Our latest thoughts from the world of technology in education & the workplace

Texthelp Blog - Our latest thoughts from the world of technology in education & the workplace

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Here at Pinsent Masons, we are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all of our people can be themselves and have the opportunity to reach their potential. We recognise that as an employer, we benefit from being part of wider external networks that enable us to share best practices, benchmark our work and continuously improve.

How has being Disability Confident made a difference to your business? Which changes do you feel have made the biggest impact for both your business and your team?

I think being part of the Disability Confident Scheme sends out a strong message both internally and externally that we are committed to creating a level playing field for all of our people, regardless of disability. We are incredibly proud of the work undertaken by our Disability and Wellbeing Network Group who are a great source of expertise in relation to the implementation and review of internal policies, procedures and training, and running awareness-raising events for our staff, to name a few.

What are your next steps with Disability Confident and your business?

One of the next things we have planned is that we’re running our first Disability and Wellbeing Network Conference in the autumn. We’ll use that event to seek staff feedback, which will help us formulate our plan of action for the next 12 months.  

Why would you recommend the Scheme to others?

I think that we all benefit from the opportunity to be part of a wider network of businesses committed to diversity and inclusion, to be able to benchmark what we are doing and identify how we can continue to improve in the future. I think there is often a danger within diversity and inclusion that we assume we already know what the issues are and how to solve them. Being part of initiatives like Disability Confident forces us to take a step back, evaluate what we are doing against recognised best practices, and ensure we are focussing on making meaningful changes.

Outside of the Disability Confident Scheme, Pinsent Masons has been highly recognised for making diversity and inclusion a strategic priority. What are some of the initiatives you have put in place to create a truly inclusive culture?

We are very proud of our achievements such as being named Stonewall’s Employer of the Year 2019 and recognised as a Times Top 50 Employer for Women and a Working Families Top Ten Employer. However, we are not complacent and we recognise there is always more to do to improve. The engagement of our senior leadership is the one thing which I would always single out as being key to creating an inclusive culture. By way of example, we have Board and senior management sponsors for different diversity network groups and initiatives, which sends out a strong message to the business. It can’t be just a tick box exercise. Those sponsors have to be actively engaged, attending and speaking at events internally and externally, and taking the time to speak to staff about the issues we face and how we can solve them.

In the space of diversity and inclusion, what do you see are the main challenges and opportunities going forward for business?

The legal sector has come a long way in the last 10 years but there is still a lot of work left to be done. I think many law firms would agree with us that we need to focus on race and ethnicity, particularly in relation to senior management and Board representation. In  2018, we launched a new piece of work to build upon what we have been doing around race and ethnicity. In 2019, one of our key priorities is to implement the recommendations of that work with the aim of creating a better balance of race and ethnicity within our workforce and a better workplace for all.

What has been your greatest learning or most exciting experience relating to diversity and inclusion?

I am genuinely excited to see how our employee network groups continue to grow and form such an important part of our firm and our commitment to diversity and inclusion. It is amazing to work with such passionate and committed people who are happy to share their stories, to be role models for others and help us to improve. 

If you would like to explore more, find out how you could become a Disability Confident Organisation, or hear from other Disability Confident organisations as part of our Disability Inclusion series.

Kate Fergusson is Head of Responsible Business at international law firm, Pinsent Masons. Kate studied Law at the University of Sheffield and is a qualified solicitor with over 12 years’ experience of working within the Responsible Business sector and an MA in Applied and Professional Ethics from the University of Leeds. 

Under Kate’s leadership of Pinsent Masons’ Responsible Business initiatives, the firm has been recognised as the ‘Most Inclusive Employer’ in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, a Times Top 50 Employers for Women, a Working Families Top 10 employer and Business in the Community’s National Example of Excellence for Education. The firm has also achieved the EY National Equality Standard. 

Kate has been recognised as a Responsible Business Game Changer by Business in the Community and is a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability.

In the first of a series of blogs, we feature Disability Confident organisation, Pinsent Masons and why they decided to join the Department of Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident Scheme to boost diversity and inclusion.

International law firm, Pinsent Masons are reaping the rewards of the Disability Confident scheme

International law firm, Pinsent Masons, are reaping the rewards of the Disability Confident scheme

In this short series of blogs, we’ve teamed up with some of our fellow Disability Confident organisations to explore the benefits of joining the Department of Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident Scheme. In this first blog in the series we asked Kate Fergusson, Head of Responsible Business at International law firm Pinsent Masons, why they joined the scheme and what the rewards have been so far…

Microsoft districts using The PDF Reader in Read&Write for Google Chrome are now able to use game-changing student supports like text to speech, highlighters, collaborative commenting and annotations in any of their PDFs with the Read&Write for Google Chrome PDF Reader. Read on to learn more.

With the PDF Reader extension installed, you can use it with any PDF in your OneDrive, as well as PDFs on the web and saved locally on your device. In OneDrive, just select your PDF and choose ‘Open in browser’ to get started with the PDF Reader toolbar.

