3 real-life lessons in

transforming learning
with technology
Table of contents

03 05 08

Introduction Sometimes, it’s better to Long-term success starts

start small with teacher choice

12 16

Align initiatives to students’ Final thoughts

interests and potential

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Introduction
As educators, you always want the best for your students. But what you
teach and how you teach it has taken a dynamic shift from traditional
instructor-led classroom models—teachers are now becoming facilitators
in a student-led learning journey.
Introduction 4

Student-centered opportunities and experiences help students get in

touch with who they want to be and what they want to accomplish in
the world. Research shows that learner motivation and actual learning
both increase when learners are treated as co-creators and have a
stake in the learning process.¹

So how can you make the most of your efforts to transform and drive
better learning outcomes?

Building a curriculum and environment that will prepare students for

life beyond the classroom and navigating what that means in a world
evolving at a faster pace than ever before is always top of mind for
motivated school leaders like you. Integrating technology into those
plans can take your efforts—and results—to new levels that were not
possible before.

When harnessed correctly, technology can give greater insights to

students, create more equity in access to opportunity, and improve
collaboration and other SEL skills essential to future success. It can
also free up bandwidth for instructors to focus more of their attention
on building relationships with and meeting the individual needs of
their students.

However, while student-centered learning approaches are in high

demand, they’re also in low supply.

The good news is, you’re not in this alone. Others have found success
in implementing technology in education, and the blueprints already
exist for you to follow.

At Microsoft, we’ve seen how others have positively impacted

students, empowered educators, and inspired the community
with effective projects. Through this e-book, we’ll be sharing some
common insights we’ve observed from leaders in education like you
that have made schools across the globe successful. We hope some
of them might help you with your own journey.

¹ Student voice survey (Quaglia & Corso) of more than 66,000 students in grades 6 through 12
Sometimes, it’s better
to start small
Small successes can lead to real change
Sometimes, it’s better to start small 6

To generate positive change, a considerable amount of

time, effort, and resources needs to go into creating and
implementing plans.

In reality, most districts just don’t have the resources to start big—
but this doesn’t have to be a deterrent to transformation. Innovation
and transformation don’t happen overnight. Small steps add up to
big changes, and every journey begins with a first step.

There is value in starting small. You can gain valuable insights from
students and staff, generate community support, and then start
attaining small goals and quickly connecting projects to each other
and back into your vision. Small successes create momentum and
build on one another toward bigger transformations.

Bridgeport Public Schools started small by focusing on

devices within one school.

Frustrated with their previous devices and looking for an

educational technology solution that incorporated specialized
instruction, Bridgeport Public Schools in Bridgeport, Connecticut
decided to pilot Windows 10 devices at Reed Elementary
School. Soon after the pilot launched, teachers and principals
at other schools took note of the enthusiastic response at Reed
Elementary and began to request them at their own schools.

With a simple setup process, intuitive management, and a

platform that encouraged easy collaboration, the pilot was so
successful that administrators decided to phase out legacy
Chromebooks and use Windows 10 devices as the standard
across all 46 schools in the district.
Sometimes, it’s better to start small 7

Marshall Public Schools started small by focusing on

security within the district.

While the large district was already running Windows 10 Pro

on their Lenovo devices, they were struggling to find the right
balance between security and buy-in from students and staff.
They decided to run a pilot program with HP education devices
running Windows 10 in a secure mode that keeps student
devices protected.

With the safety net of Windows 10, students and staff were able
to effectively use Microsoft Online products like Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint to work together to construct ideas, analyze data, and
learn how to present their thoughts—without worrying about
data and security threats. Along with the simplicity of overnight
updates and a reduced deployment time frame, the pilot at
Marshall Public School District that began with a focus on security
was smooth, straightforward, and encouraged student success.
This success has encouraged the entire district to continue
adoption of Windows 10 education devices.

With the extra security provided by

Windows 10 … we get that right
balance between safeguarding devices
and encouraging communication,
collaboration, critical thinking, and
creativity.

Todd Pickthorn
District Network Services Coordinator,
Marshall Public School District
Long-term success starts
with teacher choice
The foundation of new initiatives should be generating
and harnessing instructor buy-in and excitement
Long-term success starts with teacher choice 9

It’s no secret that educators make amazing

things happen.

Every educator wants to see students succeed in learning and

in life. When they see the potential that the right tools can have
in improving opportunities for their students, the results are
remarkable. Harnessing this power, whether through empowering
educators with training and support or clearing the path for
passionate evangelists, is key to the long-term success of any new
program or initiative.

“Teacher choice is absolutely essential,” says Ryan Coe, Vice Principal

of Fresno Unified School District. He emphasizes that it is necessary
to support student voice.

Fresno Unified School District in California serves nearly

75,000 students in preschool through grade 12.

A large amount of the students there live in poverty, and several are
learning English as a second language.

When Fresno set out to maximize the potential of every one of these
students with a personalized learning initiative (PLI), they knew their
success would start with teachers and be powered by technology.

The district provided educators with up to 30 hours of training on

how to leverage technology to support their teaching, and instituted
communities of practice to help teachers learn from each other and
continuously improve the initiative. Their investment in instructors
drove results, and teachers in the PLI were using technology more
intentionally and integrating apps, content, and assessments more
often. In fact, they saw a 55 percent average use of technology for
PLI teachers versus only 5 percent for non-PLI teachers.
Long-term success starts with teacher choice 10

As hoped, this drove the corresponding impact for students.

