Weekly Update #2

Hello, and welcome to your second weekly update from Lourdes IT. We hope you all had a relaxing Easter, even in these strange times that we are all in.

Our team have continued to work throughout the Easter break – many thanks to the 54 people who have left positive vibes after we have dealt with their tickets, and for some of the lovely comments. It is a real morale boost to our team, some of whom are working alone at home or who are, like many others, adapting to a new normal away from the hustle and bustle of being onsite in schools.

This week:

• Updated lists of hints, tips and useful resources in the shut down
• Introducing FlipGrid
• Training Sessions Update
• Lourdes IT Updates

This week’s roundup of useful resources:

• New – Lourdes IT Covid-19 Help Pages: Online safety, learning resources and more
• New – Teams is rolling out 3×3 grid for meeting, see more, do more!
• Teams in the classroom, a quick guide to getting organised with teams, channels etc
• Inclusive Remote Working – what tools you can use to support those with additional needs learning from home

Introducing: FlipGrid

Flipgrid is a free simple way to foster short video-based discussions on classroom topics. It is free for schools, and is built for education, with safety of young people at its core – it is a Microsoft company and works on all browsers and devices.

Flipgrid is a free video discussion platform from Microsoft that helps educators see and hear from every student in class and foster a fun and supportive social learning environment. In Flipgrid, educators post discussion prompts and students respond with short videos, whether they are learning in class or at home.

• Getting started with FlipGrid
• Information on using FlipGrid for remote learning

Lourdes IT Remote Training Update

Following the Easter Holidays, our online training will resume on Wednesday 22nd April, we are actively looking to hear what you would value from a session on, so please let us know via email or twitter.

You can see our existing videos including Office365 intro, teams for teachers, forms and power automate and SharePoint – on our Youtube Channel.

Lourdes IT Update

• We go back to our term time opening hours on Monday – 8am to 5pm – we are still open for staff and students and parents, via phone, email, portal, live chat.
• School Champion reports will continue from next week to schools.
• 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