ofsted ict in education

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Ofsted ICTin education

The Microsoft Brand Guidelines for Education | 27

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INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 3

CHAPTERS ............................................................................... 5

FURTHER RESOURCES ....................................................... 21







Contents Ofsted ICT in education

Chapter 1: The effectiveness of ICT education in schools

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Page Page

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Chapter 4: The quality of the ICT curriculum

Chapter 2: The achievement of pupils in ICT

Chapter 5: The quality of leadership in, and management of, ICT

Chapter 3: The quality of teaching in ICT

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education2 Ofsted ICT in education

Great teaching plus great technology add up to great learning. We’re familiar with the above formula. We know, too, that Microsoft, with globally recognised technologies, and an unrivalled record of education partnerships and services, are ideally placed to play a key role in that equation.

So, what we aim to do in this paper is fill in some of the detail – define more clearly what ‘great teaching’ and ‘great learning’ might look like, and, at the same time, identify exactly what it is that Microsoft can do to provide support.

To do this, we need to start with a recognised framework, and the one we’ve chosen comes from Ofsted.

At the end of 2013, Ofsted produced ‘Subject Specific Guidance’ for a whole range of subject areas including ICT.

The document heading indicated that the guidance was for inspectors carrying out subject specific survey visits.

In fact, because of policy pressures in other directions, subject survey visits are not currently happening. Nevertheless the ICT guidance is welcome and notably acknowledges many current developments, including the use of mobile technology.

Ofsted’s fear was that it would be misused as a checklist – seen as a rapid self-assessment tool, or a quick route to ‘Outstanding’.

Our attitude is that while it very clearly is not that – because a completed tick-list hardly indicates embedded practice – the Guidance document provides a helpful summary of what ought to be happening under the label ‘ICT’.

Ofsted ICT in education

Introduction.”

”


Two key technologies will appear throughout this document and represent the basis or platform for learning within a school. The features of this platform enable schools to place their entire curriculum and learning online and realise the benefits of what today’s technology can offer. Both Office 365 and OneNote (with OneNote Class Notebook Creator) are cloud based technologies which enable anytime, anywhere learning across any device. They form the building blocks from which other technologies in this document can be used. They enable learning within the structure of the school day, whilst encouraging real time collaboration and feedback out of it.


The Microsoft Platform.

How we use the guidance document. The document has five main headings,

The overall effectiveness of ICT education provided in the school

The achievement of pupils in ICT

The quality of teaching in ICT

The quality of the ICT curriculum

The quality of leadership in, and management of, ICT

Each is followed by four subsections, for the four Ofsted Categories from Outstanding (1) to Inadequate (4) In each case there are descriptors for each category.

For our purposes we look only at the descriptors for Outstanding, assuming that they add up to the most effective ICT policy for a school.

We will take each heading, summarise the key Outstanding descriptors and match them up to specific Microsoft technologies.

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The effectiveness of ICT learning in schools

Chapter 1:



Chapter 1: The effectiveness of ICT learning in schools Ofsted ICT in education

The descriptors for ‘Outstanding’ under this heading focus on Outstanding teaching, a rich and interesting curriculum, and excellent ICT experiences, leading to Outstanding learning and achievement. As a result, students are prepared well for the next stage – further learning, training or employment. There’s emphasis, too, on inclusion and sharing good practice.

Significantly one descriptor refers specifically to the contribution made by ICT to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

The Microsoft contributionOffice 365 enables schools to provide a platform for students to access key curriculum learning resources by creating class sites for each subject area within the school. Students can also run and manage areas within the platform for groups such as student clubs or digital leaders. SharePoint is also a great platform for collaboration not only through co-authoring in online Office apps but also through social features such as Yammer.

Office 365 + OneNote Class Notebook Creator – Notebooks are shared between students and teachers or students with students, creating a fantastic tool for class activities and lessons. Students have instant access to specific task based resources, which they can use, for schoolwork. Teachers can monitor progress and provide feedback to help shape the learning journey.

