Whiteboard for Education is an extension of the Whiteboard service Microsoft launched earlier this year. A collaborative application, Whiteboard integrates with inking capabilities of Microsoft Office to bring content to a screen that can be used by multiple users across devices. Functional locally or online, the service works with mouse, keyboard, pen, and touch. Documents sync automatically to the loud for use on any PC at a later date and inviting another user is as easy as sharing a link. While collaborating, users see a little avatar to signify the work of another user, and color choices provide further clarity.
Features
As for the upcoming Whiteboard for Education preview, Microsoft is promising the following abilities: “Collaborate in real time, wherever you are: Give ideas room to grow using Whiteboard’s infinite canvas. Drive an interactive lesson from the front of the classroom on a large display. Flip the classroom by letting students contribute with notes, images, diagrams, and more on their individual devices. Brainstorm with others and be inspired by their thoughts in real time. Provide a limitless space for lessons, student ideas, and group projects. Unlock creativity and interact naturally: Work with whatever feels most natural to you. Teachers and students can use their fingers to make quick additions or draw the finer details with a digital pen. The pen-first, touch-first technology gives students immediate creative power, right at their fingertips. Don’t have pen or touch? Whiteboard for EDU works great with a keyboard and mouse too. Supercharge your learning experience: From the ground up, Whiteboard for EDU has been designed with teachers and students in mind: to work the way you already do. Export your board directly to OneNote Class Notebooks for safekeeping: Change Whiteboard’s background to a variety of new colors (including blackboard mode!) and reduce eye strain. Play with different line styles to support writing and graphing. Use education-themed stickers with your students to collect poll responses and give feedback in real time. Increase the readability of quickly-jotted notes with Ink Beautification, which analyzes handwriting and automatically replaces it with more legible strokes. Choose different ink styles and colors to give handwriting extra oomph. And for teachers and students who occasionally use analog whiteboards, you can convert pictures of your notes into real digital ink with Ink Grab, making the move from analog to digital seamless.”