Students will have access to several powerful literacy supports like text to speech, talking and picture dictionaries, and a translator. They can also use highlighters for research and color coding key information - and then collect those highlights into a brand new Word document in their OneDrive with the click of a button. 

For PDF worksheets, the Typewriter and Pushpin Annotation tools are perfect for adding typed responses to your document. The Prediction and Talk&Type tools provide added support for students who need help getting their thoughts down on the page. And the Freehand and Shapes Drawing tools make it easy to scribble, handwrite or draw directly on the PDF as well. 

The PDF Reader is also fully collaborative in OneDrive, so anyone else that has access to the PDF can leave comments and see each other’s annotations and markups. This is perfect for students working together on a group project, or teachers who want to leave feedback for students on an assignment. 

The availability of Texthelp’s PDF Reader in OneDrive marks a big advancement in supporting our Microsoft and Office 365 users. And this update comes right on the heels of another recent enhancement to the Read&Write for Google Chrome extension, which provided a streamlined login for Office 365 users to access the toolbar in Word Online, OneNote Online and webpages. Now Office 365 users can take advantage of a robust Read&Write experience with supports available for students wherever they’re working.

To get started with the PDF Reader in Office 365, go grab the extension from the Chrome web store. When installed, the first time you open a PDF you’ll be prompted to sign into your Microsoft account, accept permissions, and then you’re good to go!

If you'd like additional assistance, check out this helpful overview video:

Read&Write for Google Chrome - PDF Reader in Office 365

Have you used the PDF Reader in OneDrive with your students? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Texthelp’s PDF Reader offers powerful reading, writing, research and collaboration tools for working inside PDFs in the Chrome browser.

Coming Soon: Take PDFs to the Next Level in O365 and OneDrive

Take PDFs to the Next Level in O365 and OneDrive

In our efforts to continue empowering all students with the tools they need to succeed, we are excited to announce that the PDF Reader is now available for Office 365 and OneDrive!

It was always apparent that Chris was one of the ‘naughty kids’. At his worst, he brought a knife to school after being dared to by another boy in the class. Despite some concerns from my parents, he was still my mate and we got along really well. In our conversation, he summed up his experience at school by saying that the vast majority of school ‘wasn’t for me’ and that within that current architecture of “school”, he wasn’t able to learn. And he didn’t. Chris was consistently unable to focus for any more than a few minutes. And was often punished for it consistently.

The thing is, Chris is one of the most intelligent people that I know. So what went so wrong? Why did he come to hate school so much? He is hampered somewhat by a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but that has not stopped him from engaging in many tertiary learning experiences.

Having listened to Chris explain his experiences, and given what I have gleaned about teaching and the nature of “school” (from over a decade working in primary schools), is that ultimately what school currently is often doesn’t serve the needs of all students. And that’s a bit sad.

What is needed is an approach that is developed with students in mind. This means that students have individual learning goals with a positive relationship between teachers and students at its core. It also means that students should be able to learn within and without a classroom. Learning can include scope for student talents and interests but above all, their needs. Also, learning should most definitely not be ‘restricted’ to school hours, and students should stop seeing it as such.

I have found in recent years that not only has the use of technology only increased student engagement in learning but has changed the attitude of some of my former students around their approach to learning. Furthermore, with the widespread introduction of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) programs in schools, students are able to begin their learning with their teacher at school during school hours and continue with the same device to learn on the way home, in their living rooms, in their bedrooms, in the car or even on the sidelines of sports practice. 

For example, I like to ensure that any reading materials that I provide in class are accessible outside of school hours. I also try to publish additional sources of information for students to follow up on at their leisure. In addition to this, students need to be able to write whenever and wherever they may be. This doesn’t necessarily have to require online access to materials. Devices used in schools today allow for students to write notes on their device, with an option to upload that for their own record keeping, note taking or to share with classmates or teachers. The ability to read and write with ease at any time is hugely powerful for young learners and should be a priority for schools.

While we all seem to have developed a preference for tools to use in the classroom, it is most certainly worthwhile reviewing which tools are used with your students from time to time. There should undoubtedly be a focus on syllabus outcomes, and how you as a teacher are trying to deliver those outcomes. What exactly are you teaching? How exactly are you teaching it? What materials have you developed? Which of these materials will students need access to at all times? Are there additional materials that they could have access to? Does technology improve or impede their access to learning materials? Does the technology allow for students to manipulate, organize and ultimately learn? These are all things for you and your school leadership team to review, perhaps on an annual basis.

What this all boils down to is that personalisation for students buffered by access to learning materials is what seems to be making the difference. Students should be given all of the tools necessary for learning, so that they can go ahead and learn whenever they like. If this is something that teachers can facilitate, great. What we do know is that personalized learning has the potential to greatly influence student thinking, learning, engagement, but also achievement.

If you are interested in learning more about how personalized learning can encourage math engagement and achievement as we move into the 'new normal', don't miss Fiona Thomas's latest webinar on Re-imagining math teaching and learning.

Guest blogger, Nick Brierley discuses the benefits of personalised learning approaches on student engagement and achievement.