Different learning styles are supported with students and teachers able to use sound, video, pictures and drawings. OneNote provides a rich learning experience without the need to use a collection of apps to achieve the same results. Sway can be used to easily create engaging content and learning resources within Office 365. Sways can be embedded within other online platforms or shared through social networks, such as Twitter or Facebook. Instant update and auto save enable online walls that can showcase the best student work and are easily accessible by peers and parents.

Yammer gives teachers the opportunity to share best practice across the school, removing silos of knowledge and helping to improve development of lessons. Students can gain key skills in social networking within a secure walled garden environment.

Outstanding Teaching.


Advantageous Microsoft licensing arrangements including Office 365 ProPlus Benefit put high quality industry standard technologies within reach of teachers and students. This connects students in the classroom with the world of work and key technologies used outside of education. The Microsoft Educator Network is a highly effective way to motivate and improve the skills of teachers, with access to free resources, lesson plans and educators from all over the world.

Skype and Lync provide industry standard communications platforms, which can improve school communications and give students key skills across a wide range of communication methods within the school and beyond broadening students’ horizons and helping their understanding of other cultures and nations. Instant messaging can help classroom management by enabling less confident students to ask questions. Desktop sharing features can be used to share best practice or for students to learn off their peers.

When it comes to inclusion, it’s important to realise that Windows has extensive built-in accessibility features. Narrator provides screen reading capabilities and with speech recognition you can have voice commands for navigating around the desktop. The magnifier tool enlarges part or all of the screen for visually impaired students. The USB connections available on Windows devices can connect a wide range of assistive technology peripherals.

For exampleKevin Sait of Wymondham High School is an enthusiast for Yammer.

Kevin was quick to see how well Yammer would support his drive to broaden the number of people involved in developing IT at Wymondham High. Now, it’s used not only to involve staff and students but also to cement relationships with Microsoft.

Kevin sees Yammer, too, as a means of educating young people in the appropriate use of social media.

“ We want them to use it for professional, school purposes as distinct from the general chat on other social sites.”

Chapter 1: The effectiveness of ICT learning in schools Ofsted ICT in education

Read more Microsoft Educator Network

“...high quality industry standard technologies within reach of teachers and students.”


www.educatornetwork.com


Achievement of pupils in ICT

Chapter 2:



The key Outstanding features here centre on subject knowledge – understanding of important ICT concepts, and the ability to make connections within the subject. Then there’s the ability to explain their knowledge in writing and verbally and to use it in solving problems. Being able to use a wide range of age appropriate hardware and software is important here, together with a high degree of independence in applying. Along with this, students will show positive attitudes, considerable initiative, and be creative and original in thought, understanding and application.

The Microsoft contribution.During the course of the student’s time within the school Office 365 + OneNote will give them a knowledge resource which they can look back on to help build a deeper understanding and connections across subjects. Imagine a student having a record (pictures, video and written) of every class they have been at and then using that stored knowledge for revision.

OneNote can be used by students to collaborate on a history project either in pairs or small groups. Teachers can track the progress of the group and offer feedback as the group plan the project. They are able to access their OneNote notebooks from any device at any time including a mobile phone, a great technology leveller.

Pupils can use Sway as evidence of learning, with its unique editing features, professional looking online publications can be created quickly and easily. Students can demonstrate key skills with Sway’s ability to make use of pictures, text video and web links. The easy sharing features mean pupils can gain peer feedback or save the links into their class OneNote for the teacher to view feedback and mark.

Students could use Sway to create a school newsletter or even as an interactive record of achievement.

Chapter 2: The achievement of pupils in ICT Ofsted ICT in education

Outstanding subject knowledge.

“They are able to access their OneNote notebooks from any device at any time...”


The Microsoft IT Academy provides an accessible and widely recognised way for students to increase their knowledge of Microsoft technologies. It will also give them an industry recognised qualification.

Coding resources, too, are readily available in the form of Kodu, and DreamSpark. Together all these resources can make a huge difference to students knowledge and skills.

