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Microsoft 365
All students and faculty at Eastern University have access to Microsoft 365 for free. Learn how you can access them, as well as how to utilize them in your classes and your professional development.
How to Access Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is available for free to all Eastern University students and faculty, and is installed in all of our classroom machines and computer labs.
Click here to get started. Use your Eastern email address to log in, as well as your Eastern password. To finish verifying your account, follow the prompts on the screen.
Microsoft and Universal Design
Microsoft tools come with a variety of features to make learning easier for all students. As we strive for universal design in our courses, this training session from Eastern University’s Microsoft learning consultant focuses on how to use the tools within Microsoft Office to create documents and educational experiences that are more accessible.
Microsoft PowerPoint
PowerPoint is Microsoft's tool for creating presentations. Many instructors choose to use PowerPoint due to its easy to use interface and simple design elements.
Useful Features
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By clicking on Insert > Pictures > Online Pictures, PowerPoint will bring up a Bing image search, which only shows photos licensed under Creative Commons by default, meaning they are free to use in any presentation.
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By clicking on Home > Design > Design Ideas, PowerPoint will show you some possible designs for your slides given your text and images on that slide. You can click on any that you like, and the design will automatically be applied to your slide.
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You can see how accessible your presentation is by clicking Review > Check Accessibility.
Create Striking Presentations
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Microsoft Create has a plethora of premade, customizable templates for you to download directly into PowerPoint.
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Canva is a website that has creative, colorful, and customizable presentation templates, many of which are free to use and download.
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Slidesgo and SlidesCarnival both have free presentation templates for both PowerPoint and Google Slides.
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Eastern University has provided a slides template so you can use the university's colors, fonts, and style in your presentations. (You must be logged in to your Eastern email account to view it.)
Microsoft Word
Word is Microsoft's tool for creating text documents. Students can use Word to write papers and create their resume, while instructors can use it to create their syllabi and document their research.
Useful Features
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By clicking on the Design tab, you can set your preferred fonts, colors, and sizes as the default, so each document you create is consistent in its design. Make sure to choose easy to read fonts and colors with high contrast to make your document more accessible.
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You can see how accessible your document is by clicking Review > Check Accessibility.
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Insert footnotes, citations, bibliographies, and even a table of contents in the References tab.
Microsoft Excel
Excel is Microsoft's tool for inputting, organizing, and analyzing data. You can create charts, tables, graphs, and spreadsheets using Excel and its many functions.
Useful Features
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Excel can be intimidating for many first time users. Microsoft offers free training courses through your Microsoft account that can help you learn the basics (and possibly some more advanced tricks too).
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You can have more than one spreadsheet in a single file. Along the bottom of the screen, you'll find a + button that allows you to add a new sheet. By clicking on the tabs at the bottom, you can easily switch back and forth between sheets.