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Hi Carol,
I enjoyed reading your reflections. I agree that digital technology can really bring subjects like History to life, but your point about equitable access is an important one.
We have similar challenges in our hospital school, so I’ve been thinking about how we can make the most of the technology we do have. I also like your point about sharing work digitally and receiving feedback—it ties in nicely with encouraging student voice and supporting ongoing reflection.
For this activity I chose to focus on communication and collaboration. In a hospital school, these skills can sometimes be more challenging to develop because our pupils are often away from their own classmates and school communities. That makes it even more important to find ways to help them stay connected while they are in hospital.
Creating this Sway made me think about how technology can do much more than simply deliver lessons. Tools like Sway and Microsoft Forms can give pupils opportunities to share their ideas, reflect on their learning and communicate with others. I also included the use of AV1 telepresence robots, which can help children stay involved with their own class when they are well enough. Even small opportunities to interact with classmates can make a big difference to a child’s confidence and sense of belonging.
Looking ahead, I would like to build more opportunities into my teaching where pupils are creating and sharing, rather than just completing activities. Even if a student is only with us for a short time, they can still communicate their learning and stay connected with their own school.
This also links well with our School Self-Evaluation work. I can use Microsoft Forms to gather pupil feedback and see which approaches they find most engaging. Hopefully, some of these ideas can also be shared with colleagues as we continue to develop digital learning across the school.
Unfortunately, my MS365 Ed account does not allow me to share outside of my organisation.
Screenshot of Sway overview:
Hi Carol,
I really liked your reflections. There were a lot of similarities with my own, especially around using student feedback to support the SSE process rather than just relying on our own observations.
I also agree that building our own confidence with digital technology has benefits beyond our own classroom. Sharing ideas and practical examples with colleagues is probably one of the best ways to encourage wider adoption across the school.
Working through this course has definitely made me think more about how digital technology could fit into our hospital school setting. Because our teaching is so different to a mainstream classroom, I found myself reflecting on practical ways these tools could support what we already do rather than replacing it.
Our teachers regularly use iPads while teaching students on the wards, so I can see real potential in creating a bank of lessons using Sway the could be shared with my colleagues. Interactive lessons with images, videos and links could make bedside teaching more engaging, especially when a student is feeling too tired for more traditional activities. I think the key is getting the balance right – using digital resources to add to the session rather than replacing the hands-on activities and conversations that are such an important part of hospital teaching. In our small classroom groups, where we have access to a smartboard and a small set of tablets, I can also see Sway and OneNote helping to create a more interactive and consistent learning experience.
One idea I’ll definitely take away is using Microsoft Forms to gather student voice. A simple exit ticket at the end of a lesson could tell us whether students felt engaged, understood the learning or would like more support. In a hospital school, where students may only be with us for a short time, that kind of feedback is really valuable. It would also strengthen our School Self-Evaluation process by giving us meaningful evidence that we can use to make small, data-informed improvements to our teaching and service.
I think that developing my own confidence and skills with digital tech can have a wider impact. If I continue to use these tools and try to link them to the Digital Learning Framework, I’d like to share what works with colleagues and encourage others to give them a try. New ideas spread much more easily when someone is already using them on the ward or in the classroom, and I think that’s how digital technology becomes part of everyday practice rather than just another enforced initiative.
Hi Carol,
I can really relate to your comments about limited student access to technology. We have similar challenges in our hospital school, so I also see OneNote being used more by teachers than directly by students. I like your idea of sharing resources with subject teachers. I was also thinking it could become a collaborative space where staff build up lesson ideas and resources together, helping to provide a more consistent learning experience for students who move between teachers or return to us over time.
While I can see the benefits of OneNote for students, my first thought was actually how useful it could be for our teaching team. In a hospital school, students are often admitted for short periods, transferred between wards or return for recurring admissions. It’s quite common for more than one teacher to work with the same student over time, so having a shared space for lesson ideas, resources and notes could really help us provide a more consistent educational experience.