At the same time, the availability of a wide range of devices – tablets, desktops, 2 in 1’s – all using compatible Windows based software, including Office 365 and OneNote, challenges students to choose and use appropriately and creatively whatever the task. ‘1-2-1’ device policies become appropriate and achievable through the availability of new low cost Windows based devices.

Creativity is supported by specific applications for photography and sound creation. Access to mobile apps through the Windows Store gives students freedom to choose the best tools for their needs. Whether it’s using the ‘CreateBook’ app for creating e-books or animating through Flip Boom.

Office Mix gives less confident students the ability to present their own ideas. PowerPoint is a familiar application and the inclusion of the Office Mix plugin turns it into a video creation tool. Pupils can use Mix to showcase their work, use it to argue a position in English and history or demonstrate a science experiment. The ability to save straight to the Office 365 video channel is a great way for students to showcase work or provide peers and teachers with ICT ‘how to’ videos.

For example.

Brien Gorham, English Teacher at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart writes, “Mix provides teachers with an easy way to create flipped lessons for students since most teachers are already familiar with PowerPoint. Being able to create self-directed content for students creates more class time for more challenging project work and writing assignments. Having students work with ‘static content’ at home allows for more differentiated instruction time in the classroom. Being able to track their progress is an essential feature of this tool.”

Chapter 2: The achievement of pupils in ICT Ofsted ICT in education

Read more Apps in education infographic

Read more Microsoft IT Academy


http://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/apps-in-education-infographic-uk

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/training-and-events/it-academy/default.aspx#fbid=7JtV4nbBizw


Quality of teaching in ICT

Chapter 3:



Chapter 3: Quality of teaching in ICT Ofsted ICT in education

A fundamental requirement here is teaching based on excellent subject knowledge that’s upto date and aware of continuing developments. Added to that is an understanding of active learning. As a result, teachers will effectively address pupils’ misconceptions, answer their questions and move them on to new thoughts and ideas. Students will be seen responding by actively participating in their learning, making full use of a very wide range of resources and teaching.

The Microsoft contributionOffice 365 + OneNote ensures staff can be effective in supporting the learning journey. Through the shared notebooks they can see a student’s work as it progresses and then provide constructive feedback with hand written notes and comments. Feedback could be the inclusion of additional resources or ideas for further work. The level of intervention can be used to demonstrate an impact on the quality of learning.

Using OneNote in this way not only supports independent working for the students but also a more personalised approach to each student’s needs. Being able to see how students take notes and develop their work gives a teacher real insight into how each student best learns and how they can be supported.

Homework can be set either within OneNote or within the class site in Office 365. Teachers can share best work with parents by simply clicking on a button and emailing a OneNote page to a parent to highlight the great work a student has done.

Outstanding subject knowledge.


Chapter 3: Quality of teaching in ICT Ofsted ICT in education

Our best learning happens through relationships with others and Yammer as a social networking tool can be used by teachers to help develop these connections. Yammer can be used by students to learn from their peers, collaborate on school projects or to collaborate with other schools. Teachers can use Yammer to help develop their classes by getting ideas from other teachers, sharing good practice and raising issues that they may need support in addressing.

Sway can be an engaging starting point for a lesson, imparting information to students through a wide range of device options or through using the classroom display technology. The embedding of videos, either from the web or the Office 365 video channel, helps give different dimensions to the content.

Flipped learning can help teachers have greater contact time with students during a lesson or help deeper understanding prior to a lesson. Office Mix can be used by teachers to create engaging learning content which can be published to the Office 365 video channel. Sway can also be used with Office mix as a starting point for students.

The Microsoft Educator Network puts teachers in touch with other innovative and Outstanding teachers both nationally and globally. This greatly enhances subject knowledge, promotes innovation and motivates teachers to be creative leaders of Outstanding learning. Teaching with Technology (TWT) framework offers teachers a great resource for professional development.

The Microsoft education blogs, too, offer a constant stream of information and ideas that keep teachers informed and upto date. Blogs also celebrate the achievements of individuals and schools.

“Our best learning happens through relationships with others...”

