"Ask me anything" sessions to support educators with remote learning in M365

[Sam McNeill]

Hi Team,

Cross posting from the techies for schools group.

I know you're likely to have teachers that may have questions around how to use various elements of M365 for remote learning.

To support you and your educator colleagues, we have set up a regular series of "ask me anything" sessions - these are designed to be "digital drop in sessions" that will be entirely reactive to questions we receive.

These may be technical "how do I do x,y,z in OneNote" for example, or they may be pedagogical - we will have some of our awesome Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts (MIE-E) on the sessions as well offering their classroom expertise on remote learning.

Here's the initial series - you can by clicking the link OR dialing in with the conference ID if that is easier.

Date / Time	Teams Link
Tuesday 24th – 3:30-4:15pm	Join Microsoft Teams Meeting +64 4-280 7433   New Zealand, Wellington (Toll) Conference ID: 595 820 938#
Wednesday 25th – 11am-11:4am	Join Microsoft Teams Meeting +64 4-280 7433   New Zealand, Wellington (Toll) Conference ID: 595 820 938#
Thursday 26th – 2pm-2:45pm	Join Microsoft Teams Meeting +64 4-280 7433   New Zealand, Wellington (Toll) Conference ID: 595 820 938#
Tuesday 31st – 10am-10:45am	Join Microsoft Teams Meeting +64 4-280 7433   New Zealand, Wellington (Toll) Conference ID: 595 820 938#
Thursday 2nd – 3:30pm-4:15pm	Join Microsoft Teams Meeting +64 4-280 7433   New Zealand, Wellington (Toll) Conference ID: 595 820 938#
Tuesday 7th – 10am-10:45am	Join Microsoft Teams Meeting +64 4-280 7433   New Zealand, Wellington (Toll) Conference ID: 595 820 938#
Thursday 9th – 3:30pm-4:15pm	Join Microsoft Teams Meeting +64 4-280 7433   New Zealand, Wellington (Toll) Conference ID: 595 820 938#

Whilst these are intended for educators, if there are technical questions I'm happy to field those as well, or hit me up on this thread. I have collated a bunch of resources here as well:

https://samuelmcneill.com/2020/03/16/the-ultimate-collection-of-resources-for-remote-learning-with-microsoft-365/

As we all band together to support our educators and students across the country, I do appreciate you sharing this series with your colleagues that would benefit from them,

Regards,

Sam

[Don Christie]

Just a note, Microsoft teams doesn't seem to work on all platforms or browsers. Not saying don't use it but be aware some will struggle to engage.

Cheers

Don

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Donald Christie - Managing Director
Catalyst IT Limited 
Level 6,150-154 Willis Street, PO Box 11-053  
Wellington New Zealand
Tel:+64 4 4992267
Mob:+64 21 707814
http://catalyst.net.nz 

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[Sam McNeill]

HI Don,

support is pretty mainstream for Teams - here's the current list taken from:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/limits-specifications-teams

Browsers

Teams fully supports the following Internet browsers, with noted exceptions for calling and meetings.

TABLE 9

Browser	Calling - audio, video, and sharing	Meetings - audio, video, and sharing1 2
Internet Explorer 11	Not supported	Meetings are supported only if the meeting includes PSTN coordinates. To attend a meeting on IE11 without PSTN coordinates, users must download the Teams desktop client. Video: Not supported Sharing: Incoming sharing only (no outgoing)
Microsoft Edge, RS2 or later	Fully supported, except no outgoing sharing	Fully supported, except no outgoing sharing
Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based), the latest version plus two previous versions	Fully supported	Fully supported
Google Chrome, the latest version plus two previous versions	Fully supported	Fully supported Sharing is supported without any plug-ins or extensions on Chrome version 72 or later.
Firefox, the latest version plus two previous versions	Not supported	Meetings are supported only if the meeting includes PSTN coordinates. To attend a meeting on Firefox without PSTN coordinates, users must download the Teams desktop client. Video: Not supported Sharing: Incoming sharing only (no outgoing)
Safari 11.1+	Not supported	Meetings are supported only if the meeting includes PSTN coordinates. To attend a meeting on Safari without PSTN coordinates, users must download the Teams desktop client. Video: Not supported Sharing: Incoming sharing only (no outgoing) Safari is enabled on versions higher than 11.1 in preview. While in preview, there are known issues with Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention.

1 To give and take control of shared content during sharing, both parties must be using the Teams desktop client. Control isn't supported when either party is running Teams in a browser. This is due to a technical limitation that we're planning to fix. To learn more, read Allow a participant to give or request control.

2 Blur my background isn't available when you run Teams in a browser. This feature is only available in the Teams desktop client.

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[Josh Campbell]

I've been working with a customer using Teams to get up and running remotely and was surprised to find it runs on Ubuntu remarkably well.
So far a group of educators all using a range of devices and operating systems have successfully worked together. Video in the browser was a bit variable but did the job for a short conversation.

Josh

ZYPE Design
http://zype.co.nz

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[Sam McNeill]

Great to hear Josh!

I tried the FlatHub package (https://flathub.org/apps) on Elementary OS (fork of Ubuntu) and that installed flawlessly and worked well too.

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-- 
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Donald Christie - Managing Director
Catalyst IT Limited 
Level 6,150-154 Willis Street, PO Box 11-053  
Wellington New Zealand
Tel:+64 4 4992267
Mob:+64 21 707814
http://catalyst.net.nz 

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Sam McNeill
s...@mcneill.co.nz
+64 21 438 726

www.samuelmcneill.com 

[Dave Lane]

Yeah, not as impressed by the push to get schools and even students to adopt these Microsoft technologies. 

