and students frequently use.
Our goal with Windows 10 S is to develop the open vibrant partner-centric ecosystem we have today. Our device partners, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Samsung, and Toshiba, offer a range of new Windows 10 PCs for Education today. In the coming months, these partners will also offer a range of Windows 10 S devices – from powerful and affordable Windows Ink and touch PCs to beautiful premium devices.
Bringing Microsoft Teams to the classroom
Teams also enables teachers to bring in rich and engaging content from the web, guest speakers, and solutions from education partners like busuu, Canvas, Flipgrid and Kahoot!. Most importantly, Teams helps students develop the communication and collaboration skills they’ll need to be successful in the future.
Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition teaches coding in the classroom
Microsoft is broadening the game’s appeal further with Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition. This new feature is designed to inspire students to learn the basics and the power of coding by combining the open worlds of Minecraft with popular learn-to-code platforms such as Tynker, ScratchX, and a new open source platform from Microsoft called MakeCode. Players can move around, build and create in Minecraft by writing code. A one-year free trial of Minecraft: Education Edition and the Code Builder extension are available today for Windows 10 for schools around the world in the Microsoft Store for Education.
Free offers for Teachers and Students
To make it easy and affordable to bring Windows 10, Office 365 for Education with Microsoft Teams and Minecraft to the classroom, Microsoft is offering teachers and students:
- Free one-year subscription to Minecraft: Education Edition for new Windows 10 education PCs
- Free Windows 10 S for all schools on any current Windows Pro PC
- Free Microsoft Office 365 for Education with Microsoft Teams
- Free trial of Microsoft Intune for Education
Windows 10 S, Office 365 for Education with Microsoft Teams, Minecraft: Education Edition, and Microsoft Intune for Education offer a complete solution for teachers and students.
Microsoft introduces new Surface Laptop, powered by Windows 10 S
To bring the streamlined performance, simplicity and security of Windows 10 S to university students, Microsoft is expanding the Surface family of devices with Surface Laptop. Available for pre-order today in 20 countries, Surface Laptop is the perfect balance of portability, performance, and elegance. Powered by Windows 10 S, Surface Laptop is engineered to start fast and stay fast with a 7th-generation Intel® Core™ processor and up to 14.5 hours of battery life.
Every detail is crafted to bring new form and function to the classic laptop design, drawing the user in. The vibrant 13.5” PixelSense display is optimised for touch and inking for an immersive experience and the optically bonded gorilla glass makes it as durable as it is beautiful. The signature keyboard is covered in luxurious Alcantara fabric and features a quiet and responsive keyset, large precision trackpad and soft palm rest for a new level of typing comfort. Surface Laptop is available in four rich tone-on-tone colours: Platinum, Graphite Gold, Burgundy and Cobalt Blue beginning in the US at launch.
Surface Laptop starts at AUD$1,499 and will be available starting on June 15th. Customers can pre-order Surface Laptop starting today in the U.S. and Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom where available through Microsoft Store, microsoftstore.com, Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi where available. Surface Laptop will also be available in Canada and China later this year and we will announce availability in other markets in the coming months.
Bringing 3D and Windows Mixed Reality experiences to the classroom to spark creativity
With 3D and Windows Mixed Reality, Microsoft is helping empower educators with a whole new set of tools to create curriculums for their students and peers. Today, Microsoft announced a new feature coming to Windows 10 this fall, called View Mixed Reality. This feature allows you to see 3D content through your screen into the real world as Mixed Reality, using a simple RGB camera.
Microsoft also announced a new strategic partnership with Pearson, one of the largest education companies in the world, who is working to integrate 3D and mixed reality into their secondary and university level curriculum. By the 2018 school year, Pearson will offer curriculum in health, commerce, history, and STEM, on Windows Mixed Reality devices.
STEM Saturdays at Microsoft Store
Beginning Saturday, May 6, Microsoft Store locations across the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and Australia will host STEM Saturdays throughout May in all full-line locations in addition to the range of free programs year-round that empower students and educators by providing direct access to technology and hands-on learning. STEM Saturdays brings Microsoft Education’s pop-up classrooms to Microsoft Store and give participants a hands-on experience building a sensor that measures the flexion and extension of a finger to learn about the anatomy of a human hand. Anyone, including teachers, students and parents can attend STEM Saturday workshops at a Microsoft Store every Saturday in May. Microsoft Store Sydney will be hosting this event May 6th, you can register here.
For more information, please visit: https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-event-may-2017.
