Episode 8 - Reflections upon on MS Teams
In this episode, Helen Meek, a Senior Teaching Fellow the Department of Marketing at the Lancaster University Management School, reflects on how she integrated in Microsoft Teams in the autumn of 2019 onto a 3rd year marketing consultancy project module. The initial change came from a need to move from Box where students and staff normally collaborated to Teams due to changing agreements.
Helen provides some insights into the lessons learned from implementing MS Teams in autumn 2019 and on how using a collaboration tool helped both her students and staff with both collaboration and communication across national borders as the Covid19 pandemic started to shut down society across the UK.
Perhaps this is one example of a practice for blended learning which can help students and staff keep connected while being apart no matter the circumstances.
Resources (and places!) mentioned
The Microsoft Educator Center
The Microsoft Educator Center provides a range of short courses/modules that can help educators get to grips with understanding a full range of the Microsoft tools such as MS Teams, OneNote, Sway and of course Word and FlipGrid.
There are also courses to help colleagues better understand how these tools can be used in a pedagogically sound manner for both remote emergency learning and planned digital education. You can find the site here: https://education.microsoft.com/
OneDrive
OneDrive is Microsoft's answer to Google Drive and Apple's iCloud. If you have a school/university account that uses Microsoft Office 365, then you probably have a OneDrive account, too. You can find out more about OneDrive here: https://support.office.com/en-us/onedrive
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort on the Irish Sea coast of England. It's known for Blackpool Pleasure Beach, an old-school amusement park with vintage wooden roller coasters. Built in 1894, the landmark Blackpool Tower houses a circus, a glass viewing platform and the Tower Ballroom, where dancers twirl to the music of a Wurlitzer organ. Blackpool Illuminations is an annual light show along the Promenade.
Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool
You can find out about Blackpool by visiting the following link: https://www.visitblackpool.com/. Blackpool is about 40 minutes by car from Lancaster.