The All New Microsoft Office 365

Office 365 is the latest release of “office suite” software from Microsoft. In years past we used Microsoft Office, however this latest release is vastly different. Office 365 brings a variety valuable features for school and students, and is going to be a major game changer for teachers and students. Here are some basics about Office 365:

• Office 365 is not being distributed traditionally. This means that in order to use this software you will have to download it from the internet. It is not available on disc.
• Office 365 has a built in feature which allows you to store your files on the cloud by using a SkyDrive account.
• In regard to home use, instead of buying the software and using it as you wish, the new Office 365 is available as a subscription. This means you have to renew the subscription yearly and pay a yearly price.
• Once you have purchased your subscription, you will have a license to download Office 365 on up to five machines.
• Office 365 is touch screen friendly.

Office 365 Offers Exciting Educational Opportunities

When it comes to how Office 365 will be used in the classroom, much of the same rules apply – except in the case of educators, the software is free for the students and teachers to use. The software is installed on school computers, and each student is given their own cloud storage. Office 365 includes cloud based e-mail and instant messaging for students along with a calendar feature and a place to store contacts information.

• The use of Office 365 will bring some major changes to the classroom. Educators will be able to utilize Office 365 in a variety of ways which serve to improve classroom productivity and better educate our children.
• Students will be well trained on the application, which provides real world education that students will need to succeed once they leave school.
• Students will be able to work on school projects from home by accessing their school cloud account.
• Office 365 will help save money for schools to help with budgeting
• Teachers can connect with children who are out of school due to illness

Office 365 Support and Management

The only true obstacle that Office 365 poses is that the hardware for the cloud based storage is a burden that the school will have to carry. Not only that, but it can be a time consuming to manage the application and keep it updated. Oftentimes it is cost efficient for schools to outsource this instead of employing an in house team. At LIMOTTA IT we have put together a specialized program to address educational cloud support and options using Office 365. We excel at helping organizations implement Microsoft Office 365.