For example.

Guy Shearer of Lodge Park Community College, talking of the Microsoft Educator Network.

“ We are seeing more fun, left – field and thought provoking ideas through our connection to other like – minded schools…The resources are simple to share and because they aren’t proscriptive are ideal to fire the imagination of the ‘can-do’ teacher who wants to push themselves.”



Quality of the curriculum in ICT

Chapter 4:



Chapter 4: Quality of the curriculum in ICT Ofsted ICT in education

Here, Outstanding practice is marked a curriculum, which is imaginative, stimulating, and, importantly, is matched to the full range of student needs. There’s careful attention to continuity and progression, and to breadth and balance, with all areas covered well for all pupils, not only in ICT lessons but also across the school curriculum.

ICT is taught in contexts which make it relevant to their lives and which reflect the way ICT is used in business and industry. This means there will be excellent links with other agencies and the wider community, managed so as to further enrich student learning and engagement. This may include ICT based clubs, and visits to see ICT in action, as well as presentations by ICT professionals from beyond the school.

The curriculum is rigorously planned, with full attention to the spiritual, moral and cultural aspects of students’ lives.

Throughout their work, students will show that they know and understand fully how to stay safe with technology.

Outsanding curriculum.

“... a curriculum which is imaginative, stimulating, and, importantly, is matched

to the full range of student needs.“



The Microsoft contributionOffice 365 + OneNote provides the basis for the curriculum and supports the use of technology in all areas through the deployment of sites and workbooks for students. Resources can be stored for access at any time and hand-in folders can track work and enable staff to organise classwork. School timetables can be linked to homework diaries. Office 2013 allows students and teachers to move seamlessly between local and cloud based resources, removing the need to save and upload resources or assignments to the cloud based platform.

School Clubs can have a site page within SharePoint with control of these pages handed down to students to manage and develop.

Curriculum planning is made efficient and effective by collaborative and planning tools such as OneNote, Lync and SharePoint. Meetings become purposeful and inclusive, decisions and consultations are broad – based, and all criteria are covered.

Combining Windows devices with OneNote on a field trip is a great way to provide students with interactive learning material as they walk around. Imagine a history trip to a castle, students are looking at pictures or videos in OneNote relevant to the period in time, making notes based on evidence they find or unlocking secrets by being asked to locate a certain picture in the castle and then make notes on the inscription underneath.

The Video channel within Office 365 provides schools with the ability to have a curated resource for students and staff. Today YouTube is one of the most used search engines reflecting the way students find information. Videos could be taken from the web, created using Office Mix to provide learning objectives, or simple how-to guides for revision. When providing feedback to students within OneNote links can be provided to videos to help improve understanding of a particular topic.

The video channel can also be used to support extracurricular activity, maybe a school TV station or music video channel.

The rise of social media has connected people in new and exciting ways, enabling us to communicate instantly and discover greater connections with information. Yammer is a Facebook – like social networking tool integrated within Office 365. The enterprise grade features offer schools the opportunity to harness the power of social networking. Students can gain comprehensive knowledge and understanding of how to stay safe. It can be used to enhance the curriculum and support revision through peers helping others. Project work can take on a more social context and be developed by the wider group.



Social networking is about more than just communicating with others. It is about connecting people with information. Delve, within Office 365, connects users with information, resources they are following, or resources which are popular with peers. This is great way for students to find things, which would normally be hidden from them. Delve uses the machine learning service in Azure to enable it to personalise information to the student and teacher, improving personalised learning and enhancing the sharing of best practice.

Windows based devices support the widest range of peripherals, from raspberry Pi to robots and sensor systems. Science lessons can take advantage of existing sensor sets.

Skype in the Classroom is a fantastic resource to enhance and deepen understanding of subjects by engaging a class with industry or subject experts. You could have a guest speaker from Microsoft to discuss computer science or use Skype to provide lesson content on exploring the planet.

Cross curricular enhancements could come from Drama students playing the part of passengers on the Titanic and being interviewed by history students.

