Microsoft Office SystemCustomer Solution Case Study

Specialist School Transforms Teaching by Becoming an Early Adopter of Technology

OverviewCountry or Region: United KingdomIndustry: Education

Customer ProfilePhilip Morant School and College in Essex, United Kingdom (U.K.) specialises in design technology, mathematics, and science.

Business SituationPhilip Morant School has a reputation for becoming an early adopter of new technology. It wanted to find a way to support its specialisms more effectively.

SolutionThe school became one of the first in the U.K. to join the beta programme for the Microsoft Office 2010 suite.

Benefits Ease of use Improved communication Enhanced learning Improved data management Streamlined technical support

“We know that if we adopt IT early, we’re more likely to find our own solutions. It reaches beyond IT and applies to everything we do, including the mindset and motivation of our colleagues and students.”

Simon Brennand, Deputy Headteacher, Philip Morant School and College

As a specialist school focusing on design technology, mathematics, and science, Philip Morant School and College has always associated IT with teaching and learning. It was one of the first schools in the United Kingdom (U.K.) to use the Microsoft Office 2010 suites in the classroom to support teaching and learning. When Microsoft Office 2010 was released through a beta programme, staff were eager to sign up for the opportunity to preview the technology and familiarise themselves with its possible uses in the classroom. The intuitive interface encourages teachers to embrace the tools of 21st-century education. Now, students and teachers use technology in innovative ways throughout the school. Administrators manage data more efficiently, and communicate and collaborate more effectively, while IT employees resolve issues quickly.

SituationPhilip Morant School and College in Essex, United Kingdom (U.K.), specialises in design technology, mathematics, and science, and has 1,650 students, aged 11 to 19 years. Of those students, 245 attend the sixth-form college. An inspection in early 2010 by Ofsted, the U.K. Government’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills found Philip Morant School to be “’Good’ with significant ‘Outstanding’ features.”

The school is well served by a considerable information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure. This is enhanced by the managed wireless system that makes it possible for students to use their own portable computers and handheld devices in school, which they are encouraged to do. Deputy Headteacher Simon Brennand works in close partnership with ICT Services Developer Matt Barker and a team of six technical support staff. The key to making this relationship work is the school’s ICT Development Group, which consists of the Headteacher, the Deputy Headteacher, Director of Finance, the ICT Systems Manager, and the ICT Services Developer.

The group meets every two weeks to discuss key operational issues, and once a term to address long-term strategy. “This relationship is fundamental to our school’s improvement,” says Brennand.

“When we put together the strategic vision and the technical capacity, we can work together to achieve the best outcome.” The school also gets student feedback on ICT.

In 2002, Philip Morant School introduced portable computers for all staff, and, by 2004, it had a Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 learning environment in place. “We know that if we adopt IT early, we’re more likely to find our own solutions. It reaches beyond IT and applies to everything we do, including the mindset and motivation of our colleagues and students,” he says.

“We measure every tool we use based on its impact on learning,” says Brennand. So far, Microsoft technology has served this purpose well, so it makes sense to implement applications as soon as they’re available. When the beta programme started for the Microsoft Office 2010 suites, administrators at Philip Morant School signed up.

SolutionIn August 2009, Brennand was the first to participate in a technical preview of the software. “Inviting employees to road test the product has been a valuable strategy for us,” says Brennand. “We want our staff to have the same confidence as student users of ICT.” One of the resources that has helped build staff confidence is the Ribbon Hero.

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“We know that if we adopt IT early, we’re more likely to find our own solutions.”

Simon Brennand, Deputy Headteacher, Philip Morant

School and College

This training game, developed by Microsoft, encourages users to explore Office functions using the Ribbon, which is a feature of all Office products, providing quicker and more efficient ways of working.

Now, Microsoft Office 2010 is being rolled out to computers across the school with a view to complete adoption by the start of the academic year. Office 2010 includes the Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 presentation graphics program, a powerful tool that students can use to share their work. Teachers can also use PowerPoint 2010 to broadcast a lead lesson throughout the school and across the web—for example, revision tips for students. “Many of the things we’re doing are possible with existing systems, but broadcasting PowerPoint 2010 presentations across the web is much more user friendly. It’s so easy. All you do is create the link and send it. You don’t need special devices or extra systems,” says Brennand.

Staff are also planning to work together on shared documents using Microsoft Excel 2010. Online grade books—which are currently used by one person at a time—will be freely shared. The school’s long-term strategic plan, the School Improvement Plan, will be handled in the same way. “Writing the School Improvement Plan is an organisation-wide task, capturing the input of all stakeholders, and

that can be unwieldy. We want it to be manageable and genuinely represent everyone’s views. We’ll be better able to do that if we can all work simultaneously in real time,” says Brennand.

