Monthly Archives: October 2020

New Teams Features

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Meeting Tool
 
Spotlight.
Spotlight is being rolled out now, but unlike breakout rooms, spotlight will be in your
team today or if not, then very soon. Spotlight is a lot like Pin in a meeting, but here is the difference. Pinning lets
the person doing the pinning see the other person “front and center” and bigger than the other members in the meeting.
Spotlight on the other allows the meeting organizer to create that “pin” so that everyone sees the same person
“front and center” and bigger than anyone else. Teachers may want to make a point of emphasis and spotlight themselves.
Students may be asked to do something which the rest of the meeting should see, the teacher would choose spotlight.

The ellipsis is the key. The one next to the presenter, and one next to each of the participants can be used to select “Spotlight”.

 

SEL Tools
Microsoft teams has some new and interesting socio-emotional tools that are new this month and one you may not have realized was actually an SEL tool.
Praise.
Praise stickers are available in the chat of the Teams general channel. The stickers are shown below.
Together mode.
Together mode is often seen as a fun and silly tool and that is part of its magic. Together mode
 is useful as well as being SEL relevant. As a teacher you can have students actually raise the hands on their arms and you can see them, or a thumbs up just as easily.  For a student, it can give the feeling of being in a group, being social and not so isolated.

Edge “easability” and accessibility

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Thank you Microsoft!

Two colleagues of mine recently told me that the new Microsoft Edge and the latest Chrome were so similar we could say they were the same, at least when it comes to their code. So when I found these two differences I was so happy to make Microsoft Edge my personal default.

In some areas we can say that Microsoft is growing too much too fast  Teams for example.
Not so with Microsoft edge.
Like Teams, Microsoft edge’s tools work best in a non-tablet (iPad) world, They are still super cool and useful for parents and students alike.

Immersive Reader. Edge now comes with immersive reader as part of its functionality. This is huge for schools who need to find a tech tool to read certain resources to students because of services they require. On any webpage look up to the (…) ellipsis on the top right

Select Read aloud and then choose the voice, and language you wish to hear. You can adjust the speed of the reading as well.

PDF Inline Annotator. This is not the real name for this feature, I am not even sure there is a real name all I know is there should be. this is as much of a game changer as the immersive reader.

This feature works best on a non-tablet environment, but it is pretty cool what you can do with it. You can open a PDF online, in the website. NO DOWNLOADS! You will see a new toolbar that will allow you to draw in 9 colors and highlight in 6 colors. Typing still is not a part of this package, but I can see it coming soon. 

After you draw you can then save it to your computer as a PDF file. This is great for those students whose teachers use many resources from the web and currently use the “free” websites. They always are full of ads and malware. The other alternative is OneNote, which for many, is just too robust and lately has been super glitchy. Happy Annotating!

 

Apple Podcast via the Web

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That’s right, now you can access any apple podcast via a web browser. This is particularly handy in a school setting where we cannot add an app on a whim. At times it takes months and a decertation of use and benefit.

Here is how to do it. It is all the in the ellipsis. (…) When you find your favorite podcast or at least one you would like to share through email, text or LMS go to the episode and look for the … (ellipsis). When you click this it gives you the option of copying the link. When you paste the link in an apple devise it might take a few times to get it to go through the web and not the app. It can be stubborn. However if you are pasting this link in somewhere other than an iOS device it will take you directly to the player and easy peasy listening enjoyment.