https://padlet.com/amanda_dickenson/zc8wj0hs684s Exploring Affordances and Allowances of Office 365 in the Classroom en-us 2019-06-23 20:08:50 UTC 2025-09-24 03:03:28 UTC hello@padlet.com https://imgglb.padletcdn.com/v13/image?t=g_auto&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpadlet.net%2Ficons%2Fpng%2F1f5a5.png amanda_dickenson https://padlet.com/amanda_dickenson/zc8wj0hs684s/wish/368830602 See below for the audio of this writing. I tried to provide not only the audio, but also a transcript in case I blabbered on. :)

Welcome to the Future...(or so Microsoft says)

The grand and powerful Office 365 (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain)

For the past year, I have become quite knowledgeable about Office 365 as not only has my student teaching school used it (students and teachers), but also my first semester teaching's school used it. It has become the powerhouse of personal, work, and business platforms for all Microsoft Office needs like Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, etc. Even Kennesaw has switched over to using it, so I now use it almost daily. To modify Ron Burgundy's words "[it's] kinda a big deal." 

Coming from a I.T. centered home and background (raised by an I.T/computer engineer dad), I can see both the affordances and constraints Office 365 allows students and teachers, so let's get to it...(see next block)

]]> 2019-06-23 20:15:42 UTC https://padlet.com/amanda_dickenson/zc8wj0hs684s/wish/368830602 amanda_dickenson https://padlet.com/amanda_dickenson/zc8wj0hs684s/wish/368831438 Please listen to the audio for more detail on the bullet points

Affordances
(what Office 365 allows the users (teacher and student as well) to do). Sorry, did not realize I made this very school centered.

1.) All your Office tools tools are on one Platform.
2.) Communication within the platform is easy to facilitate. (there are several ways to set up chats, group emails, sharing, etc.)
3.) It is accessible almost everywhere there is WiFi.
4.) There are receipts to everything that is done in the platform and things can be stored easily without too much hassle. 

While these may seem like everyday things that Office 365 allows us to do, Jones and Hafner would say it have an "unexpectedly large effect on whole societies and cultures (Jones and Hafner, 2012).

]]> 2019-06-23 20:27:32 UTC https://padlet.com/amanda_dickenson/zc8wj0hs684s/wish/368831438 amanda_dickenson https://padlet.com/amanda_dickenson/zc8wj0hs684s/wish/368834317 Please listen to the audio for more detail on each bullet point. Sorry, did not realize I made this very school centered again.

While there are so many affordances, there are several constraints for Office 365 , which need to be addressed.

Constraints 
(what Office 365 may not help with or may take away from teachers and students)

1.) Not as user friendly as advertised for students and teachers.
2.) Microsoft updates every 5 seconds.
3.) Tools are not the same at home (Microsoft Word is slightly different from Office 365's version of Word) 
4.) Students find it more trouble than it is worth (from personal experience during my student teaching). In other words, not a whole lot of "buy-in" for students. 

The main takeaway from the Office 365 constraints are the usability and the student buy-in factor.

If students get frustrated and it takes away from the message or goal of the class, why use it? Would those frustrations "blind" us to the solutions that would help us use the platform? 


]]> 2019-06-23 21:04:15 UTC https://padlet.com/amanda_dickenson/zc8wj0hs684s/wish/368834317 amanda_dickenson https://padlet.com/amanda_dickenson/zc8wj0hs684s/wish/368841142 2019-06-23 22:14:23 UTC https://padlet.com/amanda_dickenson/zc8wj0hs684s/wish/368841142