Inside the digital learning revolution at Shore

July 2, 2024

Microsoft Australia

In 2023 Shore Sydney Church of England Grammar School changed from a BYOD policy for Years 7-11 to a 1:1 device strategy where the school manages one type of device securely from end-to-end. That shift from policy to strategy is significant as it unlocked a teacher and student-centric approach. With one device chosen, the focus could move to seamless and secure integration and better learning outcomes, plus the resulting time savings and efficiency benefits for the ICT team, teachers and students.

This 1:1 device strategy came to life when Shore invested in 1,500 Microsoft Surface Pros for every student and teacher in Years 7-11. Prior to 2023, teachers were extremely concerned about the “walls of laptops” in their classes and saw “the steel wall” as a symbolic and physical barrier to effective engagement.

That steel wall tumbled down when students started using their Surface Pros and could easily switch from laptop to tablet mode and use a digital pen to ink. Teachers are now confident that students are on-task and have embraced digital learning. It’s been made possible by the right choice of technology – device and platform – combined with a holistic and planful approach to ICT efficiency and skilling readiness. With these things in place, Shore is fast unlocking new ways of teaching to deliver powerful learning outcomes for students.

Creating a connected and collaborative learning environment

Shore is focusing on the big picture. Shore’s Acting Head of Digital Learning Matt Fletcher considers how the 1:1 device strategy and Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and OneNote has changed the way teachers and departments work: “The move from on-premise to cloud is an ongoing process, but now we’ve adopted the endpoint of Surface Pro through to Microsoft’s cloud capability, we’re seeing it can be all encompassing. Not just one standalone device or a piece of software. We can now seamlessly integrate across device, student, teacher and platform.”

And like every school knows, changes in technology and the subsequent impact on pedagogy is not a small mountain to climb.

To prepare, Shore undertook a robust two-year period of professional development for its teachers. From engagement on Teams, to face-to-face mini tutorials, on-demand support materials and technical support from IT and Microsoft – teachers were supported in understanding the potential of their Surface Pro devices combined with the Microsoft 365 platform.

This set the foundation to fully embrace a connected and collaborative learning environment. All teachers have a Teams group with tagged groups, like Senior Teachers for example. Every class has a Teams group and a class OneNote Notebook with a Welcome Page template that houses lesson plans, homework, and links to work covered in class. Everything that’s done in a lesson is included. Even the work on a whiteboard has a photo taken and shared in the OneNote Notebook. And the increased use of OneNote has seen a significant reduction in printing, which is a great sustainability outcome for the school.

The game changing ability of inking

Shore has discovered that digital inking is deceptively transformative for learning and describe it as a “game changing ability”. On one hand, it simply removes the need for constant keyboard use. This allows students to switch to tablet mode, orienting the classroom culture back to a pen and paper-like modality. On the other hand, it opens a world of digitised and collaborative learning possibilities between students and teachers with quicker feedback loops and the collaborative and organisational strengths of Microsoft 365 with special mention to OneNote.

To understand what that means in real terms, consider an outside of class scenario that doesn’t involve email or checking a pigeonhole.

“I don’t know how to find this Sir,” messages the student on Microsoft Teams.

Next comes a link to the student’s OneNote and his teacher clicks through and they work on a diagram task in-real time together. The teacher takes the student’s hand-drawn diagram and resizes, recolours and stretches the lines as he and the student ink notes, and problem solve.

“It’s a real combination of portability with Surface Pro, inkability, the platform that is OneNote, and bringing in Teams for quick communications. The instant nature of it is of high value and is improving student outcomes and learning in classrooms,” says Mr. Fletcher.

Richard Jones Head of Technology Services agrees: “OneNote and inkability enables teachers to curate, manage, annotate and have quicker feedback loops. It’s far more than collaboration. The term co-creation is a better term for us.”

Enabling seamless support and security for a smooth rollout

A benchmark for Shore is a seamless experience for every Year 7 on their first day of senior school. Andrew Nield Projects and Assets Manager and his team manage the rollout supported by Microsoft Partner Compnow and Microsoft. “For us, when a student comes in on day one, it’s meant to be seamless. The Surface Pro has been pre-logged in with all the programs they need, set-up with Windows Hello so they can “grab and go”. We start in July on the strategic technology decisions on devices – what’s coming out, purchasing, and when to put them in the students’ hands.”

Microsoft Partner Compnow also helped with the initial Intune provisioning, issues diagnosis and support. This includes the Advanced Replacement Program which is run by Compnow through Microsoft to ensure damaged or faulty machines get an immediate replacement which limits disruption for students, teachers and families. “We are there as the advocate when challenges happen to get faster remediation,” confirms Compnow’s Director Education, Brendan Redpath who is a member of Microsoft’s Global Surface Executive Partner Advisory Council.

Security has had a significant boost thanks to the end-to-end management options of Surface Pro. Now every device has tools to protect information and enforce security and content policies, with Windows Hello adding that extra layer.

Bringing it all together

With teachers having the right professional development to unify technology and pedagogy, the orientation and education for the students is the last piece of the puzzle in readiness and engagement.

At the start of the year, Shore runs Digital Orientation Sessions backed up by meticulous planning. It’s about building the students’ understanding of how device + software enhances their learning.

Microsoft provided change management support across many areas. Andrew Balzer is an experienced former teacher, now technology trainer in his role as Education Success Manager at Microsoft. He ran a special tech training session for all Year 7s which was a big hit and supported Mr. Fletcher to curate content for a three-hour digital learning session. A Microsoft stall onsite delivered hybrid sessions on tips and tricks including how to get the best out of OneNote and practical advice for devices like using left-handed pens. Microsoft even helped design a 3D pen to help a student with accessibility needs.

“By the time the Year 7s walked into their classroom for their very first maths lesson, I was confident in their understanding that the device they got was set up and ready to go with support thanks to the ICT team, and that the students understood Teams, OneNote and Outlook. The feedback from staff and parents was very positive,” Mr. Fletcher says about this year’s orientation.

Where to from here?

Empowering students to excel is a fundamental component of Shore’s culture and in 2023 the school received its best HSC results in the school’s 134-year history.

While so many factors contribute to this remarkable achievement, Mr. Fletcher believes one aspect could be the collective embrace of digital learning by teachers, students and families: “I don’t think we can negate the impact of technology. The last few years have been the best – a game changer.”

The answer to “Where to from here?” might lie in Shore’s 3-year strategic direction set last year across four guiding virtues, one of which is: Excellence and Rigour in Teaching and Learning. It’s a commitment to shaping the young minds of its students to be ready to meet the opportunities and challenges of the future.

Which makes it no surprise that Shore’s progressive and comprehensive approach to digital learning for the future relies on the technology that is shaping the future.