I’ve recently moved from teaching in a Google Workspace school to a Microsoft 365 school, and I wanted to share my early observations for anyone else making the same transition.
One of the main things I was looking forward to was exploring Microsoft’s approach to organising teaching and learning – particularly using Teams and Class Notebook (OneNote) to distribute, collect, and mark students’ work.
The short version: Microsoft 365 can work very well for teaching and collaboration, but only if it’s been set up correctly. That setup requires understanding how Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, and OneNote interact, which is more complex than it first appears.
Why Microsoft Feels Different from Google
In Google Workspace, most teaching activity happens inside Drive and Classroom, and there’s one consistent sharing model:
- Upload a file to Drive → share the link → anyone with permissions can view or edit.
Microsoft, by contrast, spreads similar functionality across several tools, each with its own quirks:
- Teams → where classes, assignments, and conversations happen.
- OneDrive → your personal file storage, separate from Teams.
- SharePoint → the underlying storage system for Teams and shared folders.
- OneNote / Class Notebook → used for distributing pages and collecting student work, but operates differently from Google Docs.
This division of roles makes Microsoft more flexible, but also harder to master.
Key Differences: Google vs Microsoft
| Feature | Google Workspace | Microsoft 365 |
|---|---|---|
| File storage | Everything lives in Google Drive; shared folders and personal files exist in the same place | Files are stored either in OneDrive (personal) or SharePoint (shared Team files) |
| Assignments & marking | Google Classroom integrates file distribution, submissions, and grading in one workflow | Microsoft splits this between Teams Assignments and Class Notebook |
| Real-time editing | Always browser-based, collaboration is automatic | Works in browser and desktop apps, but behaviours sometimes differ |
| Link sharing | One-click “Anyone with the link” access (inside or outside organisation) | Sharing depends on Teams membership, SharePoint permissions, and organisation-wide settings |
| Ease of setup | Generally intuitive and forgiving for beginners | Requires understanding how multiple tools integrate to avoid duplication, broken links, or inaccessible files |
Neither approach is inherently better – Microsoft just needs more structure upfront to work efficiently.
Lessons Learned So Far
After a few days setting up my teaching resources, here are my biggest takeaways so far.
1. Create a Central Resource Hub
To keep things organised, ask your IT admin to:
- Create a dedicated Class Team for teaching resources (e.g. “Computer Science Resources”).
- Make all department teachers owners of this Team, so department staff can contribute and manage content.
- Use the Files tab in this Team as the single source of truth for teaching resources, rather than keeping personal copies in OneDrive.
This prevents the problem of having different versions of resources scattered across personal folders.
2. Always Create Class Notebooks Inside Teams
If you plan to use OneNote Class Notebook with students:
- Always create the notebook from within a Class Team.
- Avoid creating standalone OneNotes on your personal OneDrive – they’re harder to distribute, permissions are separate, and syncing issues are common.
- Teams integrates directly with Class Notebook, making it easier to push pages to students.
3. Avoid Embedding Large Files in OneNote
In Google, attaching files to assignments doesn’t create copies unless you choose to.
In Microsoft OneNote, however, embedding files works differently:
- Every embedded file (e.g. a PowerPoint) creates a separate copy per student.
- Page distribution becomes significantly slower.
- If you later update the original PowerPoint, students’ copies won’t update automatically.
Better workflow:
- Upload your teaching files into the Files tab of your central Team (this stores them in SharePoint).
- Organise them into a clear folder structure.
- Ask your IT admin to configure folder permissions so that everyone in the organisation has at least view access.
- By default, Teams restricts access to members only – cross-Team sharing won’t work unless SharePoint permissions are updated.
- Once permissions are set, copy the shareable link into OneNote in place of embedding the actual file.
This ensures:
- There’s one master copy of each resource.
- Updates are immediate — no re-uploading.
- Links won’t break as long as the file stays in the same SharePoint location.
4. Using Teams Assignments for Submissions
If you’ve been using Google Classroom, Teams Assignments is Microsoft’s closest equivalent:
- Set an assignment in Teams and attach your resource files.
- Students submit their work directly within Teams.
- Teams automatically manages permissions
- You can give feedback and return graded work within the same workflow.
5. Understand How Sharing Works in Microsoft 365
This is the single biggest adjustment when moving from Google to Microsoft.
In Google:
- You upload a file → choose “Anyone with the link” → done.
In Microsoft:
- Files in a Team are automatically available to members of that Team.
- Sharing beyond that depends on SharePoint permissions:
- If you want colleagues in other Teams (or departments) to access your resources, your IT admin must give organisation-wide view rights to those folders.
- Without this, your “shareable link” will result in a permissions error.
- For external sharing (e.g. parents, external schools), IT must explicitly enable it – it’s usually disabled by default for security.
This extra complexity is a common frustration for new users, but it’s by design: Microsoft assumes schools want tighter control over who can access what.
6. Beware of Moving or Renaming Linked Files
One hidden trap:
- If you rename or move a file in SharePoint after you’ve linked to it in a Class Notebook or Teams post, the link may break.
Tip:
- Finalise your folder structure before distributing links widely.
- If possible, keep filenames stable once links are published.
7. Planning for Next Year
Once I’ve finished my first year with Microsoft 365, I’ll review whether to continue relying heavily on Class Notebook or whether to move towards a printed workbook alongside digital resources.
There’s research suggesting that students retain information better when writing by hand, so a hybrid model might strike the right balance between accessibility and cognitive benefits.
Key Takeaways
- Microsoft 365 is powerful but requires more setup than Google Workspace to avoid problems.
- Understand how Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Class Notebook interact before you start building resources.
- Use a central resource Team for all teaching materials – avoid duplicating files across personal OneDrives.
- Don’t embed files in Class Notebook; link to SharePoint-hosted files instead.
- Ask IT to configure organisation-wide view permissions if resources need to be shared across multiple Teams.
- Use Teams Assignments for distributing and collecting student work – it manages permissions automatically.
- Plan your file structure carefully to avoid breaking links later.
