Otterbein intends to transition to the full use of Office 365 rather than Google Drive beginning May 2017.
As part of this transition to Office 365, faculty and students have already been given access to more recent versions of Word, Power Point, Excel and other Office tools compatible on Macs, PCs and mobile devices including both tablets and phones. This software is able to be downloaded on five different computers as well as five different mobile devices for any Otterbein student or faculty member. Microsoft Office 365 offers up to one terabyte of cloud storage and unlimited access to both familiar tools, such as Word and Excel, as well as newer tools such as SharePoint, Sway, Yammer and Delve.
Tahsha Harmon, director of Technical Support and Training at Otterbein, said in an email that Otterbein has “already implemented [Office 365] with the exception of Microsoft email called Outlook” and that the transition to Office 365 in May 2017 will be focused on “migrating all Gmail inbox content, Calendar appointments, and Contacts to Outlook.”
Overall, Office 365 shares many similarities to Google Drive. Students will continue to use their Otterbein email addresses to access Office 365 online. Similarly, the layout of both services as well as certain functions such as the ability for students and faculty to share and collaborate on documents are similar.
The largest distinction between the two services seems to be the increased access to different resources in Office 365 than in Google Drive. From tools that provide information most pertinent to the topics of recent projects (Delve) to multipurpose applications for the creation of presentations, portfolios and even blogs (Sway), Office 365 offers more access to tools conducive to studying, collaboration and project creation.
Harmon also said that Outlook offers more security than Gmail and says that Outlook “holds the larger market share for business use” and that “Otterbein graduates will have more experience with Office 365 and Outlook, a business standard.”
A benefit of this transition for students is free access to software that costs $100 per year. The subscription to this service will only last for 90 days after students graduate. It would be at that point that Office 365 would ask students to buy their own subscription to the service. Luckily, Office 365 saves both to a cloud system and to the devices in which Office 365 is active, ensuring that no documents are lost, even if the subscription is deactivated.
Altogether, Harmon said, “We expect a smooth transition. ITS’s project goals are to design a migration plan, effectively communicate the plan to campus, and to offer training to those who are not familiar with using Outlook."
For more information on the transition to Office 365, visit Otterbein’s web page, http://www.otterbein.edu/its/office365, for instruction how to install Office 365 to several different devices, as well as the requirements necessary to support Office 365 on those devices.
