Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
Cloud Design Box
We understand that seamless user adoption of Office 365, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint can prove tricky, with many hurdles to jump before your whole organisation is fully onboard. That’s why we’re creating a series of podcasts focusing on real-life user adoption stories, with schools, academies and businesses just like yours.
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Top 10 Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Create a digital shield around your school with Multi Factor Authentication
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
03/13/25 • 19 min
In a recent episode of the Cloud Design Box podcast, Martin Byford-Rew, Head of Digital Systems at King Edward VI Foundation, discusses the importance of multi-factor authentication (MFA) in schools and the strategies that institutions can use for successful implementation.
MFA offers significant advantages in educational settings.
By introducing an additional security layer, MFA safeguards against unauthorised access, even if a password has been breached.
The rise of cyber threats in education is alarming. And with schools now managing more sensitive digital information than ever before, cyberattacks pose risks to student addresses, financial details, staff information and other personal data tied to HR, Finance and other departments.
Schools must elevate their cybersecurity strategies beyond weak passwords and outdated practices.
Meet Martin Byford-Rew
Martin has extensive experience in education technology, previously working as a Microsoft 365 trainer and consultant. He has collaborated with Cloud Design Box on several SharePoint intranet projects, helping schools and multi academy trusts (MATs) build secure and efficient digital systems.
Now, as Head of Digital Systems at King Edward VI Foundation, Martin is leading the implementation of robust cybersecurity measures in schools.
What is Mutli Factor Authentication (MFA) for schools?
MFA serves as a digital barrier against harmful cyberattacks. Users must log into a system with two or more verification factors, such as emails or accounts.
Many of these additional verification factors, such as receiving a taxt code on your phone after entering your password or using Face ID to unlock your phone, are likely familiar to you. You might have also encountered similar verification requests during payments through your banking app. This familiarity can help ease the transition to MFA.
Make Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) work for schools
While the prospect of rolling out MFA across a school or MAT may seem daunting, Martin shares practical strategies to make the transition smoother.
His insights show that the process is manageable and beneficial for the school’s security:
Prioritise staff accounts first
MFA should be rolled out across staff accounts first, then explore ways to extend MFA to students where possible.
“It’s not optional for staff, because there’s such sensitive data that teaching staff have access to. You’ve got to be so careful, because obviously, if any of that stuff leaks out, it’s really, really bad,” explains Martin.
Other tools worth a mention
Authenticator apps – Use trusted authenticator apps, such as Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator for a secure and easy-to-use option.
Hardware security keys – Ideal for staff who need a highly secure, phishing-resistant method.
SMS or email codes – These are common but less secure than other MFA options.
Schools can’t afford to ignore MFA – so what’s next?
As cyber threats advance, schools must adapt.
Contact our team of Microsoft 365 experts today to talk about making Microsoft 365 more secure.
Watch the full podcast for expert insights on implementing MFA in schools.
Microsoft Classwork: The secret to less stress for teachers
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
03/10/25 • 28 min
n a recent episode of the Cloud Design Box podcast, Max Fritz from Microsoft sat down with Darren Hemming to talk about Microsoft Classwork – an innovative addition to Microsoft Teams for Education, designed to streamline lesson organisation, improve student engagement and reduce teacher workload.
What is Microsoft Classwork?
Microsoft Classwork is a powerful tool within Teams for Education, enabling teachers to structure learning materials into organised modules.
With seamless integration into Microsoft Class Notebook and Teams Assignments, Classwork ensures that your learning resources are easy to manage, access and reuse across multiple classes.
Darren and Max highlight how Classwork provides a streamlined digital learning environment, making it easier for teachers to focus on instruction rather than administration.
“Teachers were using Assignments to share non-graded materials, causing confusion for students and parents. Classwork provides a dedicated space for organising learning resources, making everything clearer,” explains Max.
Key features of Classwork that enhance your teaching
For teachers, Classwork offers a number of useful tools and features:
Drag-and-drop functionality
You can quickly organise lesson resources with an intuitive interface.
