Brandenburg's schools in the digital age: Microsoft Office is here!

Brandenburg's schools in the digital age: Microsoft Office is here!

In a significant step towards digitalization, the schools in Brandenburg an der Havel today decided to introduce the “Microsoft Office” software. This is the first time that a uniform MS Office package has been made available for all educational institutions. Previously, this was not possible for technical and legal reasons, meaning teachers often had to resort to alternative solutions. However, the desire for a uniform Office package was great, but has now been fulfilled. City of Brandenburg reports on the release of the contract and the subsequent placing of the order, which enables all school devices to be equipped with Microsoft Office.

What is particularly pleasing is the new licensing model, which provides for automatic licensing of all devices in schools, including students' devices. This means everyone involved can benefit from uniform solutions for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. The goal behind it is clear: to ensure smooth digital teaching and to modernize school organization. The provision is carried out via a central device management system of the city, which also ensures the automatic installation and regular updating of the programs.

A new era of digital education

The Mayor of Brandenburg, Steffen Scheller, emphasizes the importance of investing in education and digital infrastructure. The new digital learning environments are increasingly shaping teaching, and Microsoft Office is seen as a crucial building block for future-oriented learning. Digital education enables creative problem solving and promotes efficient communication and structured work. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated this trend and schools are investing more in digital strategies to promote digital skills place experts.

The introduction of Microsoft Office offers numerous advantages: Word supports structured writing, PowerPoint makes presentations easier, and Excel enables data analysis and interactive diagrams. Cloud-based functions via OneDrive and Microsoft Teams ensure that everyone involved always has access to the most up-to-date documents and promote collaboration through joint document editing.

Flexible licensing models for schools

Microsoft offers a wide range of licenses for educational institutions, known as Microsoft 365 Education. These vary in scope and price, although a free offer is also available that provides access to the most important applications and cloud storage Malter365 executes. Teachers without a license from their school can also consider considering their own Microsoft 365 subscription. The paid licenses allow the Office applications to be installed on PCs, laptops and tablets, which is particularly advantageous for flexible teaching.

The different licenses are structured as school offers: The most popular is the **Office 365 Education A1**, which is free and offers online versions of the most important applications as well as 100 GB of storage space. For more comprehensive features, the paid plans **Microsoft 365 A3** and **A5** are available, which allow the installation of all available applications and include additional security tools.

The introduction of these new technologies will revolutionize teaching by giving space to individual, collaborative and creative approaches to learning. The schools in Brandenburg an der Havel are sending a strong signal for the future and showing that they are taking digitalization in the education sector seriously. A step that could undoubtedly inspire other regions to invest in the digital transformation of their schools.