Microsoft Teams for education
In urgent response to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, nurseries, schools, colleges and universities across the UK have closed until further notice. This will have a severe impact on the educational needs of students in the UK.
With these sudden closures, many parents and educators are scrambling for ideas on how to continue to support learning. As a result of the widespread panic, The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has updated their distance learning guide for the 861 million students around the globe, with around 15 million of those in the UK, impacted by the crisis.
Supporting distance learning with Microsoft Teams
If ever there was a time to quickly and efficiently support distance learning, it is now. Microsoft Teams can help your school, college or university offer learning support amid the crisis. Teams helps parents, teachers, schools, colleges and universities facilitate student learning and interaction during periods of closure, which at the moment, is for the foreseeable future.
Microsoft Teams is a digital hub that brings conversations, content and coursework together in one simple-to-use place. Teams is part of Office 365 and is free for educational establishments. With Teams, your institution can create collaborative classrooms, connect in professional learning communities, communicate with staff, coordinate research and facilitate social events.
Microsoft Teams – recommended UNESCO digital learning support tool
To minimise educational disruption amid the crisis, UNESCO has created a list of digital learning resources and included Microsoft Teams as one of the go-to solutions to chat, meet, call and collaborate through live-video communication. All these features quickly enable and support distance learning.
How do I get Microsoft Teams for education?
Microsoft Teams is free for educational establishments to help them build collaborative classrooms, connect in professional learning communities and connect with colleagues. Schools and colleges can access Teams free here. Simply verify that you are an accredited academic institution to get started.