+Adding to Office 365 for Education, Microsoft Teams is a digital hub that encourages active learning while helping students develop the communication and collaboration skills they'll need to be successful in the future.
+Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition is a new in-game feature that inspires educators and students to learn to write code to explore, create and play in the full 3D Minecraft world.
+Windows 10 S partner devices including from Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Samsung and Toshiba
+Surface Laptop, powered by Windows 10 S is ideal for college students, is available for pre-order now and will be generally available starting on June 15 in selected countries, including Australia and New Zealand
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| Source: Microsoft. A new version of Windows called Windows 10 S is targeted at teachers and students. |
Microsoft has announced a set of educational products and services inspired by teachers and students, that includes a new Windows experience — Windows 10 S — along with new experiences in Microsoft Teams for a modern collaborative classroom, new features in Minecraft and mixed reality that spark creativity. New hardware include a range of Windows 10 S PCs for primary and secondary school (K12) classrooms, and the Surface Laptop for college students.
"To understand how we could do more, our teams travelled the world to talk with school administrators, teachers, and students using Windows in the classroom. Teachers were consistent—kids can get distracted easily and don’t always follow direction. They asked for their Windows to be more resilient to hundreds of different youthful kids interacting with each device during the school year, maintaining the same great battery life and fast login time on the first day of school as the last," said Terry Myerson, Executive VP, Windows and Devices Group, Microsoft in a blog post.
Windows 10 S is a new Windows experience streamlined for security and superior performance. Windows 10 S offers the power of full-featured applications, with experiences like the full version of Office 365, including all of the capabilities of Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint, among others. With Windows 10 S, educators and students will have access to their favourite and most-used applications across science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), learning tools, secure assessment tools, content publishers, interactive whiteboards and more.
In Windows 10 S, applications that teachers and students download come from the Windows Store where they are first verified for security. At the device level, each application runs in a safe 'container' that ensures consistent performance of the system. In the classroom, this ensures fast login times and consistent performance, Myerson explained.
Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 S, designed to be compatible with the sites educators and students frequently use, also makes it easier for students to organise research and manage school projects with the new Tab Preview Bar. Windows Ink support in Microsoft Edge allows students to make notes directly on a web page and share them with a classmate.
Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint Online already allow students to co-author documents in real time. Coming to the Microsoft Store for Education later this year, new classroom experiences in Microsoft Teams take collaboration to a whole new level, and help students develop the skills they will need for real world success.
Teams is the digital hub for the classroom where teachers and students come to collaborate and learn. Together with OneNote Class Notebooks and new assignment and quiz experiences, teachers can easily distribute content, grade work and personalise learning, and communicate with students, parents and staff. Teams also enables teachers to bring in rich and engaging content from the web, guest speakers and solutions from education partners like busuu, Canvas, Kahoot! and Flipgrid.
Teachers in more than 100 countries are using Minecraft: Education Edition to promote creativity and collaboration in the classroom. Minecraft has become a favourite resource with students and with educators who are using it to teach digital citizenship, inspire creative problem-solving and enable student-centred explorations across the curriculum.
Microsoft is broadening the game’s appeal further with Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition. This new feature is designed to inspire students to learn the basics and the power of coding by combining the open worlds of Minecraft with popular learn-to-code platforms such as Tynker, ScratchX and a new open source platform from Microsoft called MakeCode. Players can move around, build and create in Minecraft by writing code. A one-year free trial of Minecraft: Education Edition and the Code Builder extension are available today for Windows 10 for schools around the world in the Microsoft Store for Education.
To make it easy and affordable to bring Windows 10, Office 365 for Education with Microsoft Teams and Minecraft to the classroom, Microsoft is offering teachers and students the following:
- New Windows 10 education PCs starting at US$189 Free one-year subscription to Minecraft: Education Edition for new Windows 10 education PCs
- Free Windows 10 S for all schools on any current Windows Pro PC
- Free Microsoft Office 365 for Education with Microsoft Teams
- Free trial of Microsoft Intune for Education
Windows 10 S, Office 365 for Education with Microsoft Teams, Minecraft: Education Edition and Microsoft Intune for Education offer a complete solution for teachers and students.
Microsoft’s goal with Windows 10 S is to develop its open partner-centric ecosystem. Device partners including Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Samsung and Toshiba are now offering new Windows 10 PCs for education starting at US$189. In coming months, these partners will also offer a range of Windows 10 S devices, from powerful and affordable Windows Ink and touch PCs to more premium devices.
To bring the performance, simplicity and security of Windows 10 S to university students, Microsoft is expanding the Surface family of devices with Surface Laptop. Available for preorder today in 20 countries, Surface Laptop is the perfect balance of portability, performance and elegance. Powered by Windows 10 S, Surface Laptop is engineered to start fast and stay fast with a 7th-generation Intel Core processor and up to 14.5 hours of battery life*.
The 13.5" PixelSense Display is optimised for touch and inking for an immersive experience, and the optically bonded Corning Gorilla Glass 3 adds durability. The signature keyboard is covered in luxurious Alcantara material and features a quiet and responsive keyset, large precision trackpad, and soft palm rest for a new level of typing comfort. Surface Laptop is available in four tone-on-tone colours**: Platinum, Graphite Gold, Burgundy and Cobalt Blue.
Surface Laptop starts at US$999 and will be available starting June 15. In Asia Pacific customers can preorder Surface Laptop starting today in Australia, and New Zealand, where available at the Microsoft Store, microsoftstore.com and BestBuy.com. Surface Laptop will also be available in China later this year. Availability in other markets will be announced in the coming months.
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| Source: Microsoft. Viewing a scene in Mixed Reality. |
With 3D and Windows Mixed Reality, Microsoft is helping empower educators with a new set of tools to create curricula for their students and peers. A new feature coming to Windows 10 this fall (editor's note: roughly Q3-Q4), called View Mixed Reality. This feature allows users to see 3D content through the screen into the real world as Mixed Reality (augmented reality), using a simple RGB camera.
Microsoft also announced a new strategic partnership with Pearson, one of the largest education companies in the world, which is working to integrate 3D and mixed reality into its secondary school and university level curricula. By the 2018 school year, Pearson will offer curricula in health, commerce, history and STEM on Windows Mixed Reality devices.
Beginning Saturday, May 6, Microsoft Store locations across Australia will host STEM Saturdays throughout May in all full-line locations in addition to the range of free programmes year-round that empower students and educators by providing direct access to technology and hands-on learning. STEM Saturdays bring Microsoft Education’s pop-up classrooms to the Microsoft Store and give participants a hands-on experience building a sensor that measures the flexion and extension of a finger to learn about the anatomy of a human hand. Anyone, including teachers, students and parents, can attend STEM Saturdays workshops at a Microsoft Store every Saturday in May.
"We believe technology can be used as a tool to empower students and teachers to create the world of tomorrow," concluded Myerson. "We can’t wait for tomorrow."
Interested?
Watch the video introducing mixed reality
Hashtag: #MicrosoftEDU
*Testing conducted by Microsoft in April 2017 using preproduction Intel Core i5, 256 GB, 8GB RAM devices. Testing consisted of full battery discharge during video playback. All settings were default except Wi-Fi was associated with a network and Auto-Brightness disabled. Battery life varies significantly with settings, usage and other factors.
**Check which colours are available in your geography, and on which models.
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