LONDON — 22 January 2018 — Microsoft Corp. has showcased its new Education offering at BETT in London. This includes:
- New Windows 10 and Windows 10 S devices from Lenovo and JP
- The addition of new capabilities to its free Office 365 Education software
- A new chemistry update to Minecraft: Education Edition
- New mixed reality and video curricula from partners like BBC Worldwide Learning, LEGO®* Education, PBS, NASA and Pearson
New Windows 10 devices and free professional development
Affordability is the top priority for many schools. Shrinking budgets can lead schools to choose devices with a stripped-down experience and a limited life span, unfortunately costing more over time and offering less to students.
Microsoft has announces a range of affordable devices built for education. New Windows 10 devices won’t force schools to compromise on features, giving schools cutting-edge tools like touch, inking and 3D, as well as free accessibility technology like Learning Tools, which improve reading comprehension by 10 percentile points for students of all abilities.
Building on the success of its expansive education device portfolio, Microsoft has unveiled new 2-in-1s and notebooks. These new devices include:
- Two new Lenovo devices provide schools with great performance at a great price:
- The Lenovo 100e, a brand-new Intel Celeron Apollo Lake powered PC
- The Lenovo 300e, an affordable 2-in-1 PC that comes with pen
- Two new devices from JP, one of Microsoft’s largest partners in emerging markets:
- The Classmate Leap T303 laptop with Windows Hello
- The Trigono V401 2-in-1 with pen and touch
These new devices join the HP ProBook x360 11 EE, which continues to be one of the best-selling 2-in-1 devices in education, and the recently released HP Stream 11 Pro G4 EE PC. These devices are all spill-resistant and durable to avoid accidental breakage, have long battery life to avoid charging wires all over the classroom, and have faster connectivity.
With Intune for Education, it’s easy to set up and manage Windows devices. With Microsoft 365 Education, schools can get Microsoft’s complete software solution with free Office 365 Education and starting next month, with purchase of certain Microsoft 365 Education licenses, schools can also get free Professional Development to help train teachers on how to get the most from their new technology.
Personalized learning drives better results
Office 365 is built to support every type of learner, with assistive technology natively built in, and tools like Word, OneNote and Teams that give every child a voice in the classroom. Microsoft is proud to offer teachers in 146 countries Office 365 Education for free.
There are a number of new updates coming to Office in the next month, including:
- Microsoft Learning Tools improves reading, writing and comprehension for all students, especially the one in five students who has a learning difference. Starting in February, Microsoft will introduce dictation in Office 365 to help students write more easily by using their voice. Immersive Reader functionality will also expand to Word for Mac, iPhone, Outlook Desktop, OneNote iPad and OneNote Mac with support for many new languages.
- To further simplify classroom workflows, Microsoft is delivering on the number one request from teachers for OneNote Class Notebooks, enabling them to lock pages as read-only after giving feedback. In OneNote, Microsoft is also enabling Desmos interactive math calculators, a set of popular applications for STEM teachers.
- Teams, a digital hub for the classroom, is now accessible on iOS and Android so teachers and students can now keep track of their assignments and classroom conversations on their phones or tablets. To enable all language learners to engage in classroom conversations, the newest updates will also make it easy to translate any conversation or chat into another language.
- PowerPoint will now allow teachers to record their lessons including slides, interactive ink, video and narrations and publish to their Stream channel in Teams classrooms. This way, students can view these from anywhere and in advance so that class time can be used for conversation. Stream will also add automatic captioning to the videos to make them accessible to all learners.
Microsoft’s recently announced partnership with PowerSchool – the leading global education technology platform for K-12 (kindergarten to Grade 12) – will help create classroom efficiencies, enable collaboration and provide insights that allow teachers to spend more time teaching and less time focused on administrative tasks.
Sparking creativity with STEM
Igniting a passion for STEM in today’s students will help prepare them for the future. Microsoft is committed to giving teachers new ways to teach these subjects with fun curricula that sparks students’ innate creativity – a skill that is predicted to be one of the top three most desired skills by employers in 2020.
One way we do this is through MakeCode, which has announced a new Cue Education app, available first on Windows, new curricula for Computer Science with MakeCode for Minecraft, and a new MakeCode for micro:bit Windows 10 app.
Chemistry comes to life through Minecraft
Nothing shows the power of creativity in STEM education more than Minecraft: Education Edition, which is already being used in classrooms in more than 115 countries. Later this year, a new and free Chemistry Update will enable teachers to use the familiar world of Minecraft and game-based learning to engage students of all ages in chemistry. Through hands-on experimentation, students can learn everything from building compounds to more difficult topics like stable isotopes.
Mixed reality for immersive learning
Microsoft’s research shows the most effective learning involves multiple regions of the brain. In the era of mixed reality – which includes augmented and virtual reality – Microsoft is working with its partners to deliver products and experiences that will help teachers push the boundaries of their curricula.
Over the last year, the company has seen remarkable instances of teachers and institutions using Microsoft HoloLens to bring 3D experiences to life in the classroom. With the release of Windows Mixed Reality immersive VR headsets, a more affordable entry point for MR in the classroom is provided.
To support that effort, Pearson – the world’s largest education company – will begin rolling out in March curricula that will work on both HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality immersive VR headsets. These six new applications will deliver seamless experiences across devices and further illustrate the value of immersive educational experiences.
Expanded partnerships in STEM learning
Lesson plans that encourage hands-on and visual learning drive deeper engagement from students, and Microsoft is excited to partner with some of the world’s most respected brands to bring teachers exciting new lessons in time for the next school year.
Starting this March, the company will be partnering with BBC Worldwide Learning to bring the stunning BBC Earth natural history film Oceans: Our Blue Planet to classrooms and museums around the world. As part of the multi-faceted partnership, Microsoft is exploring ways to expand this content across the Microsoft Education portfolio.
Together with LEGO® Education, Microsoft will be offering a new free online Hacking STEM lesson plan that has students use the Pythagorean Theorem to explore and measure topography in 2D/3D space. Acting as environmental surveyors and engineers, students build tools with LEGO® bricks from the Simple & Powered Machines set or cardboard to create and visualize an initial transportation plan for the development of an island National Park in Excel. They then bring their National Park to life by adding topographic elements.
With all of these new experiences available in time for the upcoming school year, there’s never been a better time for schools to try Microsoft Education. Microsoft will continue to work hard to deliver innovative technology for educators around the world to unlock limitless learning for students of all abilities.
Get information on how to join and connect with these #MicrosoftEDU partners on the Education Blog.
