Microsoft, Google and other companies announce measures to facilitate collaboration and educational continuity

In these exceptional times of global vigilance due to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), some announcements have been made by companies in the educational technology and digital publishing sector.

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For many organizations, video conferencing, cat and the collaborative possibilities of online tools are pillars of the organization of work. The school environment can also greatly benefit from it.

Microsoft

Microsoft offer to all the premium version of Teams for free for six months and has lifted existing user limits on its free version. The Teams premium product was already available at no additional cost to Office suite customers, and Teams was already free for many schools.

Google

Likewise, Google announced last week that he offered its features free corporate video conferencing to G Suite and G Suite for education customers until July 1, 2020. This includes:

• Online meetings (via Google Meet) for up to 250 participants per call;
• Live broadcast for up to 100,000 viewers via a single domain;
• The ability to record meetings and save them to Google Drive.

Google resources for start distance education : Explore distance learning resources for schools affected by COVID-19: For educators and IT administrators preparing for potential school closures - or currently facing them - here are a few ways to engage students through distance learning.

Other edtech companies are joining forces

• In GoFormative, we also offer the Premium version free of charge to facilitate virtual teaching.
• Kahoot offers its free premium solutions to staff in schools closed due to the Coronavirus.
• Apps Socrative Pro and Showbie Pro are offered free of charge until July 31. Details here (in English).

It takes data, all that!

In Quebec, suppliers Videotron and Rogers have announced that they remove the limits data from their Internet packages until the end of March, following in the footsteps of the American AT&T. 🙌

Elsewhere too

SONDO : To support teaching teams and students, and to ensure educational continuity, Mobidys offers students and teachers benefit from the SONDO Library free of charge, until the normal resumption of lessons. The partner editors join forces with them to offer the entire catalog, free of charge and without limit of titles. There are literature, classic and children's books, audio textbooks and accessibility features for DYS and small readers, integrated into the books.

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