Microsoft Teams for Education: Supporting Inclusive & Accessible Learning

For many schools Microsoft Teams is a staple EdTech tool for online teaching.

They offer a rich repository of supporting guides for using it in Education, that cover getting started through best practice tutorials for how to run virtual classes.

Re-imagining Education: From Remote to Hybrid Learning

There is also detailed technical resources that provide a guide to remote learning, an evolution that is examined in this paper Reimagining education: From remote to hybrid learning, which explores how ‘deep learning’ can be achieved in virtual environments.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a torrent of individual and small-group responses as to how education could be transformed. We have found a groundswell of interest in the question, “How best to take advantage of the new opportunities arising from the disruption?” What people desperately need are opportunities to team up and find pathways of action that can deepen learning for students and teachers and to engage in new ways of learning that result in better outcomes.”

Education Technology also suggests this hybrid learning approach is key to successfully transitioning through this new Covid-19 world.

Accessibility and Digital Inclusion

The feature video showcases Mike Tholfsen, Product Manager on the Microsoft Education team, sharing tips on three Microsoft tools designed to support inclusive and accessible learning: Immersive Reader, Reading Progress, and Feelings Monster in Reflect, and how they can be used to boost class engagement, individualize student instruction, and support learners with dyslexia.

In 2020 Mike was profiled as the GeekWire Geek of the Week, where he shared his passion for making education technology more accessible, and highlighted the key features and strategy from Microsoft Education to make learning more inclusive and empowering for students of all abilities.