Microsoft Whiteboard: A Great Alternative to Google Jamboard
Have you heard? Google will discontinue its Jamboard application as of December 31, 2024. As of October 1st, Jamboard will be view-only, meaning you will no longer be able to create new or edit existing jams. [Blog updated May 16, 2024] Here at UPEI, we have been making the transition from Google to Microsoft for our campus-wide usage.
Google Jamboard was designed as an interactive whiteboard. From an educational standpoint, it has been a great tool for collaborative learning activities and group work. If you have used Jamboards in the past, this may be a good time to consider trying out Microsoft’s Whiteboard. If you’ve never used Google’s Jamboard then this is a good time to see the value an interactive whiteboard can have in your course. It is packed with features and is quite easy to use. Let’s take a quick look at Microsoft’s Whiteboard and see what it has to offer.
Accessing a Microsoft Whiteboard is easy. When you log into your Outlook account, you will see all of the applications available, including Whiteboard.
Setting up the Board
Once you open your whiteboard, you’ll have many options. To begin, you can format the background of your whiteboard, changing its colour or even the pattern.
There is even a cool option to add a template and there are lots of pre-designed ones already available.
Use Microsoft 365’s sharing settings to give people access to the whiteboard. Currently, the ability to share a Whiteboard link with everyone (inside or outside of UPEI) has been disabled. You will need to either specifically select the people you want to add or make it available to all individuals with a UPEI email address.
Once you pick your sharing setting, you would then copy the whiteboard link and share it with your students by posting it on your Moodle course page in an announcement or adding it as a permanent link in one of your course page sections.
During Class
Use the inking tools for marking on the whiteboard. Add shapes, comments, textboxes (that is, if you are not much for writing freehand) and even reaction icons.
And just like Google Jamboard, Microsoft Whiteboard allows you to add notes. What is nifty about these notes is that as you resize them, the text automatically resizes as well.
But of course, what would this type of instructional medium be if we couldn’t collaborate. To do so, simply share the whiteboard with your students. There are no known limits for how many individuals can work on a whiteboard at one time. With Micorsoft Whiteboard’s Collaborative Cursors feature, it’s very easy to see who is doing what in real time.
Yet another very cool feature is that you can also add files and videos directly to your whiteboard.
There’s even a handy timer option that you can use to keep work on track.
After Class
Once your class has finished with the whiteboard, it can be exported as a PNG image file and sent to all students. The same whiteboard can also be saved and then re-opened for further work. If you want to lock a whiteboard so that no changes are made, you can change the permission of that whiteboard so that people can only view it and not edit it.
This is an exciting possibility for filling the void left by Google Jamboard’s retirement. Microsoft also notes that more new Whiteboard features will be released over time. If you would like more information on using the Whiteboard application, Microsoft offers a Whiteboard for Educators page on their website.