Skype translator can translate foreign languages in real-time giving students the opportunity to interact with others from around the world.

The provision of Computer Science within the curriculum affords schools the opportunity to not only enhance student knowledge but connect them with the world of work by giving them access to real world qualifications through IT Academy.

Microsoft’s industry standard technologies, familiar and in use across the world, are made available to schools in ways that are highly affordable. This makes it possible for students and teachers to collaborate and communicate seamlessly with local businesses and agencies, engaging with real challenges.

For example.

Jonathan Bishop, of Broadclyst Primary, talks about Office 365, OneNote and Lync for planning across three schools.

“It all allows us very powerful collaboration – three different schools, talking to each other, using Lync, sharing desktops, working on tasks together and publishing to OneNote.”

“Social networking is about more than just communicating with others.”



Quality of leadership in, and management of, ICT

Chapter 5:



Chapter 5: Quality of leadership in, and management of, ICT Ofsted ICT in education

Outstanding leadership

There’s a strong focus here on the importance of starting at the top, with enthusiastic, committed and knowledgeable leadership by governors and school leaders. Effective financial management, the appropriate use of pupil premium funding, and the best use of available staff and resources all stem from effective senior leadership and governance.

At subject leadership level, subject knowledge is again vital, together with a strong track record of innovation in ICT. Good practice is shared, CPD is targeted, upto date, and evaluated for impact. It includes all relevant staff including TAs and technical staff.

E-safety is always on the agenda of leaders at all levels – at least one staff member has upto date accreditation in e-safety, and clear procedures are available, known about and understood by everyone in the school.

The Microsoft contributionOffice 365 + OneNote are great tools for senior leaders and heads to collaborate on school planning. Ideas can be shared and worked on across a single OneNote. Notes can be linked to Outlook meetings and Lync video calls. Teachers who are not available or miss meetings will be able to keep up with and contribute to ideas, which have been discussed. Meeting actions can be linked directly to task lists in Outlook, enabling a consistent workflow to reduce management overheads for the senior leadership team.

Lync provides a power tool for connecting staff into meetings from home, or other parts of the schools buildings. Staff could also use Lync for parent engagement, such as parent meetings, as all that is required to join a Lync meeting is a web browser. School events could be streamed live using Lync, connecting and engaging parents who may not be able to attend the event in person due to child care issues. School performances or events could also be stored on the Office 365 video channel for later viewing by parents or carers who work difficult hours.

All schools generate huge amounts of data and store this data in different places. Power Bi is an add-on to Office 365 which uses Excel to provide easy-to-use data insights and dashboards for school leaders and head teachers. Reports can even be embedded into web pages to provide parents and students easy access to school data.

“ School events could be streamed live using Lync,

connecting and engaging parents...”


Chapter 5: Quality of leadership in, and management of, ICT Ofsted ICT in education

An additional benefit to the IT Academy is the Microsoft Certified Educator badge or MCE. This uses the UNESCO standards for teaching with technology to help teachers become confident users of technology in the classroom. Great technology alone does not make great teaching but confident teachers can use technology to improve outcomes in the classroom.

Every school has a prospectus for new parents looking at the school. Sway would be a fun and interactive way to create the school prospectus and share with new parents, who would be able to view it on any device at any time. This also helps any green efforts by saving on trees and cutting the cost of printing for the school.

Access to the latest productivity Office tools is an important aspect of helping students get ahead and ready for the world of work. Through Office 365 ProPlus Benefit qualifying schools can now provide this access at no additional cost.

The Microsoft Educator Network, fully supported at all levels including governor and senior leadership, and embedded into the CPD culture, can transform ICT – and by implication teaching and learning generally. For e-safety, there are Microsoft Safety and Security tools such as:

For example.

Isobel Bryce, head of Saltash.net school leads learning with ICT from the top. Isobel’s full hearted support of the Innovative Teachers Programme at Saltash.net has made the school and its teachers into global players in ICT for learning.

Isobel has belief in the strong yet carefully distributed leadership structure that’s necessary if ICT is really going to transform learning, a real leadership lesson for all schools.