To use it don't you have to accept Microsoft's Ts&Cs? Wonder how many people have read (and actually comprehended) them.

Out of curiosity, Sam, can you point me to a copy of all the legal terms for MSO 365 & Teams online? (They're strangely hard to find outside of the "type 'I ACCEPT'" box...)

Also, for our kids, just wondering who's clicking the "I ACCEPT" on their behalf, because I've never been asked to do it, nor have my kids... That sounds like the makings of a legit scandal.

Just a thought.

Dave

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-- 
---------------------------------------
Donald Christie - Managing Director
Catalyst IT Limited 
Level 6,150-154 Willis Street, PO Box 11-053  
Wellington New Zealand
Tel:+64 4 4992267
Mob:+64 21 707814
http://catalyst.net.nz 

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[Dave Lane]

While we're here, on the topic of taking schools online - if anyone wants to try an educational video conferencing (not a business tool, hastily repurposed for schools), the NZ Open Source Society is currently offering access to Big Blue Button.

it's specifically set up for online learning and collaboration.

You're all welcome to give it a try - we're able to make it available pro bono (it's also fully open source, so you can set one up yourself, or get someone else to do it on your behalf) - here's a test room: https://bbb.nzoss.nz/b/dav-hm3-m7x - no software install required - just a modern browser like Chromium/Chrome/Brave/Firefox.

If you'd like to set up your own room, just drop me an email and I"ll send you an invite. No strings attached.

We're able to make this available thanks to efforts from our volunteer system admins and generous sponsorship from CatalystCloud.nz (disclaimer: I have no affilation). This, along with other services we offer (like our chat - https://chat.nzoss.nz - similar to MS Teams, but fully open source) are all hosted onshore here in NZ, and all data is held in NZ, not in overseas jurisdictions.

Cheers,

Dave (President, NZ Open Source Society; Open Source Technologist, OER Foundation; concerned parent)

[Mike Etheridge]

Indeed, Dave. The intensity of the push to Teams, and the disingenuity (I reckon its a word even if spell checker doesn’t) of some the providers, and the backhander involved, led us to resist. No regrets so far.

Mike

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[Sam McNeill]

HI Dave,

Sorry - had replied from email but didn't seem to show up in here.

Terms recently updated here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/01/08/updated-microsoft-online-services-terms-available-around-world/

and they point directly to Product and Online Services here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/products

Cheers

sam

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[Dave Lane]

Thanks Sam - there's quite an array of them, eh. And I assume, like every set of software Ts&Cs they're "subject to change without notice at the discretion of [vendor]". In which case, you'd have to go back and check them regularly to see what changes might've been slipped in since the last time you gave them a thorough read... Would be a full-time job to stay on top of it all. Thus the farce of "informed consent".

Assuming they could work out which ones apply, I wonder if anyone at the Min of Ed has read these Ts&Cs, developed a legal analysis and briefed the MInistry on it, and provide guidance for schools and teacher... I suspect not (although my recent OIA request might shed some light on the question). Al

I suspect no one reads them (I know "IP" lawyers who write them who have never read the terms of any of the software they've become dependent on...). Some questions for this list:

1. how many of you have actually read and understood the Ts&Cs for any of the proprietary software products you or your school uses (or you require you students to use)?
2. if you have read them, how many of you have felt cheerful about clicking "I ACCEPT"?
3. How many of you felt very uncomfortable about doing so, but clicked "I ACCEPT" because you felt you had no choice? And last,
   
4. Who clicks "I ACCEPT" on behalf of learners and parents, because neither I nor my boys have ever been asked to do so... (our boys need to use SeeSaw and Google Apps to participate in their schools - they're just as proprietary). 

I'd be keen to find this out.

Dave

[Don Christie]

Hi Josh

That's great to hear. Wasn't working for me on that configuration, and not supporting Firefox is a problem :-( but I'll have another look. I understand the desire just to get people talking.

Cheers

Don

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[Dave Lane]

Of course, even if it works, it'd be quite a rational decision for an educator or a parent (or a student) to reject the terms of service for the tool... would the Ministry of Ed refuse a learner an equivalent education or an educator a job if they prefer not to sacrifice their personal (or their child's) privacy or data sovereignty? I wonder how they'll respond as more and more people realise how insidious this approach has been all along... It's a fairly large elephant in the room.

Cheers,

Dave

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[Josh Campbell]

Hi,

Initially I had to move to Firefox as it was Chrome that spat the dummy and it ran pretty smoothly. Missing a few things from the desktop app but not too bad (functionally speaking). This particular customer already had Office365 available which is the primary reason they are experimenting with it. In terms of learning management it's a hack.

As it's being implied in this discussion I'd be interested to hear what the current suite of open source tools are for this sort of online learning. I'm familiar with Moodle but has anything else come along recently that allows a teacher to interact with students both as a group and individuals. Tools that integrate file systems and document storage with learning management tools are at the top of my list. Integrating online/digital work with assessment and feedback mechanisms is important.

Josh

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[Wayne Mackintosh]

Hi Josh,

Here at the OERu (an international collaboration of 40+ universities from around the world) we use:

• Rocket.Chat for DM
• BigBlueButton for web conferences (has breakout rooms which are useful in a variety of learning contexts)
• Nextcloud hub  (file systems and document storage)
  

We have opted for a component-based solution using best of breed FOSS tools rather than using a single LMS and this is working very well for us given that we're serving learners from five continents providing free learning opportunities with pathways to formal academic credit.

Best wishes

Wayne

Wayne Mackintosh (PhD)

UNESCO / ICDE Chair in Open Educational Resources

Managing Director,  OER Foundation and OERu facilitator

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