The new Parent Connection app in Microsoft Teams allows teachers to directly communicate with students’ parents/guardians via the chat function. Here’s how to get started with messaging parents/guardians via Teams. Firstly, the Parent Connection app must be enabled by an IT admin. Here’s how to set up the Parent Connection app in Microsoft Teams. When … Read more
Microsoft Teams For Education
Microsoft Teams has launched a new parent connection tool, allowing teachers and parents to directly communicate via the chat function. In this guide, we show you how to enable the connection app using data provisioned by School Data Sync. There are a few requirements that are essential for setting up the Parent Connection app in … Read more
In this podcast episode, we spoke with Martin Edworthy, eLearning Coordinator at Sacred Heart Catholic High School about how they moved from their school’s Microsoft 365 tenant to a centralised tenancy for their trust (The Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust). “Working between two tenancies was becoming unnecessarily complex as our members of staff needed multiple … Read more
In this podcast episode, we spoke to Microsoft specialist and TweetMeet lead Marjolein Hoekstra about her journey with Microsoft, TweetMeets, MVPs, MSEduCentral and much more. She reveals three must-have resources designed especially for educators and school leaders. Marjolein first became connected with Microsoft after diving deep into OneNote and designing an example of what features … Read more
Have you ever wanted to see exactly who has viewed a document and when? In this guide, Tony demonstrates the SharePoint Viewers feature, which allows you to see who has viewed your documents in SharePoint. By default, when you hover over a document in SharePoint, it shows how many people have viewed the file. … Read more
In this second podcast episode with Bridge Academy Trust (BAT), we discuss user adoption tips with Mark Fuller, IT Director and how he is supporting 12 schools to embrace the tools in Microsoft 365. Bridge Academy Trust is a large MAT made up of four secondary schools and eight primary schools. In 2021, the Trust … Read more
In this quick video, Tony shows you how to add assignments in Microsoft Teams to student and teacher calendars. When you next go to set a task in Assignments in Teams, look for the option to Add assignment to calendars. Here you have four options: None – The default setting and will not add … Read more
After two years of virtual demos and online networking, we were thrilled to be back at Bett Show in March, talking with schools and trusts face-to-face about blended learning. A huge thank you to everyone who came along to see us on our shared stand with our partners SalamanderSoft. The long-awaited three-day event … Read more
Microsoft Forms can help teachers to identify gaps in learning and keep track of students’ progress on specific topics. Over the last few years, many students have inevitably lost hours of learning due to higher absences, adjusting to learning from home and dealing with abrupt changes in restrictions. On top of this, some individuals … Read more
Teachers can easily and quickly reassign homework tasks to individual students in Microsoft Teams Assignments when students have missed out on learning. Over the last few years, many students have inevitably lost hours of learning due to higher absences, adjusting to learning from home and dealing with abrupt changes in restrictions. On top of this, … Read more
Microsoft SharePoint can help schools and trusts overcome many of the lost learning challenges they face in 2022. Over the last few years, many students have inevitably lost hours of learning, due to higher levels of absences, adjusting to learning from home and dealing with abrupt changes in restrictions. On top of this, some individuals … Read more
Lost learning is one of the many challenges schools face in 2022. In this blog, we share our top tips using Cloud Design Box and Microsoft education packages to encourage students to catch up with learning independently. Many students have lost learning due to: Higher levels of absences (of both staff and students). Adjusting to … Read more
Cloud Design Box has been working with St Kevin’s Community College in Dublin to support them in becoming one of the first DEIS (Delivery Equality of Opportunity in Schools) schools in Ireland. The DEIS Connect Project aims to bridge the digital divide in schools and provide digital devices for all learners. It was launched by … Read more
Cloud Design Box has become one of the first companies to achieve the Microsoft School Data Sync Professional Partner Certification – the highest certification for Microsoft SDS. Microsoft SDS simplifies class management in Microsoft 365, reading class data from your school, academy or trust’s MIS and creating classes and groups for Microsoft Teams. Previously, we … Read more
OneNote can be used to create and organise digital learning content for students – that can be shared in a centralised area. Teachers can create a mini-website/digital topic notebook for each topic that can then be shared via a link or in Teams. Important: This is not a tutorial on creating Class Notebooks. For more … Read more
Getting students engaged outside of the classroom can be difficult. While most students understand that they must complete homework and assignments for their classes, creating homework assignments that are engaging helps to reinforce learning and development. Below, we have some ideas on how you can use some of the tools in Microsoft 365, Teams … Read more
We know that time is precious when you work in education; whether you’re marking, planning, or delivering a lesson, it can be tricky to find the time to get back to what you love about teaching. While we can’t increase the number of hours in your day, we can give you some ideas on saving … Read more
UPDATE: Bett has moved to Wednesday 23 – Friday 25 March 2022 Cloud Design Box is attending Bett 2022 – which returns to the ExCeL London from Wednesday 23 – Friday 25 March 2022. The most prominent international EdTech exhibition is back, and we’re thrilled to be a part of it for another year. You can find us at Stand SP53 – next to … Read more
In Microsoft Teams Assignments, a weekly assignment summary email can be sent automatically to parents and guardians of students. This is an easy way to inform and engage parents in their child’s homework, as the digest gives them an overview of what assignments have been completed and which are yet to be handed in. If you don’t … Read more
We are hosting a free webinar for schools, academies and trusts focusing on how you can successfully adopt and roll out Microsoft Teams, without wasting time or money. One of the main challenges we see schools and MATs face when rolling out new technology is user adoption. There’s a central group of tech-savvy staff who pick up … Read more