There's a version of events where switching to Mac feels like a risk - especially if your whole school runs on Microsoft 365. What happens to your Outlook? Your Teams? Your PowerPoint files? This video is for every teacher who's wondered that.
The short answer: everything works. And in a lot of cases, it works better. 🤩
In this fourth video in the Mac for Teachers series, I walk through a full school day built around Microsoft 365 on Mac - from logging in and checking emails, to jumping into Teams and getting ready to teach. Along the way, a few Mac features make the whole experience faster and smoother than you might expect.
The day starts with Touch ID. One tap of a finger and the Mac is awake and unlocked - no passwords typed, no delays. From there, a Safari Web App sitting in the Dock gives instant access to the first website I need to access. Rather than opening a browser and navigating each time, the web app behaves like an app - one click, and you're up and running.
Passwords are something most teachers don't think much about until they can't remember one. I use a different password for every service I access, and the Passwords app on Mac keeps them all in one secure place. Combined with Touch ID, logging into Outlook - or any other service - takes seconds. No hunting, no guessing.
Once Outlook is open, the Mac trackpad adds something genuinely useful: swipe gestures for managing email. A two-finger swipe left deletes a message; right marks it as read or unread. The same trackpad lets you move between full-screen apps with a four-finger swipe - so jumping between Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint feels pretty easy. And all of those gestures can be customised to suit the way you work.
Speaking of finding things quickly, Spotlight is one of those features that becomes second nature once you start using it. Hit Command + Space, start typing, and it surfaces apps, files, OneDrive documents, emails, and even web results - all without touching the Dock or opening a browser. In the video, I use it to open Microsoft Teams in a couple of keystrokes. Teams on Mac has the same look and feel you'd find on any other device - staff teams, faculty channels, class assignments - with the added benefit of Apple Silicon speed underneath it.
When multiple apps are open at once, Stage Manager helps keep things organised. It keeps the active app front and centre while recent apps sit neatly along the side, ready to switch to without cluttering the screen. It's a quiet but useful feature when you've got Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint all running at once before a lesson.
And when class is ready to start, Screen Mirroring via Control Centre gets what's on the Mac onto the classroom display in a few taps - no cables, no adapters. The Apple TV, Vivi, or any compatible screencast device picks it up wirelessly, and you're ready to go.
The M365 tools haven't changed. The files work with everyone else's. What's different is the Mac running underneath - and it makes the whole experience noticeably better. Don’t believe me? Watch it all in action in the video below. Or better yet, try it for yourself!
"But what if my school uses Google?" - great news, the next video in the series has you covered: Work Smarter with Google Workspace.
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