Class Teams Home Pages Everything You Need To Know To Get Started

The new homepage feature in Microsoft Class Teams allows you to create homepages within Microsoft Teams for each class, filled with the latest announcements, pinned class resources, upcoming assignments, recently edited class files and much, much more. The good news is that this doesn’t take much time to set up – it’s mostly automatically generated … Read more

Joanne at Bett Show 2022

Cloud Design Box is attending the Schools North East Summit on Thursday 6 October 2022, joining over 500+ school leaders and education experts at St James’ Park in Newcastle. Our stand number is 415.  Set up by a group of Head Teachers in 2007, Schools North East is the first and only school-led regional network … Read more

Attach Microsoft Forms to Teams Assignments

Microsoft Forms are a great way to engage students in their learning and get them to reflect on a recent lesson or revise a topic for an upcoming exam or assessment. In this guide, we show you how to attach a Form to a Microsoft Teams Assignment. With Forms, you can make interactive quizzes for … Read more

Title image for How to convert a Word Document or PDF to a Microsoft Form. Young child with parent looking at a computer screen as they complete homework.

The new Import functionality in Microsoft Forms allows you to import your existing Word and PDF documents and turn them into interactive forms. Note: This function is not currently available on Office.com. Instead, you need to be on forms.office.com. (correct at the time of publishing September 2022).  Converting Word and PDF documents to Microsoft Forms is … Read more

Title image for Spend less time in your email inbox with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. Woman stood resting on her desk while looking through her busy email inbox on her phone. In the background there is a framed illustration, stack of books and a laptop.

Are you opening your email inbox to hundreds of emails and nowhere near enough time to go through them?    The constant ping of email notifications can be overwhelming, and it’s easy to miss, overlook and lose vital information.    And, because most people are in the same boat, there’s a high likelihood of your … Read more

Title image for A new look for CDB Portal allowing you to manage SharePoint and Microsoft Teams from one central place

The CDB Portal is designed to make life easier for our customers. It’s a central space where school leaders and administrators can manage SharePoint and Teams. Users with permissions can create new SharePoint sites, organise class cover and generate assignment analytics reports in just a few clicks.   Recently, we’ve given it a brand new look, … Read more

Title image for How to make writing eaiser with Microsoft Dictate. Young woman using a laptop and headset with a microphone to convert her speech to text with Microsoft Dictate

Microsoft’s Dictate tool is great for those who struggle to get their ideas down onto paper – it allows you to speak into your microphone and convert your speech to text on the screen.   Dictation is available on all Microsoft tools that use text. It’s an excellent feature for both students and teachers, helping … Read more

Cloud Design Box Team Training Session Microsoft Experts

Cloud Design Box is hosting two free webinars for schools and multi academy trusts as part of a Microsoft 365 summer training series.   The virtual sessions take place in August and are completely free for teachers and senior leadership teams to attend. CDB Trainer Keith (right) and the rest of the CDB Team at … Read more

Title image for How to cut the chaos out of collaborating in Microsoft Teams. Three teenage students sat around a laptop and collaborating on a school project. One is holding a pen and notebook.

The collaboration space in Class Notebook allows students and teachers to work together on a learning resource in real-time. This is a great opportunity for students to get more involved in working as a group as they can add text, digital ink (drawing) and insert images and videos. Although letting your class loose on a … Read more

Title image for collaboration channels in Microsoft Class Teams. Three students sitting and working on a group project, one has a laptop, the other two have notebooks.

A collaboration channel in Class Teams is a great way for students to communicate and collaborate on projects in a safe and controlled way. Teachers can create a workspace for group work and add resources so students can work on projects together. The collaboration channel allows you to oversee your students’ progress. How to add … Read more

Businessman analyzing documents at desk with whiteboard in background.

The ability to hand in work on behalf of students in Microsoft Teams Assignments has been long-awaited by teachers, alongside being able to view assignment history of individual students.  In this guide, we show you how to view assignment history and submit student work as a teacher in Teams Assignments. How to view assignment history … Read more

When working in Microsoft Teams, each Class Team that you’re a member of contains a tab where important subject resources can be viewed. Access a resource library for your class by selecting the tab at the top of your Class Team. In this example, it’s a Year 11 English student accessing their Year 11 English … Read more

Add our helpful teaching and learning guides to your SharePoint site with the CDB Blog Posts Web Part Title Image.

In this guide, we show you how to add the Cloud Design Box Blog Posts Web Part to display our helpful guides and resources on your SharePoint sites.   The CDB Blog Posts Web Part automatically pulls in our latest blogs, guides, podcasts, videos and resources to your school or trust’s SharePoint site.  It would … Read more

School child sat at a table on a laptop. There is a red phone in the foreground

Reflect check-ins in Class Notebook are a brilliant way for teachers to get a good understanding of which students may need additional support or guidance.  Meanwhile, reflecting on learning is good practice for students to build self-awareness and take ownership of their own education.   In this guide, we show you how to insert a … Read more

Title image for Getting best value from Microsoft 365 for Education with Jonathan Bishop. Darren Hemming and Jonathan Bishop talking on the podcast.

In this podcast episode, we speak with Jonathan Bishop, the CEO and Executive Headteacher of The Cornerstone Academy Trust (TCAT), about getting the best value from Microsoft 365 for Education. TCAT is based in the southeast of England and comprises four primary schools. Their motto “Fortune Favours the Brave” is undoubtedly reflected in their forward-thinking approach … Read more

How to turn on late turn in notifications for your assignments in Microsoft Teams

The late turn in notification in Microsoft Teams Assignments allows you to be alerted if a student hands in their homework late. The notification appears in the bottom corner of your screen, as well as the activity bell in the top-left of your Microsoft Teams. This can be activated per assignment, or for all assignments … Read more

The QA Hub home page. A communications portal for Dublin and Du?n Laoghaire ETB with Microsoft 365

Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board (DDLETB) worked with Cloud Design Box to build a centralised communication and collaboration portal in Microsoft SharePoint and Teams.   In this webinar, we speak to Marcella O’Dowd (FET Quality Assurance at DDLETB) about the impact the portal is having on the way people work together in the … Read more

Cloud Design Box logo with Outlook Events in SharePoint image.

In this guide, we show you how to add the Cloud Design Box exclusive My Events web part to your SharePoint sites.   The My Events web part gives you a quick glance at your upcoming events by showing your calendar events from Outlook.   It would sit perfectly on a home page so users … Read more

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