We are changing the way we access and use the Microsoft (MS) productivity suite, MS Office. MS Office includes such widely used software applications as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook (email). Currently, MS Office is installed on each school computer. Users can create documents and save them to local hard drives, to a network drive or to a personal device like a thumb drive. If you choose to access your email off-site, you utilize Exchange, MS software that connects your remote computer to the school's server that holds email data.
As I write this post on August 10, we are in the middle of a project that will change the way we access MS Office. Moving forward, we'll be utilizing Microsoft's cloud-based version, Office 365 (O365). With O365, you'll be able to create a document in programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint from any computer with internet access. When you save the created file, you'll continue to have exactly the same options you currently have with one addition; you can also save the file to a personal storage folder accessible from any internet-connected device.
Before I continue with more information, I'd like to be sure the terms I'm using are understood. A cloud-based system simply means that software or data, or both, are stored in a remote server that could be anywhere in the world. The software and data are accessed through a user name and password. A personal storage folder in the cloud is a familiar concept to many GSB users. Dropbox and Google Drive have popularized the concept. A locally hosted system means that the software and data reside at the physical location of the user. Generally, the software and files are accessible only from that location unless access from remote locations is specifically allowed.
Why make this change? Though there are several reasons, the foremost is reliability of email. Currently, our email delivery is not as reliable as we'd like. It probably delivers email safely and accurately over 99% of the time, but the standard we aspire to is a rate of 99.9%. We are currently vulnerable to power outages and brown-outs and hardware failure. With O365, these problems would essentially disappear. But O365 offers more than reliability. It holds the potential to fundamentally change the way all of us, including students, use documents. (Students will get O365 accounts as well.) After creating a document, it can be shared with others. Group editing can occur. Comments can be inserted and replies offered. In short, O365 holds the promise for creating a new learning environment untethered to the classroom.
Why O365 and not Google Drive? It's a question that we carefully considered over the last months, but ultimately, we thought O365 is a better solution for a number of reasons. The specific software applications of O365 (Word, Excel, etc.) are close to identical to the locally-hosted version we currently use. So when we cut over to O365 and you begin using a cloud-based version of Word or Outlook, there will be no learning curve to get started. Though the Google productivity suite is very similar to what we use now, it's different enough that some training might be required. No training is better than some training, every time. Also, the big challenge in this project relates to email, specifically the hundreds of gigs of data that needs to be transferred from our local server in Hockenbury to Microsoft's server. Every user's inbox, folders, calendar, etc. is being copied into the O365 servers dedicated for our use. Partly because our email server already runs on Microsoft equipment and partly because the way Google manages the transfer, it is easier to transfer to O365 than to Google Drive. Finally, with O356, we'll be able to keep our current email addresses. With Google, changes would be mandated.
What lies ahead? Over the next couple of weeks, GSB users will be instructed on how to access email utilizing O365. You'll be given a user name and password and a web site log-in address. Materials will be available to get you started. Our currently timeline has us making the switch to O365 as early as August 14. But there are no guarantees; the date could change. After the switch, you'll need user name and password information to access email.
We'll be using the news feed of KnightSite to keep everyone appraised of changes. Best to log-in to KnightSite regularly beginning August 14 for news about this important change.
Want to get oriented with a quick video? Click below. A quick web search will yield much more information if you are interested.
