Weekly Update – 10/4/2020

Hello and welcome to this weeks Lourdes IT updates. This week we are focusing on Teams Hints and Tips, as Microsoft release some much needed features, and have others in the works, device schemes for students as well as staying safe online.

Wishing you all a safe Easter.

Jump to:

• Improvements to Teams
• Covid-19 Scams and Phishing information
• Lourdes IT Updates
• Working with schools to look at 1-1 device schemes
• Start thinking about how this crisis ends: How to build future-proof IT for schools and academies

Custom backgrounds, registers and stats – and more faces.

Microsoft has been listening, and a range of new features have now been launched, or are being actively worked on to release in the next few weeks.

• End your meeting – you could only leave a meeting, which meant that others are  left behind and could carry on a meeting without you. Not now, you can click the three dots in a call, and select End Meeting  to force everyone to leave.
• Custom backgrounds – you can set a range of images as your background, instead of blur – later this year, you will be able to upload custom wallpapers for your background
• Raise hand feature is being rolled out this month, if someone has something they want to say, they can click the raise hand button to get attention.
• Get an attendance report: If you need to know who has joined your meeting, you will be able to download a participant report, later this month.
• More then 4 video streams  currently, your screen will allow just 4 live videos on the screen, which change depending on who talks – Microsoft are actively working on increasing this number.
• Analytics in Teams – Get info on your teams and their activity, find out more here

Read more about what Microsoft are doing to improve Teams for all, and some stats about the increase in usage

The number of scams involving Covid-19 is growing rapidly.

It’s important not to let the criminals rush or panic you into making a decision that you later come to regret.

With fake news articles on the internet and in the press promoting remedies, cures and false advice around coronavirus, it’s also important to only share articles from trustworthy sources. If you are in any doubt, then visit www.gov.uk/coronavirus or www.who.int/ for updates and information.

Criminals are experts at impersonating people, organisations and the police. They spend hours researching you for their scams, hoping you’ll let your guard down for just a moment. Stop and think: it could protect you and your money.

Always follow the advice of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign and Stop, Challenge, Protect when being asked for your money or information.

Lourdes IT Updates

• We are open throughout Easter (excluding bank holidays) 9am – 5pm.
• Survey: let us know your thoughts on devices we rolled out
• Survey: let us know your thoughts on our open hours and out of hours support
• We are rolling our server updates across all our schools, keep an eye on our status page for updates on how this may affect your school. We are updating servers from an older version of Windows Server to the latest in this downtime – this should improve features, stability and security for our schools.
• Availability of devices is improving working with our partners, we are seeing a return of availability of some  devices, but these are currently more expensive then normal, and a lower quantity is available.

Working with schools to look at 1-1 devices schemes 

We are aware that many schools are now understanding the true benefit of platforms such as Office365, and ensuring wide access to these platforms for staff and students throughout the school day. This is causing many schools to look at device schemes or increasing their devices in schools, particularly as when staff and students return, their skills for devices etc will be improved.

As a result, we are working with many of our schools to develop schemes of 1-1 devices, some with parental contributions, and some with schools purchasing. If you would like to be part of these discussions, please let us know via email.

Start thinking how this ends – how to build future-proof IT for schools and academies

Matt has been interviewed for a piece on the above by Novatech – if you would like to read it, you can find it here