OneNote Class Notebook updates include read-only parent or guardian access and Collaboration Space permissions

Over the last year, our team has been working with and listening to educators to learn how they are using OneNote Class Notebooks. We are continuously impressed by the passion and creativity of teachers and students who are using our tools. A common theme we heard was how OneNote continues to save teachers time and enhance collaboration in the classroom. In our conversations, we learned that parents and guardians are also curious to learn more about OneNote to help engage with their students’ learning progress.

To address the top requests we heard from teachers, administrators and parents/guardians, we’re pleased to announce the release of four new features in OneNote Class Notebook:

Parent or guardian access to Class Notebook (read-only links)—Teachers now can quickly and easily generate read-only links to both the Content Library and individual student notebooks. A parent or guardian can click the link to open OneNote on the web and view their student’s notebook. The teacher can also easily remove these notebook links if desired. This new capability is located under the Manage Notebooks area of the Class Notebook. To try the new parent and guardian features, a school simply needs to have guest access enabled for their Office 365 site. Find additional details here.

Parent or guardian access APIs—We have created new partner APIs for third-party companies such as Parent Portals, Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Student Information Systems (SIS) to programmatically generate read-only links to the Content Library for specific classes and students. For example, a Parent Portal company might use this API to generate a read-only link to the Class Notebook for each student and then surface that link for the parent of the student.

Permissions in the Collaboration Space—Teachers can now sub-divide the Collaboration Space—based on student permissions that the teacher assigns for each section—into groups allowing project-based learning (PBL), among many other new scenarios. This new permission, located under the Manage Notebooks area of the Class Notebook, enables a teacher to create specific sections in the Collaboration Space assigned to specific students.

For example, say you have four groups of six students each. The teacher assigns each group of students to a specific section. Group 1 can work together in the Group 1 section, but cannot see that the Group 2, Group 3 or Group 4 sections exist in the Collaboration Space. This is similar to how in Class Notebook students cannot see each other’s private notebooks.

Or, if you have four groups of six students each, then each group of students is assigned to a specific section. Group 1 can co-author in the Group 1 section but the teacher checks a read-only box so students can see the other groups, but cannot change anything in the Group 2, Group 3 or Group 4 sections.

Delete student content when removing permissions—Often, a teacher will want to a remove a student from the notebook and delete their content and folder at the same time. Now, the Remove Student feature has a checkbox teachers can select to delete student content from the Class Notebook at the same time permissions are being removed.

We hope you enjoy using the newest features in OneNote Class Notebook!

—The OneNote team