(Series) Technological news and other interesting features... from Microsoft

Through Alexandra Coutlée
In collaboration with Martine Rioux, editor-in-chief of École branchée

Here are some new features found in Microsoft's tools. These were presented by educational consultant Stéphane Lavoie at the Community of Practice for Information Technology Management in Education (CPGTIE) on November 25, 2022. They are drawn primarily from the Microsoft Roadmap or the message center of the Microsooft 365 administration.

Please note that not all the announced new features are deployed at the same time to all users. We invite you to refer to your local RÉCIT or to your school's IT services to verify the availability of the features.

Addition (February 21, 2023) : Some new features of Teams in 2023

Teams

• Collaborate in a table during a Teams meeting with Excel Live.
• Add Viva Insight to Teams to plan time without distractions.
• Schedule when a message will go out in private conversations. (Available with the public preview version)
• Send a message as a one-minute video in a conversation. The option is right next to the send button.
• When adding comments to student work, they will not be posted until the work is returned to the student, allowing time for the teacher to complete the feedback.
• The classroom notebook is now available directly in the Teams mobile application. In fact, the next version of Teams mobile will allow you to see the content of this one without the need for the One Note application.
• The Reflect application, added to Teams, helps to better identify the emotions of students in the classroom. It's also ideal for teamwork.
• Four games have been added to Teams to help build relationships, trust and collaboration during meetings. They include Solitaire, Minesweeper, Worament and icebreaker activities.

One Note

• The Dicter feature is now available in the desktop version of One Note (Beta channel, version 2207 and higher).

Whiteboard

• Insert hyperlinks and videos from multiple sources.
• Text formatting will also arrive very soon.

Planner

• Add a recurring task in a planner.

Outlook

• The standardization of Microsoft's interfaces started more than a year ago and the pre-release of Outlook desktop, similar to the web version, is now available in the Microsoft Store.
• The component Loop allows you to create a collaborative space directly in an email. (Web version only)
• The tool Findtime is now native in the web version of Outlook (and will be soon in the desktop version). This tool allows you to create scheduling polls to find a common time to meet.

ClipChamp

• Purchased by Microsoft in September 2021, this application is available in the Microsoft Store and allows you to create and edit videos on PC.

You will find here the presentation of the new products prepared by Stéphane Lavoie.

Published on August 24, 2022

By Martine Rioux
In collaboration with Alexandra Coutlée, École branchée Educational Services Coordinator

It's back to school and you have a thousand and one things on your mind. To help you out, we've taken a look at what's new from the major manufacturers of digital tools and platforms that you may be using at school. In this series, we will present you with changes and improvements that should catch your attention. 

Today, here are the new features found in Microsoft's tools. Some of them were presented by educational consultant Stéphane Lavoie at the Community of Practice for Information Technology Management in Education (CPGTIE) in June 2022.

Please note that not all the announced new features are deployed at the same time to all users. We invite you to refer to your local RÉCIT or to your school's IT services to verify the availability of the features.

Teams

• New home page for the classroom in Teams
• Classes of 1000 students possible in the Homework and Grades functions
• Now works in Firefox web browser (audio only with screen sharing)
• Added flexible presenter mode (choose the location on the image and the size of the video)
• Collaborative work possible in a shared channel with external people
• Join a Teams meeting with an ID without having an account
• Ability to integrate Moodle courses into a team (see this tutorial in English)

For homework

• Track reading progress (in the Homework function)
• Scan an assignment from the mobile device (possible to upload multiple pages)
• Hand in an assignment for the student in student mode
• Receive notification when homework is due
• Provide feedback in video or with files

About audio and video

• Video and sound improvement (e.g. echo, noise elimination, smoother conversations)
• Adding filters to a video
• Real-time interpreter function
• Impose the set mode for all (same participant display for all)
• Collaboratively annotate a shared screen (requires Microsoft Whiteboard)

Organization and efficiency of work

• Improvements in attendance
• Changes in the chat display (Compact mode)
• Use of color in the calendar
• Improvement in search results
• View Insights data (compiled student data that identifies students potentially in need of increased support)

Immersive player

• Added 9 new languages and a visual dictionary of 6000 images

Other

• Improvements to the display of survey results and automatic recall option in Microsoft Forms
• Limit Microsoft Forms questionnaires in time
• Ability to drop and embed TikTok videos directly into OneNote

Discover the other articles in this series:

• On the Apple side
• On the Google side
• In various educational applications

Have you noticed other new features in these tools or other applications that you use regularly with your students? Let us know by writing to info@ecolebranchee.com