Local Education Authorities: Features and Benefits

Microsoft Learning Gateway provides a customisable framework that supports personalised learning. It gives access to a free flow of resources, management information, teaching materials, personalised home pages and spaces for collaboration.

Connecting Everyone 24/7

One of the things that makes Learning Gateway unique is that it helps create a connected learning community that benefits all the key stakeholders involved, including pupils, teachers and parents, as well as LEA managers and educational establishments.

User Benefits

The Learning Gateway offers personalised access to communication and learning tools, resources and applications that can be shared.

Personalised learning: Within Learning Gateway, resources can be tailored to meet the needs of individual students. Personal workspaces are available which users can customise, providing a personalised learning experience for each and every user.

Remote access: Users can access the Learning Gateway portal whenever and wherever it suits them via the Internet, through a web browser and secure password. This gives them much more flexibility to learn in a way that suits their individual learning style and pace.

Single log-in for all resources: Users only need one log-in, because all their resources are available in this one single place. Multiple services like email, personal workspaces, curriculum management and collaboration tools are integrated through a common portal, providing a 'one-stop-shop' for all.

Collaborative experience: Users can collaborate and share information with friends and colleagues online, working together with shared documents and workspaces using collaboration tools such as Windows Messenger 5.1, Live Communications Server 2003, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

Fully customisable to suit your students' needs: A wide range of resources can be incorporated as and when needed, including software downloads, digital materials, television broadcast media sources, online libraries and enhanced curriculum content.

Familiarity with Microsoft: The majority of users will probably already be familiar with Microsoft products, like Microsoft Word and Outlook, so they won't have to get used to a totally new look and feel.

Student Benefits

Students can:

Link to their classes, assignments and relevant learning resources uploaded by their teachers
Use additional tools such as an online planner, to help them manage their own learning schedule in a simple, organised way
Use collaboration tools to work together on group assignments and activities online – both inside and outside school

Teacher Benefits

Teachers can:

Access all their teaching materials anytime anywhere, online or offline
Download coursework materials, resources and official guidelines
Share best practices with other lecturers and departments linked to the gateway
Deliver a more personalised learning experience for pupils by creating new assignments and designing ready-made, customisable lessons online
Track the progress and grades of students
Automate routine administrative tasks, spending less time on paperwork and more time on teaching

Parent Benefits

Parents can:

Monitor their children's performance and progress, view homework assignments, access teachers' reports, communicate easily and effectively with their child's school
Be informed, encouraged and involved in their child's education

Top of Page

Administrator Benefits

A Learning Gateway is easy to use and can be customised to the requirements of a particular LEA.

Learning Gateway is open standards compliant, helping schools and education authorities to get the most from their existing technology investments and reducing the total cost of ownership.

Create an eportfolio for each student: An eportfolio provides a portable and interactive digital transcript of each student's assignments and achievements, recorded and stored in one place and accessible from any Internet connection. With a Learning Gateway established across a whole LEA, eportfolios can easily travel with the student during Key Stage 2-3 transition.

Phased implementation: The Learning Gateway framework can be implemented in stages, starting with the basic elements and then developing additional functionality over time. This means you can move towards the full solution at a pace you can manage and afford.

The modular architecture allows for easy integration and customisation with existing applications and systems. This offers you the opportunity to save money by building on existing Microsoft server products. You may even have the beginnings of a Learning Gateway in place already, particularly if you have one or more of the following Microsoft software products and/or servers:

SharePoint Portal Server 2007
Windows SharePoint Services
Windows Server 2003 Active Directory
Exchange Server 2003
Windows Server 2003
SQL Server 2000

Any of these elements can be slotted into the new Learning Gateway framework, without having to spend extra money replacing like for like.

Affordable: In fact, although the Learning Gateway is a comprehensive and wide-ranging solution, it is still affordable. It is bought under a special schools licence agreement, therefore purchase can be on an annual subscription basis – spreading payments over the term of the agreement.

Simple IT and system management: Learning Gateway is an integrated framework that ties together the different IT systems, simplifying system management.

Tailored to your unique needs: Microsoft Learning Gateway Partners can help you design and implement a Learning Gateway solution that meets your specific needs, circumstance, budget and plans.