Every year I do a series of posts on the updates that have happened over the course of the last 6 months with various office products and this year I am going to do just a couple of posts and combine multiple products.

This week we are going to focus on PowerPoint and Teams, next week the blog will be OneNote, Word, & OneNote. The final week will be on Co-Pilot and Designer.

PowerPoint

Teleprompter

PowerPoint’s video recording feature is undeniably one of its coolest functionalities, offering various enhancements to make video creation a breeze. One standout improvement is the integrated teleprompter.

The teleprompter feature allows you to deliver exquisite videos effortlessly. By using teleprompter, you will learn to maintain eye contact with the camera and be a confident speaker. Gone are the days of struggling to glance at cue cards or scripts, resulting in a more engaging and polished video presentation. By enabling the auto-scroll feature, your script syncs seamlessly with your speaking pace, eliminating any awkward pauses or rushed delivery.

This tool not only benefits seasoned video creators but also empowers students in the classroom setting. As they embark on their video creation journey, the teleprompter provides an invaluable advantage, instilling confidence in students and enhancing the overall quality of their work. Whether they’re delivering a presentation, sharing their research findings, or engaging in creative projects, the teleprompter will undoubtedly elevate their video-making skills.

As educators, you can leverage PowerPoint’s teleprompter to foster a collaborative and engaging learning experience. By encouraging students to embrace video presentations, you nurture their communication skills, technological proficiency, and creativity. In turn, these skills will benefit them well beyond the classroom, preparing them for success in various future endeavors.

 Learn more about the enhanced Teleprompter here.

Other Enhancements

The other enhancements include improved drawing tools, adding videos to web-based presentations and improved bullet formatting. While each of these are small improvements, they are still worth mentioning and I have included links to all of them.

Teams

Channels

Teams has introduced a fantastic update that significantly enhances the user experience when using Channels within the platform. The update brings about several improvements that streamline the way you interact with posts and manage content within your channels.

Firstly, the update places Posts at the top of the channel, providing a more intuitive layout. This means that as you access a channel, you immediately see the most recent posts without the need to scroll down initially. To access previous posts, you can simply scroll down the channel, allowing for smooth navigation and efficient information retrieval.

The user interface for creating posts has also received a thoughtful makeover. While the essential functionalities remain unchanged, the order in which you perform tasks has been optimized, resulting in a more seamless posting experience. This intuitive redesign ensures that you can continue to perform all the necessary actions but in a more user-friendly and logical manner.

One of the most significant enhancements is the addition of a new side panel for every channel. This side panel serves multiple purposes, enhancing collaboration and organization. Firstly, it enables you to view all the members who are currently part of the channel, facilitating quick and easy communication within the team. This panel allows you to pin essential posts, ensuring that critical information remains easily accessible and visible to everyone. The ability to pin posts simplifies content management, making it a breeze to locate important information amidst a sea of posts.

If you want to explore these updates further and see them in action, there’s a video available below for you to watch.

Search

Introducing Search Coach: Microsoft’s latest innovation for Teams. This remarkable update unveils the Search Coach app within Microsoft Teams, embodying simplicity, potency, and accessibility. This application serves as your personal guide, aiding you in crafting proficient queries and pinpointing trustworthy resources. Imagine it as a search engine equipped with its own set of training wheels for your students. Search Coach can guide you in a nurturing environment, cultivating skills that can seamlessly transition to any search engine.

Contrary to conventional search education, which predominantly delves into result evaluation for credibility, Search Coach boasts a distinctive superpower: it illuminates the art of constructing more impactful search queries. After all, unlocking accurate answers hinges on posing precise questions. This transformative learning experience equips students with patterns that act as a shield, preemptively guarding against encounters with unreliable information.

Fueled by insights garnered from educators during rigorous testing and product design phases, Search Coach has meticulously integrated invaluable feedback from both students and educators. Now, it embarks on the next phase of its journey, extending its availability to all educators as a complimentary Teams tab app in an exclusive private preview.

I am going to do a deeper dive on this tool later this year in the blog.

For all new Teams features check out this video below created by the awesome Mike Tholfsen.

And that wraps up this week’s update. I’m eagerly awaiting your thoughts—please share them in the comments section below. Are you feeling the same level of excitement as I am about Search Coach or the latest enhancements to PowerPoint? Next week we will delve into the rest of the Microsoft Updates.