| |  | | Customer Profile
St. Vital School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, serves 9.200 students at its 22 schools. The division has 640 teachers.
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St. Vital School Division #6 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is dedicated to its mission of empowering each student to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for developing his/her full potential as a responsible citizen. When Bruce Young, the division's Supervisor of Continuing and Distance Education, began to evaluate eLearning platforms, he knew that the solution needed to support this mission and be "easy to use and easy to learn." After exploring the options, he decided to launch a pilot of Microsoft Class Server. In just the first few months, Young says that Class Server is extending the boundaries of the classroom for division students and "changing the ways that teachers teach." Challenge
W innipeg's St. Vital School Division's Supervisor of Continuing and Distance Education Bruce Young was on a mission to find an eLearning platform. He was looking for a solution that teachers could easily integrate into instruction and, above all, enhance teaching and learning.Young began to look at the products that were available and quickly found that most were developed for higher education, were technically difficult and didn't include the privacy and reporting tools that schools need for their students. Then he saw Microsoft Class Server, developed specifically to meet the needs of schools. He was particularly impressed at how Class Server allows teachers to integrate their own class materials as electronic learning resources. He says, "I immediately saw that Class Server allows teachers a chance to use their own proven content in a visual, easy and accessible way." St. Vital School Division's 22 schools were running a Microsoft Windows-based network with Windows 2000, SQL Server 2000. With this technology foundation, Young knew that a Class Server pilot would be easy to deploy and evaluate and so he put the wheels in motion. Solution
A fter setting up a server and reviewing Class Server during the summer of 2001, Young was excited about what it could offer St. Vital, but he also knew that he needed to proceed carefully as he introduced the curriculum manager to the school community. "In our division, we don't mandate things," he says. "We plant the seeds of a new technology or learning tool and then cultivate the local experts that develop."Early in the 2001-2002 school year, he invited seven teachers to a meeting to demonstrate Class Server and to ask them if they were interested in participating in the pilot. While all of the teachers had many demands on their time, they were enthusiastic about being part of the test group. Then in September, Young hosted a formal professional development session for division teachers where he introduced Class Server. When teachers at that session saw the capabilities and features of Class Server, says Young, "Eighty percent of them were blown away." He also hosted monthly Class Server "support sessions" where teachers share ideas, suggestions and ask questions about using the curriculum management platform to support teaching and learning. This core group of teachers is embracing Class Server. One of the teachers has already created more than 40 learning resources and another has his students taking tests and quizzes using Class Server. Young says that this approach of "creating champions and mentors" rather than forcing Class Server use "from the top down" has been a successful way of introducing St. Vital teachers to the ways that the connected learning platform can extend the boundaries of the classroom. Benefits
Claude Mosseau was the lead teacher for the Class Server pilot. Mosseau teaches at College Jeanne-Sauve, a French immersion high school. A tech savvy teacher, Mosseau was impressed with the way Class Server supported his teaching and helped him individualize learning for his students.He says, "Class Server has allowed me to automate a great portion of student evaluations. I am now able to assign more evaluations and have Class Server do the grading for me. This is great for getting a quick sense of how well the students are learning and the students appreciate getting their results back instantaneously." A math teacher who participated in the pilot has changed her testing strategies. She uses Class Server to quiz students on Friday and looks at the results, which are instantaneously exported into Microsoft Excel, from home on Saturday. Then she writes lesson plans for the next week based on the concepts that the students grasped the previous week and the ones that they need a refresher on. She can adjust her teaching to student needs without spending hours grading quizzes over the weekend. Mosseau says that Class Server has also changed the way his students work. "Now the students hardly ever ask me what they need to do. They know that they only need to log into Class Server and check out their 'to do' list." Young finds the ability to create a home-school connection with Class Server "intriguing." He says, "Parents are having a very positive reaction to the idea of being able to look at student progress." Now that St. Vital is well into its Class Server pilot, Young is exploring its potential for district wide deployment. He hopes to have funding this school year to deploy Class Server at the enterprise level in the district to serve the 2,800 students in the division's three high schools. Best of all, St. Vital students like Class Server, Mosseau says. "The students really enjoy the framework that Class Server provides them. They know what they have to do, what they have done and how well they're doing." Note: The St. Vital School Division was officially amalgamated with the St. Boniface School Division in July 2002 to create the Louis Riel School Division. For More Information
F or more information about Microsoft products or services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada information Centre at (800) 563-9048. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information via the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/educationThis case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. | 