Read more Keeping children safe

Read more Social networking safety


http://www.microsoft.com/uk/citizenship/safeandsecure/parentadvice/default.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/online-privacy/social-networking.aspx

http://saltash.net/

http://saltash.net/

Office 365Provide schools with a platform in the cloud combining a number of key technologies.

▪ Exchange mail

▪ SharePoint for curriculum sites

▪ OneDrive storage

▪ Web apps for real-time collaboration

▪ Yammer – Social networking

Office DelveOffice Delve surfaces personalised content to you from across Office 365. Powered by the Office Graph, Delve shows you information based on what you’re working on and what’s trending around you.


Glossary of technologies with further links.

Read more Office in education

Read more Office Delve


http://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education

http://products.office.com/en-us/business/explore-office-delve

YammerYammer is a private social network integrated with Office 365. Collaborate and share information across your school and organise around projects. Oh, and it looks and works just like Facebook so the teachers will love it!

Office MixThe Office Mix add-in for PowerPoint is a new way to tell your story with voice, video, inking, screen recording and interactive magic. Bring your lessons to life with your voice, video, assessments and interactive apps. Personalise students’ learning and see their progress with immediate results (requires Office 2013).

LyncMicrosoft Lync 2013 delivers streamlined communications for the users in your business, so they can find and communicate with the right person, right now. Work across different locations and time zones using a variety of communication methods such as instant messaging, conferencing, and enterprise voice.

OneNoteCross platform app for saving and collecting your notes. Can be used for planning, structuring lesson plans, and homework revision. Supports a wide range of learning styles by accepting pictures, audio, video and drawn notes. Workbooks can be shared with others for collaboration. Search supports pictures and hand written notes. SwaySway is an online tool for creating fantastic looking content quickly and easily and expressing your ideas in an entirely new way. No need to save, always published, inserts pictures, text, videos and integrates with social media sites. Skype in the classroomThousands of teachers worldwide use Skype in their classroom for free. Connect with other schools other teachers, explorers, a wildlife park in Africa. Join in the fun and take students out for the day!



Read more Sway preview

Read more Skype in the classroom

Read more Great training resources

Read more Toolkit for teachers

Read more About Yammer

Read more Accessibility features

Read more Microsoft business


https://sway.com/

https://education.skype.com/

http://onenoteforteachers.com/en-GB

https://www.educatornetwork.com/Resources/Tools/Details/4d4c2510-c482-4db6-a683-ef5f0997373a

https://about.yammer.com

https://mix.office.com

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/business/products/lync-2013

Skype TranslatorSkype Translator gives you the ability to speak another language without learning one. Simply set up a Skype video or voice call with someone who speaks another language and start talking. Great for speaking an additional language, for developing links with other schools, or even helping to learn and revise.

Power BIPower BI for Office 365 is a self-service business intelligence (BI) solution delivered through Excel and Office 365 that provides teachers, and senior leaders with data analysis and visualisation capabilities to improve learning and improve school performance.

Microsoft IT AcademyWith the Microsoft IT Academy (ITA) program, academic institutions and their educators, students and staff get digital curriculum and certifications for fundamental technology skills – as well as courses critical for students to be successful in today’s technologically evolving world.

Computing in the Curriculum

Key Microsoft UK ResourcesCase studies, videos and learning resources.

Daily blogs on technology and UK education.



Read more Kodu

Read more Slideshare in education

Read more UK Schools Blog

Read more Project Spark

Read more Touch develop

Read more Dreamspark

Read more Minecraft

Read more Skype translator

Read more Power BI for Education

Read more IT Academy


http://www.kodugamelab.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ukschools/

http://welcome.projectspark.com/

https://www.touchdevelop.com/

https://www.dreamspark.com/

http://minecraftedu.com/

http://www.skype.com/en/translator-preview/

http://powerbi365.com.au/power-bi-for-education-2/

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/training-and-events/it-academy/default.aspx#fbid=7JtV4nbBizw

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