Publishing controls
You can decide when students can access content, allowing for better lesson pacing.
“Classwork allows you to organise materials that are meant to be consumed and read by students into a logical manner,” Max explains.
Pinned modules
Classwork highlights key learning materials to ensure students focus on the most important content.
As Max points out:
“With Classwork, students can navigate resources without confusion, making it easier for them to stay on track with learning.”
Reusable modules
Teachers can duplicate and modify past lesson structures for future use, saving time and effort.
Integration with Teams and Class Notebook
Keep all your resources in one place, streamlining the teaching and learning experience.
“We didn’t want Classwork to be just another silo. That’s why it integrates deeply with Class Notebook, Teams Assignments, and more,” Max continues.
Solving school and MAT challenges
For school leaders, Classwork offers a structured approach to improving student outcomes, while ensuring compliance with school policies and Ofsted standards:
Better resource management
Classwork simplifies how materials are structured, shared, and accessed, reducing administrative overhead and allowing educators to focus more on teaching rather than document management.
Scalability across years, classes and departments
Schools can reuse and adapt learning materials across different terms, ensuring consistency in curriculum delivery while reducing the need for recreating content from scratch.
Data-driven insights into student engagement
Integrated analytics provide teachers and administrators with valuable insights into student participation, allowing for data-informed decisions that enhance learning outcomes and identify areas for improvement.
Get the most out of your investment in Microsoft 365
At Cloud Design Box, we help schools and multi academy trusts (MATs) in the UK get the most out of Microsoft 365, Teams and SharePoint.
By creating a centralised SharePoint intranet, we improve whole-school and trust collaboration, streamline workflows and enhance the learning experience for both students and teachers.
Interested in transforming your school’s digital learning environment?
Contact Cloud Design Box today to find out how we can
Building a HR Hub for Education in SharePoint – A podcast with Spencer Academies Trust
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
03/11/25 • 28 min
Looking to streamline HR processes and communication within your multi academy trust? In this podcast episode, Educational Technology Lead at the Spencer Academies Trust Josh Gibbs shares insights into how they transformed HR management at the MAT with a SharePoint HR Hub.
Watch the full podcast episode here:
About Josh Gibbs and Spencer Academies Trust
Josh is a long-time fan of SharePoint in Education, previously working with Cloud Design Box to lead digital transformation projects for several schools and trusts.
Currently Education Technology Lead at Spencer Academies Trust, Josh wants to bring his wealth of experience and knowledge to help the MAT address its pressing need for improved communication and management of resources.
Josh has been working with our Onboarding Consultants to help build the trust’s new HR Hub, and we take a look at it in action in this podcast.
Building a HR Hub in SharePoint
Centralisation of resources with a SharePoint HR Hub
The trust’s rapid growth has created a complex landscape where managing HR documents across multiple schools within the MAT became increasingly challenging.
With HR documents scattered across different schools, there was a clear need for a single repository to house all essential files, making it easier for central and school-specific HR teams to collaborate.
The HR team needed a centralised platform to store important and sensitive documents securely and efficiently.
Improved security
As HR handle sensitive documents such as contracts, payroll information and personnel files, the trust required robust security measures and their existing systems lacked the necessary controls to manage permissions effectively.
By transitioning from traditional network drives to a cloud-based solution, the MAT can now enjoy better document management, version control and backups.
Challenges to implementing a SharePoint HR Hub
While the vision for the HR Hub was clear, its implementation naturally came with its own set of challenges and Josh discusses these in the podcast.
Migrating to a cloud-based system
Moving from network drives to a fully online system is undoubtedly a significant shift for any organisation.
This migration involved consolidating resources into a single tenant, which required meticulous planning and execution.
Our solution: SharePoint’s robust security features
SharePoint was chosen for its robust features and compatibility with the trust’s cloud-based infrastructure.
Its ability to centralise resources, manage permissions, and provide easy access to documents made it the ideal tool for the HR Hub.
