Get Creative with Microsoft Free Tools and Dock to Desktop

 Big ideas start from innovative and small ideas. Innovative minds already know that using ICT to enhance learning is a critical path to take but as to where to start, others are still in the dark. In this blog you will learn from the very first webinar I conducted on the 12th of February 2015 about the “Creative use of Microsoft Free Tools" to kick start teaching with technology .

The free digital tools are accessible on Microsoft Educator Network under Resources tab.  Tutorials and guidelines in a form of videos and written explanations are available and come with each tool. The tutorials do not prescribe how teachers should use the tools but only give guidelines. Innovative teachers decide on how to creatively use them to bring life to their lessons. References could be made from other teachers learning activities also available under the same resources tab on the Microsoft Educator Network website.

Dock to Desktop is an exciting functionality used to annotate documents like Word, PowerPoint, Web Browser, social media and other One Note pages on OneNote. This functionality allows users to make notes on a docked OneNote and also link the reference page. Say you are making notes on a PowerPoint, the summary made will have a thumbnail that will take you back to the PowerPoint whenever you want to.

 How do we create LINKED docked OneNote page that keeps track of the document you are summarizing? Click on the Linked Notes button under Review tab on Word or PowerPoint documents, a OneNote Page + the associated document will appear. While working on your OneNote 2013 version you could press Ctrl+Alt+D and same will apply. Dock to desktop helps students to avoid copy and paste as the teacher will be able to see the source of students’ work, plagiarism is also avoided as the page is referenced. Teachers can prepare documents for students to make reference to while working on their OneNote tasks. Find more information on Dock to Desktop, Microsoft Educator Network and Schoolnet on the links provided below.

Links

Dock to Desktop http://bit.ly/1zNNgzq

Microsoft Educator Network www.schoolnet.org.za

Schoolnet www.educatornetwork.com

Schoolnet Blog http://schoolnetsa.blogspot.com/2015/02/schoolnet-webinar-recording-from-thurs.html

Webinar Recording http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p51jjj9kt29/ or 

https://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/_a1018039008/p51jjj9kt29/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

In conclusion, I would like to acknowledge Marjolein Hoekstra, AbuUbaydullah Abdulkabeer Ishola, Hari Krishna Arya, Razan Roberts and others for their continued support, motivation and contribution on this MIEExpert 15 journey we are taking. Mentors like you are hard to find. Special thanks to Marjolein for her patience and selfless sharing of ideas.