Students who had teachers involved in the PLI showed statistically
significant differences, performing better in six out of ten subjects
compared to those whose teachers were not involved.

Fresno Unified has found that when they are able to work with
their teachers to help support their applied use of technology for
instruction, they can achieve a greater and more sustained impact for
their students.

In another district, change started with one passionate teacher

acting as a tech evangelist and leading the way for her fellow
teachers and schools.

When the students’ experiences

are driving the core of why
we do what we do, then the
meaning is always there.

Ryan Coe
Vice Principal, Fresno Unified School District
Long-term success starts with teacher choice 11

Jennifer Duncan, a teacher at Rocky Boy High School in

Montana, has taught for 27 years.

Duncan has found that working with technology in the classroom

drives student engagement, fosters inventiveness, and helps to
prepare students for the future. Students are more engaged because
she uses the technology to enable them to be more creative.
For example, she had her creative writing students assemble the
semester’s assignments into a single Sway presentation, resulting in
an inspiring display of images, poetry, and writing.

More than that, this type of project brings students and teachers
closer together in a way that only technology can. It narrows the gap
of time and distance with real-time digital feedback and collaboration
that helps build impactful relationships—results that the school is
working to build on.

For the Rocky Boy district, the introduction of Windows-based

devices to each classroom is giving students a step up that they
didn’t have before, and graduation rates are up nearly 50 percent
from 2016.

Key to the success of both of these transformations is the support

and passion of instructors who are focused every day on improving
learning outcomes for students and producing real impact, all with
the help of technology.
Align initiatives to students’
interests and potential
When goals, student interests, and tools are aligned, the impact is far-reaching
Align initiatives to students’ interests and potential 13

Every student has a unique way of learning, unique

interests that inspire them, and unique potential they
can achieve.

As class sizes and the diversity in them continue to grow, and as

the shift to more student-centered learning gains momentum, it
can be challenging for teachers to address this for each student the
way they’d like and deliver more personalized learning at scale.

Technology can be the key to helping educators more quickly tap

into each student’s unique potential, scale their ability to tailor
content to students’ needs, and get time back to dedicate to
building stronger relationships with their students.

At St. Lucie Public Schools, one of the largest districts

in Florida, the diversity of students and their needs is
staggering.

The school district’s 42 sites include 17 elementary schools, 4

middle schools, 5 high schools, and 1 virtual school. The student
population is 36 percent white, 30 percent African American, 29
percent Latino, 4 percent multiracial, and 2 percent Asian American,
with a total of 47 different languages spoken throughout the
district. And three out of four students come from socioeconomic
backgrounds that qualify them for a free or reduced-fee lunch.

Of course, that’s only part of the story.

As Dr. Jon Prince, Deputy Superintendent of St. Lucie Public

Schools says “every individual student is a story, and how you
monitor students [determines] whether you get the outcomes that
you want.”
Align initiatives to students’ interests and potential 14

Educators at St. Lucie used technology to get a clearer picture of

their students with data. Not only did this help them find the root
causes of low graduation rates and high behavioral problems—it
also helped them understand each student and find their unique
set of job opportunities, educational interests, and chances for
personal growth more quickly.

The data and insights, and the shift they enabled from a reactive to
a proactive approach, were valuable. But the time they got back to
act on those insights and strengthen the social-emotional bonds
with their students was even more impactful.

Thanks to the combination of these factors that were made

possible by technology, St. Lucie jumped from 45th in graduation
rates to 22nd out of the 57 statewide districts. More importantly,
they are shifting a generation one student at a time

While St. Lucie took a data-driven approach to meet each student’s

personal needs, another strategy to drive greater learning
outcomes is to connect student interests to the curriculum that you
know will be most essential for their futures.

STEM-related skills are now a priority across the employment

spectrum—more than 50 percent of jobs require technology
skills, and that number is expected to grow to 77 percent in less
than a decade. However, a recent report by the Office of the Chief
Scientist in Australia found that the number of STEM-qualified
people in Australia is growing at a slower pace.
Align initiatives to students’ interests and potential 15

In response to this, the New South Wales (NSW)

department of education in Australia decided to focus
their efforts on preparing students with STEM skills.

One way they’ve done this is by identifying the excitement and

passion students have for gaming and harnessing that to direct
educational focus. Minecraft was a great tool for this, focusing on
skills like design, problem solving, coding, even telling a story.

They started off with an early adoption program, inviting interested

schools to come on board first. They saw so much success with
those early adopters that they then rolled it out to the rest of the
state, with about 100 lessons or learning content options built by
New South Wales teachers for New South Wales teachers in their
unique education environment.

By connecting students’ love of technology to a curriculum that

prepares them for the future, the district was able to focus on
making STEM education matter in the lives of their students.

Coding is actually a mandatory

component of some of the syllabus
documents now in New South Wales
schools, so it has to be taught, it’s
non-negotiable.

Michelle Michael
Principal Education Officer, STEMShare Community Information
Technology Directorate, NSW Department of Education
Final thoughts
Final thoughts 17

In school, work, and life, you want your students to

grow into successful adults who can tackle the complex
challenges of today and tomorrow.

Student-centered learning enables flexibility and provides the

opportunity to meet the needs of the most diverse set of learners.
Tools that empower students’ voices and drive collaboration,
communication, accessibility, and creativity make it easier for
teachers to put students at the center of their learning and help them
build 21st century skills.

The road to innovation is sharply focused on preparing decision

makers to harness possibility, celebrating the critical and growing
role educators play, and helping students recognize their potential.

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