How might staff share the OneNote group work tool kit with students?

A key consideration for our OneNote, Group Work Tool kit is how we will deploy or share this with students. 

I can see two options distinct options: 

1. The OneNote is downloaded by the tutor and shared individually with each group.
2. The students download and deploy the OneNote within their group (perhaps from the SkillsHub) and, if necessary, share this with the tutor. 

The first option requires that tutors set up multiple versions of the same document and shares them through their personal OneNote accounts.

I have a few concerns with this approach;

• Workload: We should consider that this resource may be used by cohorts in excess of 200 students and the setting up and administration of numerous versions of the same OneNote file would be onerous as there is no integration with other systems such as the VLE Blackboard Learn.
• Access: This approach relies on academic staff using their own OneNote accounts. Should a staff member leave or be sick then access to the OneNote file may be lost.
• Ethics: We should consider whether ethically staff should have (or would want) to view students’ notes, contact details and progress whilst working on their projects.

The second approach of providing students with this as a resource to share with their group, means that this document belongs to them and would only be shared with the tutor should the group wish to do so. The students would need to download and import the OneNote file into one group member’s 365 account and then share it with their group members.

Of the two I prefer the second option and this would be my preference for a trial, however I think it is worth keeping the other in mind should staff request default access. 

In the longer term, there is a question over support as OneDrive – like all Microsoft software is supported by IT. In the last year there has been additional support for students on Microsoft from the LearnTech team through training sessions and regular drop-in sessions, however staff would need to keep in mind that only IT have access to these accounts. 

Another concern of OneNote files is what happens if one of the group deletes the work of another group member? Some further work is required to check on how to restore deleted pages and restore versions. 

There may be a third option which is to see whether it is possible for this ‘Group Work – Tool Kit’ OneNote to be added to each student’s OneDrive library, I am going to meet with our IT staff trainer Jim Atkinson to see if this is something he can advise on.