When teaching Microsoft Office 365, you often face changes that Microsoft makes to the applications (many times without warning). While Office 365 interfaces and menus will continue to change, we hope to take that frustration off of your shoulders as much as possible by updating our Microsoft curriculum to align with these changes.
On this page, you’ll find answers to your biggest questions about our Microsoft Office 365 curriculum update:
- What’s included in the updated Microsoft Office 365 curriculum?
- How is this update different from the previous version of the Microsoft Office 365 curriculum?
- How can I review the updated curriculum?
Note: The updated Microsoft Office 365 modules will automatically replace any existing curriculum in your classes. As always, you can choose what curriculum you use based on the version of Office your students have access to!
What’s Included in the Microsoft Office 365 Curriculum?
With the AES Microsoft Office 365 curriculum, students will learn to use Microsoft Office 365 applications through hands-on lessons and projects across 16 learning modules:
- Getting Started with Microsoft Office
- Word: Introduction
- Word: Applications
- Word: Skills Project
- Word: Business Project
- Excel: Introduction
- Excel: Applications
- Excel: Skills Project
- Excel: Business Project
- PowerPoint: Introduction
- PowerPoint: Applications
- PowerPoint: Skills Project
- PowerPoint: Business Project
- Access: Fundamentals
- Publisher: Fundamentals
- Integration Skills Project
Overall, these modules provide more than 100 hours of content across activities, interactive lessons, projects, and assessments.
How Is the Updated Office 365 Curriculum Different from the Previous Version?
If you currently use AES to teach Microsoft Office 365, you might be wondering how the new curriculum is different from the older content.
In the Office 365 curriculum, you will notice a name change to the modules:
- “Essentials” modules were renamed to “Introduction”
- “Fundamentals” modules were renamed to “Applications”
The Introduction modules provide overviews of how to use the basic functions of Office 365. In the Applications modules, students put their learning to work by applying the lessons from the Introduction modules to practice their newfound skills.
In the Office 365 curriculum, you’ll also find:
- Updated visuals, logos, graphic elements, and functions
- New scenarios to help students make the connection of using Office in professional settings
- More lesson content to better align with standards and MOS Certifications
What Do Teachers Need to Do?
The Office 365 modules were automatically updated, so if you already have classes with them included, you are ready to go!
If you downloaded or printed any materials from the Office 365 curriculum before July 9, 2022, you may need to redownload them. This includes:
- Teacher presentations
- Lesson transcripts
- Printed worksheets and sample answers
- Quizzes or tests printed to be completed by hand
Any custom exams created with the previous version of these module may include questions that no longer align with the curriculum content. We recommend you review any current custom exams and either remove the outdated questions or create a new exam.
Note: Even after this release, your students may encounter differences between the new images and what they see in the applications due to additional changes Microsoft makes. You may need to give your students a heads up about potential differences; however, they will still be able to complete the eLearning lessons as written.
How Can I Review the New Microsoft Office Curriculum?
Ready to dive in and see what’s included in the updated Office 365 curriculum?
Follow these easy steps to look at the Microsoft Office 365 modules at your own pace:
- Sign in to your AES account at learn.aeseducation.com
- Click the Catalog tab in the top right corner of the screen.
- In the left-hand menu, click Business/Career Readiness, then Microsoft Office 365.
Here you’ll see the complete list of new modules to look through. You'll also find the Office 365 Course Guide and the Course Introduction presentation.
You can revisit these modules from the Catalog any time you’re interested in learning more about the materials. (This is especially useful when planning for your school year!)
