Cloud Design Box has been working with Ark Boulton Academy to create a powerful VLE powered by Microsoft 365. With the introduction of Cloud Design Box’s Assignment Analytics tool, the school has been able to overcome some of its most pressing challenges when it comes to setting and tracking homework.
Key outcomes:
- 2x increase in homework assignments set.
- 5x increase in subjects consistently setting homework.
- 15% increase in the number of classes using assignments.
About Ark Boulton Academy
Ark Boulton Academy is a secondary school in Birmingham and part of the Ark education charity – a network of 39 schools that supports over 30,000 students.
The school serves a community facing significant socio-economic challenges, as Rosalyn Chalk, Assistant Principal at the academy, explains:
“Our school is predominantly within a very deprived catchment area, so we have 75% of our students who are Pupil Premium. We are the second highest school for Pupil Premium in the country currently.”
The school is committed to ensuring that every student has access to the opportunities and supported needed to succeed.
A key part of this commitment is technology.
Students are issued with one-to-one Chromebook devices and now – with support from Cloud Design Box – the school has introduced Microsoft 365 as part of their everyday learning environment.
Challenges
Before working with Cloud Design Box, Ark Boulton Academy experienced several challenges when it came to visibility and access to assignments being set across the school.
This primarily stemmed from an inconsistency in how homework and resources were being communicated and delivered to students.
Teachers were using multiple different platforms to set and track assignments, which perpetuated a number of issues for students, staff, parents and the leadership team.
Students were often unclear on where to access the right information and resources.
Parents had no way of knowing what work was expected from their children.
Senior leaders and heads of department were spending a lot of time and energy manually checking homework and holding their teams to account.
On top of this, setting cover work during periods of staff absence became increasingly difficult due to this lack of visibility and access.
Solution
Ark Boulton Academy had already begun using Microsoft Teams for homework and assignments, but with inconsistent adoption and limited visibility. Cloud Design Box has helped turn this into a coherent, school-wide approach, bringing structure, consistency and clarity for staff and learners.
“Students now have a really clear list of what they need to do and when they need to have it done by,” says Rosalyn.
This shift has been underpinned by Cloud Design Box tools designed specifically for education, including Assignment Analytics, which has transformed how homework is tracked and managed across the school.
Assignment Analytics is an interactive dashboard that links directly with Microsoft Teams Assignments, giving senior leaders clear insight into how homework is being set, engaged with and completed.
“Students now have a really clear list of what they need to do and when they need to have it done by,” enthuses Rosalyn.
Cloud Design Box helps 800+ schools harness the power of Microsoft 365 with a unique range of tools specially designed for education.
Tools like Assignment Analytics have been transformational for Ark Boulton and how they track and manage homework across the school.
Assignment Analytics is an interactive dashboard that links directly with Microsoft Teams Assignments, giving SLT at Ark Boulton valuable insight into how homework is being set, engaged with and completed.
Impact
Ark Boulton Academy has undergone a significant transformation in the way that they successfully track assignments across the school.
SLT at Ark Boulton are now able to track homework much more effectively and hold teachers and students to account.
More specialised support and intervention for students
Thanks to the ability to drill down into assignments by subject, class, year group, key stage, and even per individual student, the school can offer more tailored support to students and staff.
“We’re able to identify which students have a high level of completion, which students aren’t engaging with Teams, which topics students are struggling with and then assess if it’s a pastoral issue or a technical problem,” explains Rosalyn.
Improve student engagement
Students at Ark Boulton now have full visibility of assignments and resources. Everything is in one place and they can access all their classes, assignments and learning resources from their devices.
“Cloud Design Box has improved student engagement. The fact that now all their Teams activities drop straight onto the platform. The minute they open their device, they’re taken to the screen where they’ve got a Teams list – they know exactly what they need to do and can prioritise what’s coming next,” Rosalyn continues.
“We are seeing significant numbers increasing with homework completion and I think that in itself leads to more recall, more retention and our students generally doing better.”
Hold teams to account and support staff
Heads of Department are able to get an in-depth look at the volume of work being set subject-by-subject, class-by-class and even per teacher or individual student. This allows them to quickly spot trends and either hold teams to account or provide support for staff who may be struggling with the assignment process.
“From a leadership point of view, I can look at the wider picture – I’ve got that strategic overview. We can drill down into different subjects and key stages and see much more holistically, which means we’ve got that opportunity to have really effective interventions.”
Reduce SLT workload
Previously, senior leaders were working across multiple platforms to keep an eye on homework and assignments and then filling in complicated spreadsheets. Now, they simply go to the Assignment Analytics dashboard and can quickly filter assignment and submission data by subject, year group, student and teacher.
“It’s really helped reduce our workload because we’re not collating information from multiple sources. We’re not going to seven or eight members of staff and then filling out an Excel spreadsheet. It’s a much more focused intervention process that gives us a greater level of depth and leadership oversight.”
Set cover work with ease
Cloud Design Box’s Class Drop-In gives Ark Boulton enables Heads of Department to quickly add any teacher to any class team.
“It’s really, really easy if we’re having to cover absent colleagues. We had situation the other week when we had a snow day. But I was able to very quickly identify which classes had got work set for them and deal with any gaps that were left.”
Measure improvement
SLT at Ark Boulton have been able to compare data from one term to another and successfully measure and report on improvement:
“We’ve doubled the number of active assignments that have been set from the autumn to the spring term. And we’ve got an increase in the number of classes with assignments – that’s gone up at least 15%.”
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