Microsoft Planner - The Answer to Organizing Group Projects

Making lists, putting dates into your phone calendar, writing tasks into a planner, sending an email or text to collaborate on a project - have you done any of these in the past week? Projects that require multiple tasks or even multiple individuals to complete can get tedious to organize and keep tabs on during the process. In the classroom, setting students free on a lengthy project can also be worrisome without a way to quickly check in and monitor progress. As an Office 365 user, you can now utilize the app Microsoft Planner to help manage your personal tasks and group projects.

Planner is an app that allows the user to get started right away. To access Planner, simply log into your Office 365 account and click on the menu waffle:

Get started by creating a new plan. First, give your plan a title, and then decide if your plan will be public or private. A public plan is open for everyone in your organization to access, while a private plan is open to you and those you choose.

If you choose to make your plan private, you can add members by clicking on the drop down member arrow in the top right. If students create their own planning group, be sure they add you so you can view progress and tasks.

Once you add members, the members will receive an email letting them know they are part of a new group. Within the email, the member can access group files, start a conversation among group members, and view the group calendar. To access the overall plan, the member can go into their Office 365 waffle menu and open Microsoft Planner.

A bucket is a big idea or part of your plan. Within your plan, you and group members can go ahead and create buckets. Within the buckets tasks can be created, given due dates, and assigned to members. In the classroom, a teacher can easily view which students have taken on each tasks within a project. From the buckets, a teacher can immediately view how the work was distributed among the group and the time frame for its completion. This would allow a teacher to schedule group progress meetings accordingly.

Multiple buckets can be created within one plan - allowing the user to visualize and thoroughly think through a project. Within the tasks in each bucket, a user can attach files and links which can also be found in the group files of your OneDrive.

Chart view allows the user to see which members have completed tasks and overall task progress: not started, late, in progress, and completed. As a project in Planner begins, progress can be monitored by selecting the chart view at the top.

In the matter of a few clicks, your next project or student project can be planned out with all the supporting materials just a click away. Whether you are group planning with a teaching team, tracking student group work, or prepping for next year, Microsoft Planner can make the job simpler.