BenefitsLeaders at Philip Morant School have long understood the importance of using technology to enhance teaching and learning, and have a history of providing the most up-to-date educational tools possible. They anticipate that Office 2010 will enhance this commitment by encouraging communication and collaboration, introducing transparency of performance and evaluation, and removing barriers to learning.

Intuitive Applications Improve Ease of Use“Office 2010 offers intuitive functionality, so teachers don’t have to ask how to do things,” says Brennand. Gareth Staines, Mathematics Teacher at Philip Morant School and College, says: “PowerPoint 2010 is a mainstay in my classroom. In the past, it was tricky to put equations into PowerPoint, but with this version it’s easy. It provides the same equations editor you find in Microsoft Word. That may seem a small thing, but mathematics teachers will appreciate it.”

Easy Access to Information Improves Communication

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“PowerPoint 2010 is a mainstay in my classroom. In the past, it was tricky to put equations into PowerPoint, but with this version it’s easy.”

Gareth Staines, Mathematics Teacher, Philip

Morant School and College

Brennand says: “With Office 2010, I can communicate with colleagues seamlessly wherever they are, and get more done.” Staff at the school can share crucial information and performance data. “For example, we can do an analysis in Excel 2010 and share it by email or on a collaborative workspace. It can also save me the time spent going to Senior Leadership meetings because the key topics are shared through the broadcast feature of PowerPoint 2010,” says Brennand.

Students also benefit from seamless communication. “Straightforward access to information and resources will engage students with appealing learning material,” says Brennand. “I hope that they’ll bring their own technological experience to their learning, further enhancing their experience.”

Built-in Collaboration Features Enhance Learning According to Brennand and his staff, Office 2010 is entirely in tune with the performance-driven, personalised, and collaborative culture of today’s schools. When Brennand saw Office 2010 at the technical preview stage, he was drawn in by its collaborative features. “The most useful feature of the suite is the broadcast option for PowerPoint 2010, which makes it easy to share a presentation on the web. It’s great for interactive learning and will make it easier for teachers and students to engage

with a lesson when either of them is stuck at home—for example, due to bad weather,” he says.

Brennand uses the phrase “personalised projection,” to describe the way students can collaborate in class while working on their own computers. Students can watch a broadcast PowerPoint presentation of the same material on the monitors of their own individual computers, improving engagement with the material and each other.

The Office 2010 Backstage View offers sharing alternatives. Students and staff interact with documents in ways that they might not have considered before, such as sharing them electronically instead of printing them. “It encourages students and staff to share documents in different ways—on our SharePoint, or on the web through SkyDrive, for example,” says Brennand.

Office 2010 Improves Data Management All secondary schools in the U.K. handle large amounts of student performance data, and the challenge is to make sure that the hard work of doing this is reflected in student learning. That means being able to analyse data and provide leaders of learning with summaries of appropriate data. Staff at Philip Morant School have seen at least two new ways Excel 2010 will help them with data

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“It encourages students and staff to share documents in different ways—on our SharePoint, or on the web through SkyDrive, for example.”

Simon Brennand, Deputy Headteacher, Philip Morant

School and College

handling. One is the implementation of Sparklines—tiny graphs that can sit inside a data cell and show trends at a glance. Staines says: “I love Sparklines. They’re a snapshot indicator that will save time by quickly showing trends.” The other is the improved and simplified ability to produce pivot tables, summaries of relevant data drawn out from the mass of background data. Administrative Features Streamline Technical SupportThe IT team at Philip Morant School has welcomed Office 2010. Rollout of the technology has been uneventful, thanks to careful implementation through the stages leading up to release. Baker says: “Functions within the applications have made supporting the software easier and more efficient. The feature that lets users take a screenshot in Microsoft Outlook 2010 makes it easy for them to tell me what they’re seeing when they have a problem.”

The new Quick Steps feature in Outlook will streamline queries to the school’s helpdesk by making it possible to gather functions together with one click of a button.Microsoft Office SystemThe Microsoft Office system is the business world’s chosen environment for information work,

providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.

For more information about the Microsoft Office system, go to: www.microsoft.com/office

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Philip Morant School and College, visit the website at: www.philipmorant.essex.sch.uk

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published August 2010

Software and Services Microsoft Office

− Microsoft Excel 2010− Microsoft Outlook 2010− Microsoft PowerPoint 2010