Your Schools use of Office 365?

[maxrebo]

Would like peoples views on their schools use of Office 365 services?

 

We implemented O365 back in the summer and since then I have found it very difficult to get the staff (and pupils) to use many of the services.

Apart from Mail hardly anything else is used.

 

I have pushed and pushed Onedrive, FREE office pro plus, teacher dashboard no one seems to have any interest in using any of these.

 

I have done training sessions on basic use and whats available but out of 100 staff only 8 turned up!

 

Pen drives drive me mad!, every now and again a teachers drive becomes corrupt and I inform them to use Onedrive to store their data, but It get totally ignored!

 

Numerous emails have been sent out informing them they can install Office on up to 10 devices but I still get asked the question months later "How can I get a free copy of Office 2013?"

 

What use from staff do you get from your Office 365?, I think its great and offers so much for Education.

 

Our ICT teachers are the worst in school, I don`t think any of them use it other than to check their mail! Drives me mad!

 

Rant over!

[jslate1980]

That's a shame. I implemented office 365 over the summer as well and so far have had a lot of interest. Staff are using more of the features than I expected such as one note.

[Nixon77]

Force them, disable USB drives.

 

Once they start using Onedrive, it might temp them to use the other stuff.

 

Most staff just think its Hotmail and nothing more.

[maxrebo]

Yeah i have considered disabling usb drives but i think without a really solid reason there would be uproar.

[Mr.Ben]

I run a large tenancy for a number of schools, and to be honest, this is the reaction (indifference) that we get from the 'extras' over email.

 

We run both Office 365 and Google Apps. Some staff still request other services to which they are given a firm no if the requested software overlaps with 365 or Gapps. It will take off, but I think we have to be patient.

 

In previous roles, I've found volunteering to help with computing clubs etc helps. Teach the kids to use a technology and the teachers will begin to get it!

[maxrebo]

The annoying thing on top of this is the staff (and really is the ict staff) is they dont make the pupils know that all these services are available either. Every pupil that comes to reset password dont have any clue they have an email account. Only over the last few months with my hardwork are they getting to use it.

Makes me think sometimes what is the point caring so much!

[witch]

We have Office 365 for staff and it is only now in one school, when the DH who is fairly IT literate, has made the decision to have various pupil intervention reports and the like on "sites" that it is being used for anything other than mail. The odd person uses the video bit but nothing much else.

It isn't up to the IT staff to get things off the ground. The other school doesn't really use it at all other than mail.

It is very frustrating but without the wholesale backing of SLT, nothing will change.

We are about to refresh the whole network and I think it is time to sort out Office 365 for pupils and then disable USB sticks

[nelliott]

I have had Office 365 in for about a year and a half.

Initally we were only using it for email, however, this year USB storage for students was disabled forcing them to use OneDrive and I am starting to really push the free copies of Office.

 

In the summer, I am working on a plan to utilise more of what Office 365 has to offer, ie SharePoint, OneNote, etc.

[MatthewL]

I don't get why USB is still used, I've been emailing myself work for years, far easier.

 

I only have a USB stick now for firmware and the odd file when I don't have internet access and needs bits, everything else is email, I use it to do everything and if its not on email it gets forgotten about.

[maxrebo]

I think from my experience the easiest way is the one most used. Its easier for them to save it to usb then go through two more clicks to save to onedrive.

 

I very rarely use USB sticks now either, only to drop some drivers on etc..

[Liam]

I disabled USB. Ok faced massive resistance earlier on but I had backing from slt ... At the time there was a school not so far away that experience a serious ransomware attack. Im confident that I have things in place to

Prevent this but they understand my reasoning. One drive usage , I said why limit yourself to a computer. So most downloaded the office apps on their personals phones and tablets and now smash one drive via that.

We are using class onenote very well too. Many depts collaborating.

Ms Lync is also becoming more and more popular now. Two years on though at my place.

[nelliott]

My main issue from telling everyone to just us email was due to we are an specialist engineering/computer science college, some of the CAD files were too large to be sent over email so OneDrive was the only option.

