Office 365 is the newest leap forward in education here at our school. This program allows for students to connect with not only their teachers and supervisers, but also allows for students to connect with each other and save files through an online cloud.

“The cloud is useful if you lose your flash drive,” principal Tom Lietz said. “You forget your homework assignments? Then all you have to do is go on the cloud.”

Along with an online saving system, the setup looks exactly like Microsoft Word documents. In fact, Office 365 is created by Microsoft, with similar features of Google Drive. These features include Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.

“Eight teachers were trained in the program this year,” Lietz said. “Not as many teachers are using the program this year, but next year there will be many using the Office 365 feature and e-mail system.”

Office 365 allows teachers to assign their students assignments on a specific due date. Students can also then, in return, submit their assignments to the teacher before or on the due date. Students can access these assignments wherever they are, all that is needed is internet connection and an Office 365 account. Many teachers have already started to use the program, including Brian Drobnich and Todd Koehn.

“I have used one-note as a review tool to put everything in one place,” Drobnich said. “That way, my notes can be viewed by all my students at any time.”

As well as using one-note, Drobnich has also been using Link, an online video-chat device, to chat with professionals in his AP Enviornmental Science class.This has allowed him to get more in depth in the material needed to be successful on the AP Exam.

Many students find programs similar to Office 365 helpful to their education. One of the ways is that students have a familiar layout of Word combined with a cloud saving feature unlike any other program. Also, students can easily access their homework or essays at the click of a mouse, or just the touch of a finger.

However, with the program comes the ability to share with anyone in the building with the same account as you. The accessibility of Google Drive combined with the school connection between student and staff creates a revoloutionary software that will certainly be used for years to come.

Overall, Office 365 is a new and powerful tool that teachers are going to be able to use, not only to students that are at school, but also to students sick at home. The next generation of education always tries to innovate into the modern era, and Office 365 is the next leap into the modern educational system.