Microsoft OneNote is a digital notebook and a popular tool in schools that’s used for collecting information and multi-user collaboration. Here Sam McNeill explores how a new feature lets you take your OneNote Class Notebooks wherever you go.

One of the most common questions that I get asked by students and teachers is: “How do I keep my Class OneNote Notebooks when the school year finishes?” It’s a legitimate query given this was pretty easy in a non-digital age: you simply walked off with your ring binder folder or exercise book.

OneNote has introduced a new way to effectively save a copy to your personal Microsoft account, so you always have a copy of your class notes. Here’s how to do it:

1. Sign in to OneNote Online (the web version of OneNote).

2. From the Notebook list, click Class Notebooks to display all your Class Notebooks.

3. Right-click to select a Class Notebook and then select ‘Save a copy’.

4. Click ‘Next’. Now you are prompted to sign in to a consumer Microsoft account. (If you don’t have one, go to live.com to sign up.)

That’s it! Your OneNote Class Notebook is copied to the consumer OneDrive and is available for you to use elsewhere.

Future developments

Find out more about using this program at the OneNote team’s blog (bit.ly/onenotesaveacopy). It’s full of tips and advice for using the software, as well as hints for future developments, like this for the ‘Save a copy’ feature:

“This is just the initial rollout of the Save a copy feature. In the near future, we will add the ability to choose any notebook type, not just Class Notebooks. We will also roll out the Save a copy feature to your own OneDrive for Business, which will allow students to save a copy of their Class Notebook from a teacher’s OneDrive for Business to their own OneDrive for Business.”

If you’re a school leader please make sure you share this feature with your students, so they can ensure they’ve kept a copy of their work.

Sam McNeill is Education Solutions Specialist, Microsoft New Zealand.

Keep up to date with the latest in Education from Microsoft and handy tips and tricks over on the Microsoft New Zealand Education Blog. Go to blogs.technet.microsoft.com/nzedu/

The ‘Escape Room’ challenge with OneNote

In a recent post on Microsoft’s Office Blog, Maths teacher Jason Davis wrote:

“The Escape Room is a game that involves players working collaboratively to solve a series of critical thinking puzzles to open a locked box. Escape Rooms in education can also be a digital version of this same concept, so I decided to apply it to maths and see if my students would get a kick out of it. 

“I created a simple OneNote notebook with 10 standard-based review questions. Each question (tab) represented a room, and opening that room would unlock the next question. I also told them that answers must be in the correct format to have the correct answer. If there is a comma needed, put a comma; a dollar sign needed, put a dollar sign. 

“Students partnered up and each team had a device where they could access the link to the game. They had 30 minutes to escape, and the winning team would receive a prize.”

Read more at bit.ly/onenoteescaperoom