Microsoft Whiteboard helps you explain ideas visually, collect student input and organise collaborative activities in one shared digital space. You and your students can add text, notes, drawings, images and other visual elements on the same board, which makes it easier to explore ideas, explain concepts step by step, organise information and make student thinking visible during learning activities. Because multiple students can contribute at the same time, it can support individual, group-based and whole-class interaction in face-to-face, online and hybrid teaching settings.
- Functions
- Brainstorm | Create materials | Group collaboration
- Via Canvas
- Standalone
- Difficulty of use
- Easy to use
Examples of use in your education
Use Microsoft Whiteboard when you want to explain ideas visually during class and build up content step by step together with students.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Live explanation - Use Whiteboard during teaching sessions to explain concepts visually, for example by drawing diagrams, annotating examples or building up a process in stages.
Interactive discussion - Invite students to respond during class by adding notes, marking key points or suggesting connections on the shared board.
Step-by-step reasoning - Use separate sections, arrows or simple visual sequences on the board to work through a question or case step by step, so students can see how the reasoning develops rather than only the final answer.
Visual clarification - Annotate images, schematics or other visual materials when you want to focus student attention on specific details during explanation.
Tip 1
Keep the board visually organised while teaching, for example by separating sections, grouping related points or using headings, so students can follow the explanation more easily.
Tip 2
Use Whiteboard especially for parts of the lesson where visual unfolding matters most, such as explaining a process, comparing ideas or unpacking a complex example.
Use Microsoft Whiteboard when you want to gather short student responses, check understanding or make ideas visible across the group.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Quick response collection - Ask students to post examples, keywords, questions or first reactions on the board at the start, during or end of a session.
Visible understanding check Give students a prompt and ask them to add one answer, example or short explanation each on the shared board, so you can immediately compare responses and see where understanding differs across the group.
Comparing perspectives - Invite students to contribute different answers, interpretations or approaches on the same board when you want to discuss variation across the group.
Visible participation - Use the board to involve students who may be less likely to speak in plenary discussion but can still contribute actively in written or visual form.
Tip 1
Give students a clear response format, such as one example, one question or one short explanation each, so their contributions stay focused and comparable.
Tip 2
Use the collected responses as a basis for follow-up discussion, clarification or comparison, so the activity supports teaching rather than only gathering input.
Use Microsoft Whiteboard when students need to generate, organise and connect ideas together in a shared visual space.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
Group brainstorming - Ask students to contribute ideas, examples or questions on a shared board during seminars, workshops or project sessions.
Idea clustering - Use the board to group, sort or connect contributions when students need to identify patterns, themes or priorities.
Concept mapping - Let students build mind maps, concept maps or simple visual frameworks to explore how ideas relate to one another.
Hybrid participation - Use Whiteboard in settings where some students are in the room and others join remotely, so everyone can contribute to the same shared activity.
Tip 1
Give students a clear task and contribution format before they start, so the board does not become a collection of unrelated notes.
Tip 2
After the brainstorming phase, ask students to identify the two or three most important patterns, priorities or questions that emerged, so the activity leads to interpretation rather than only collection.
How-to videos
How to get started with Microsoft Whiteboard
How to use Mircosoft Whiteboard for Education
How to teach online using Microsoft Whiteboard
Getting started
- You can find all the relevant information on the official site of Microsoft Whiteboard.
Support
In case of educational questions, please contact your learning innovator or web team from your faculty.
In case of technical difficulty, please consult the Whiteboard Help Centre.
