The Interactive Classroom Add-in for PowerPoint and OneNote increases student participation and learning during presentations. Once downloaded, start by adding polling questions or notes to any PowerPoint presentation through the academic tab. Then, choose how you want to display student results/feedback (bar or pie chart), and click “start session”. Students join a presentation by clicking “join session” in OneNote’s academic tab. When the presentation begins, your students get an interactive way to absorb the information being presented, while you get real-time feedback on how well the classroom is grasping the lesson.

Microsoft’s Interactive Classroom lets you:

• Enhance the learning experience with customized polling questions
• Increase student engagement and encourage classroom participation
• Create customized polls that keep students on track with subject material
• Receive real-time feedback on how well your students are grasping lessons
• Share collected information with students through OneNote

System requirements:

• Operating Systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows XP (32-bit) with Service Pack 3 (SP3), Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server 2003 (32-bit) with Service Pack 2
• .NET Framework: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
• Processor: 500-megahertz (MHz)
• Memory: 256 megabytes (MB) of Ram
• Disk Space: 2 gigabytes (GB)
• Display Resolution: 800 x 600

Additional requirements: A network connection is required to start or join a session. Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 or PowerPoint 2010 is required to start a session. Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 or OneNote 2010 is required to download a session's presentation slides into a OneNote notebook.

Interactive Classroom was developed by Microsoft Education Labs. The Education Labs site is no longer live, but all of the prototype products formerly hosted there are now available through the Partners in Learning Network.