I also like the idea of using OneNote as a collaborative planning tool. Teachers could share successful activities, adapt resources for different age groups or medical needs, and build up a bank of ideas that everyone can contribute to. In our setting, where flexibility is so important, having that collective knowledge in one place would be a real asset.
Although our students don’t always have consistent access to devices, I still think OneNote has huge potential behind the scenes. One idea that came to mind was creating a digital staff handbook in OneNote. It could include our standard operating procedures, induction materials, guidance for new teachers, links to policies and practical tips for working in different clinical areas. Unlike a printed handbook, it could be updated easily and would always be available to staff when they need it.
Overall, I came away thinking that OneNote could become less of a student notebook and more of a collaborative workspace that strengthens communication, continuity and consistency across our hospital school.
The Learning Accelerators that stood out to me were Reading Coach, Immersive Reader and Reflect. Working in a hospital school, our students often have very different needs from one day to the next, so I like the idea of tools that can be adapted to each individual.
I can see myself using Immersive Reader with students who are tired or finding it hard to concentrate because of treatment. Simple features like having text read aloud or changing the layout could make a real difference. Reading Coach also looks really useful, especially for students whose reading has been disrupted because they have been away from school for long periods. It could help them rebuild confidence in a relaxed way during short teaching sessions.
I was also really interested in Reflect. Sometimes the biggest challenge isn’t the lesson itself but understanding how a student is feeling that day. A quick check-in could help me judge the best approach for the lesson and open up conversations that might not otherwise happen. Overall, I think these tools fit really well with the flexible, student-centred approach we try to take in hospital teaching.
It would also be great to be able to capture some of this data for use in our SSE process. As our students are transitory – progression can be hard to track.
I completely agree with your point about using quizzes with all learners. In the hospital school setting, our lessons are often short and can be interrupted, so a quick quiz or exit ticket is a useful way to check understanding before a student finishes. It also gives us valuable feedback on how well the lesson worked and helps us adapt the next session to the student’s changing needs and energy levels. Because we have a transitory student population we also look for data to use as part of our SSE. I think exit tickets could help with this.
Hi Carol
Thanks for sharing your reflections. You’ve convinced me to have a look at the Microsoft Learn courses on both Forms and Copilot. I liked your suggestion in the other discussion about embedding podcasts and videos in Sway. I wonder if adding Forms into a Sway could make those lessons even more interactive for students.
The challenge of limited access to technology for students is a huge barrier to fully incorporating ideas like these into our teaching.
I did create a digital story in Sway and I can see the benefits of using this tools over powerpoint. It seems that I can only share Sways within my organisation. Below is the link to a simple student exit ticket in MS forms
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/rdYrPGMCM5
The modules on Microsoft Forms and Sway made me think about how these tools could be used in a hospital school, where teaching is often very different from a mainstream classroom. Lessons can be short, interrupted, and delivered at the bedside, so anything that helps make learning more flexible is worth exploring.
One idea I had while working through the Forms module was to create a simple student exit ticket. Students could quickly tell us how engaged they felt during the lesson, whether they learned something new, or if there was anything they would like more help with. Because many of our students only work with us for a short time, this kind of feedback could be really useful. It would also give us evidence to support our School Self-Evaluation process by helping us understand students’ experiences and identify areas we could improve.
I also think Sway has real potential in hospital teaching. We already use iPads regularly with students on the wards, and I can imagine creating interactive learning “stories” that combine text, pictures, videos and short activities. Students could work through them at their own pace and return to them if their lesson is interrupted by treatment or if they become tired. It could also help ensure a more consistent learning experience, even when different teachers are working with the same student.
Overall, these tools seem like practical ways to make learning more engaging while also helping us gather useful information about our practice. In a hospital school, where flexibility and student-centred teaching are so important, I think both Forms and Sway have the potential to support teaching, learning and ongoing school improvement.