Managing permissions without compromising security
It’s crucial to ensure that only the right people have access to specific documents and the Spencer Academies Trust HR Hub was no exception.
The challenge was to set up a permission system that was both secure and easy to manage in the future.
Our solution: structured permission groups
Instead of assigning permissions on an individual basis, groups were created in advance based on roles within the schools and trust.
This approach ensured that permissions were applied consistently and securely.
SharePoint staff training and adoption
With staff members accustomed to the old ways of managing documents, training them on the new system was essential. The transition needed to be smooth to avoid disruption in daily operations.
Our solution: Comprehensive training programs
Recognising the importance of user adoption, Josh and his team are developing training materials, including video guides and text inst
Office 365 User Adoption: What is an MIE Expert and how do I become one?
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
02/18/20 • 17 min
We speak to Elaine Topham at Grimsby Institute about the Microsoft Innovative Educator program. Elaine is the Senior Learning Technologist at the college and is an MIE Fellow (one of only six in the UK).
How could it benefit your school or college? What are some of the perks? How do you apply? Listen to find out all of the answers.
Blog post and YouTube video coming soon with all the links.
https://www.clouddesignbox.co.uk
Blended learning in primary schools using Teams with Cornerstone MAT (M365 Podcast Episode 16)
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
04/28/21 • 57 min
1111In this episode we speak with David James, Head of Education at Cornerstone Academy Trust and Anthony Lees, Deputy Head of Westclyst Community Primary School. We discuss how the trust has lead the way in providing blended and remote learning before, during and after the pandemic.
Frequent EDU Links and other initiatives for Microsoft Educators with Marjolein Hoekstra
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
04/15/22 • 29 min
In this episode, Darren speaks to Marjolein Hoeskstra about her journey with Microsoft, TweetMeets, MVPs, MSEduCentral and much more. Marjolein shares the best links for educators with over 1300 resources across 80 different topics. Created by teachers for teachers.
The benefits of 1:1 devices in schools
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
10/21/22 • 35 min
In this episode Darren Hemming speaks to Stefan from Lingfield College about the rollout and adoption of 1:1 devices.
Find out more about Cloud Design Box at https://www.clouddesignbox.co.uk
The benefits of 1:1 devices in schools with Lingfield College
The Director of Digital Learning at Linfield College talks about the school’s plan to roll out per-student devices to every student and the challenges and benefits that come with digital transformation.
Lingfield College is a co-educational independent school in Surrey for pupils aged two to eighteen. Stefan Hagen is the Director of Digital Learning and works with his team to help drive digital learning within the school, working with the school’s partner companies – including Cloud Design Box – to deliver quality technology to staff and students.
The school has bold plans to introduce a per-student device policy – eventually rolling out touch-screen laptops to every student within the school.
In this podcast episode, we discuss the challenges of moving to blended learning, as well as the many benefits that come with a 1:1 device policy in education.
Stefan also outlines what the school has done so far to lay the foundations for this digital learning strategy and what the plan is to accomplish their goal of per-student devices.
A vision for cloud-based learning.
Lingfield College had begun looking at ways to “get digital moving”, as Stefan puts it before the pandemic.
But, things didn’t move as quickly as they had hoped and as the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns hit in the UK, the school had to move quickly to deliver quality lessons via Microsoft Teams.
“When we returned to the classroom after lockdown, I was keen to keep the momentum that we had built up going, encouraging staff members to use Teams and OneDrive,” Stefan explains.
“However, I realised that many people were fed up with computer screens and that we had to move more slowly and carefully to get everyone on board.”
It was around that time that Lingfield College began working with Cloud Design Box to create a long-term strategy that would enable the school to migrate to the cloud, which would lay the foundations for their 1:1 device policy.
Moving to the cloud.
“As they say, when you move house, you have a clear out before you move so you don’t take all your junk with you. And, it was the same as we moved from our old servers to the cloud,” Stefan explains.