[Liam]

I have found there to be some floors though with it. Simple things like the inability to drag a folder to it..nightmare. You can if you use the one drive for business app but I have found this to be troublesome too. Sync issues etc etc.

I am trying to promote it, but also creating myself more work sometimes.

Some schools have completely replaced home drives for one drives. Bonkers in my opinion but i guess they have their reasons.

[maxrebo]

I have found there to be some floors though with it. Simple things like the inability to drag a folder to it..nightmare. You can if you use the one drive for business app but I have found this to be troublesome too. Sync issues etc etc.

I am trying to promote it, but also creating myself more work sometimes.

Some schools have completely replaced home drives for one drives. Bonkers in my opinion but i guess they have their reasons.

 

Yes, the Onedrive desktop sync tool is pretty poor, I`m always getting sync errors on my installation and I don`t have much confidence in it at all, so pushing it to the staff is particularly hard.

 

At present my install is currently syncing 4 files and has been for the ladt few days!, it doesnt show any files that are trying to sync!.

[maxrebo]

I Suppose patience is the key with this one I think, although use of Office 365 (or lack of it) is just part of a wider frustration I have with use of ICT through out my school.

80%+ staff just use ICT in school to the minimum and this annoys me.

As mentioned above if SLT dont push it then it rarely gets of the ground but if they do its the complete opposite. But that`s the case with a lot of things in schools i suppose!?

[Liam]

Yes totally agree. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that most schools now have a different solution for everything from reward systems to parents evening systems. This only creates further complication for staff as we introduce or slt introduce more and more systems. Ict staff literacy has always been a concern of mine. Despite my best efforts I get about 5% of 100 staff turning up to anything. We almost need an Ict professional to observe lessons and suggest better use of Ict but then unions don't like this. Fighting a losing battle really. I have given in to the fact that I'm providing the tools, if the choose not to use them then what more can I do ?

[maxrebo]

Yes my thoughts exactly, i find untill someone wants to do something only then will people take it on board. I find when i push something directly from me no one is really that bothered.

What annoys me is when you have something in place, they then go off on there own and do it their way, only months later realise the setup i put in place is far better and easier!

[Liam]

Yes, I get this on a daily basis... My biggest bug bare... I can't find my projector remote to freeze my board... Oh well I have gone to the effort of actually explaining this as part of

Your wallpaper. Why done you just extend screen and work at the same time!! Argh.. Sometimes I think to myself if I was a teacher, I probably wouldn't get results but my lessons would be technologically advanced.

[Liam]

I have found there to be some floors though with it. Simple things like the inability to drag a folder to it..nightmare. You can if you use the one drive for business app but I have found this to be troublesome too. Sync issues etc etc.

I am trying to promote it, but also creating myself more work sometimes.

Some schools have completely replaced home drives for one drives. Bonkers in my opinion but i guess they have their reasons.

 

Flaws! Doh!! How embarrassing !

[MkII]

Our school disallow email access for all but the sixth form. We recently enabled it for year ten for their controlled assessment, but the subject teacher wants it disabled again. Isn't there some requirement for pupils to have access to email?

[Liam]

Not that I'm aware, but as long as it's controlled it shouldn't be an issue. I created transport rules to prevent email to external domains in and out. It's good for them.

[DJ-1701]

My understanding is e-mail comes under a privilege, not a right or requirement. So if they don't want to grant the students access, I don't believe they have to. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to issue Internet or E-mail bans. The only exception I could see is if it is explicitly needed for a course or assessment, then of course it becomes a requirement.

[MkII]

Hmm OK thanks guys. Control seems good. I denied the pupils the ability to email staff, but still the thought was that the pupils couldn't be controlled and would be emailing in lessons instead of working. Edited February 7, 2016 by MkII

[Liam]

Oh I disallowed students student too. Only email to staff allowed

[Edu-IT]

Oh I disallowed students student too. Only email to staff allowed

Does that not discourage collaboration? We often see sending between students, working on projects, legitimately.