Cloud Design Box worked with Lingfield College to give staff the time and training they needed to move their resources over to the cloud.
“We set up key milestones and eventually turned the old servers to ‘view-only’ to give staff who hadn’t been able to move resources over yet access without creating a confusing dual system.”
1:1 devices for teachers and school staff.
Moving to the cloud allowed Lingfield College to roll out 1:1 devices for every staff member, allowing teachers to build up their confidence with the new technology.
“This approach made the most sense to us because teachers can get used to the technology as they’re using it for teaching so that when we are ready to roll out 1:1 devices for students, teachers can help resolve some tech issues if they do occur in the classroom.”
Infrastructure challenges that come with 1:1 devices.
As Stefan points out in the podcast, there’s more to think about when rolling out 1:1 devices than simply giving everyone a laptop or tablet.
“Getting the infrastructure right is a challenge. For example, our flooring makes it difficult for us to put charging ports into our classrooms. So we’re now looking at char
Formative Teaching | Podcast for Education
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
03/17/23 • 22 min
Darren meets Ryan for Formative.
Using Microsoft 365 as an Independent School | Podcast for Education
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
04/18/23 • 36 min
In this episode we speak to teacher and housemaster Henry about using Microsoft 365 in an independent school. Blog post to follow on https://www.clouddesignbox.co.uk/
Digital Safeguarding for schools and MATs
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts
03/14/25 • 14 min
Would your school or trust survive a cyberattack tomorrow? With hackers targeting education, digital safeguarding is just as crucial as physical safety. Without a solid strategy, your student data, staff security and operations could be at serious risk.
In a recent episode of the Cloud Design Box Podcast, Darren Hemming sat down with Philippa Wraithmell, Founder of EdRuption to discuss the growing importance of digital safeguarding in schools.
With cyber threats on the rise, and students spending more time online, safeguarding is no longer only about physical security, but about protecting students, staff and their data in the digital space.
About Philippa Wraithmell and EdRuption
Philippa has a rich background in supporting schools to build successful digital strategies, which led her to pen her book The Digital Ecosystem, where she explores the importance of having strong foundations, policies, governance and safeguards in educational systems.
Philippa founded EdRuption with the vision to bridge the digital divide in schools globally. The company empowers schools with resources, expertise and innovation to create a digitally literate and inclusive educational environment.
Why digital safeguarding matters
A digital safeguarding strategy is no longer optional – it’s essential.
Schools are becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats, from hackers targeting student data to the risks of unmonitored online behaviour.
The vast amount of personal data schools store makes them prime targets for cyber threats. From phishing attacks to ransomware, a lack of proper digital safeguarding can have devastating consequences.
“Aside from hospitals, schools are probably the biggest wealth of data and information – dates of birth, locations, where they’ve been born, what their parents’ names are,” Philippa points out.
“That’s why safeguarding has to include digital.”
Bridging the gap between IT and safeguarding teams
One of the key takeaways from the discussion is the need for collaboration between IT teams and safeguarding leads. Traditionally, safeguarding teams have focused on student wellbeing, while IT teams manage infrastructure and security.
However, these two areas must work together to address modern digital risks effectively.
Philippa explains:
“Your safeguarding team as a whole, and as a core unit, need to grow. Schools need to have their Head of IT sharing information about the firewall. What key words are coming up? What are students looking at?”
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FAQ
How many episodes does Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts have?
Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts currently has 36 episodes available.
What topics does Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts cover?
The podcast is about How To, Podcasts, Technology, Education, Office 365 and Digital Strategy.
What is the most popular episode on Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts?
The episode title 'Office 365 User Adoption Episode 7: Sharing Files in Microsoft Class Teams' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts?
The average episode length on Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts is 29 minutes.
How often are episodes of Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts released?
Episodes of Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts are typically released every 29 days, 2 hours.
When was the first episode of Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts?
The first episode of Microsoft 365 User Adoption for Schools, MATs and Districts was released on Nov 7, 2019.
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