The potential of personalised learning for student engagement and achievement

The potential of personalized learning for student engagement and achievement

Chris is a good mate of mine. We started at St Kevin’s Primary School, Eastwood on the same day in 1991. We used to walk home together each day because he lived (and still lives) about 150m ‘as the crow flies’ from my childhood home in Terry Rd, Eastwood. We still see each other fairly regularly and it was a conversation about experiences at school that we had recently that really got me thinking. 

When I first discovered the Read&Write literacy toolbar, I was excited to provide my students with software that would allow them to meet the curriculum according to their own needs, and enable me to easily differentiate learning materials - not to mention save time in doing so. Not only that, but I felt I had finally found a tool that would help my students to take control of their learning. For years I had struggled with getting students to improve their writing by proofreading and editing the old-fashioned way. At times I felt like a broken record when trying to teach my Year 1 students  the importance of self-editing. I thought I was teaching my students useful and practical proofreading and editing skills - but it also resulted in me spending hours of my own time - correcting and offering handwritten suggestions to those said 6- and 7-year-olds on how to correct their spelling, punctuation, text structure and sentence structure.

Eventually, when I moved to teach Year 6, my expectations for this process grew...after all, there were 4 years between when I had had some of these students in Year 1. Whilst I did see a major improvement in their writing - not only was it longer (by a mile), it contained better ideas, was well-structured and made sense (tick, tick and tick!), but the proofreading and editing process to get to the final published copy was still a lot of work. The problem here was not that they couldn’t find the capitals or full stops, but that they simply could not spot the spelling errors or the sentences that did not make sense. We have all seen those posts about ‘Not everyone can read this…’, that has the letters at the start and end correct but the letters in the middle are mixed - we can still read them correctly and this is what I saw my students doing, they could not see their mistakes - and why should they. 

When I write and then read back what I have written to myself, I too am guilty of not finding my mistakes - my head seems to ‘override’ what I have written with what I think has been written - have you ever had this happen to you?

My students writing was long and the time it would take me to give individual feedback to all 26 students was horrendous. But three years after discovering the potential of Read&Write for myself, I was lucky the Diocese invested in the Read&Write Toolbar for every student. Imagine how excited I was to begin using this with every student, to empower them in their learning, help them improve their writing and above all reduce my workload. 


So, what does my class writing process look like now?

The writing process in my classroom requires students to plan and draft a handwritten copy of which they self-edit using specific criteria according to our explicit teaching focus. This could be use of noun groups, a certain number of difficult words or complex sentences along with the non-negotiables like sentence-level punctuation and identifying simple spelling errors. Students use different coloured highlighters to identify these aspects. The next step is to type into Google Docs the self-edited draft. Students are encouraged to turn off the spell check and grammar features in Google Docs when first typing in their edited draft. My students are encouraged to then use the Check It, Text-to-Speech and Highlight features of Read&Write to further edit and improve their writing once they have typed in their edited draft.

Helps the students look at their spelling and grammar errors. I often remind my students  that this is a ‘tool’  to point out their errors and they need to ‘think’ about the choice it is giving them - not just click the suggestion. This is the reason we turn the spelling and grammar tools off in Google Docs - they can now explicitly focus on their spelling and grammar.

Probably the most beneficial tool for my students to help improve their written work. As mentioned earlier they struggle to find simple errors such as missing punctuation and sentence structure. The ‘Text-to-Speech’ feature helps students listen to their writing and hear their mistakes. so they can correct and make it better. With my students using this feature, I have even seen improvement with handwritten work. 

Once a student is happy with their writing they make a copy and  hand it in via Google Classroom, but our writing process does not end there. They are then asked to use the Highlighter tool within Read&Write, to gather the explicit focus area and show where it is in their writing.  They simply highlight the text, and collect these in a separate document using the Collect tool within the Read&Write toolbar. By gathering these highlights they can see how many they have and if they meet the criteria. Carrying out this additional activity has meant my students were able to realise their heavy use of the connective ‘and’, which prompted a whole class discussion and a goal to reduce our ‘and’ use by using other appropriate connectives. 

Using Texthelp Read&Write as part of our writing process, students have ownership and take more interest to improve their written work prior to handing in a published copy. The feedback they receive is real and relevant at that point in time. My time conferencing with my students is reduced as they use the tools independently when needed and bring that information to the table. They  are able to tell me how the tools have helped them as well as to plan goals for future writing tasks. The discussions with small groups of students are rich and you can almost hear the excitement as they have a say in choosing the right tools for the job. 

If you are interested in learning more about how personalised learning can support literacy as we move into the 'new normal', don't miss Greg O'Connor's latest webinar on Supporting literacy in the blended learning environment.

As teachers, we can’t be everywhere in the classroom at the same time and we can’t be with each and every individual student every minute of the day. But with the right tools at hand, we can empower our students with ownership of their own learning, ensuring they receive real-time feedback and are able to move forward even without us being next to them.

The power of personalisation: letting students be the masters of their own learning

As teachers, we can’t be everywhere in the classroom at the same time and we can’t be with each and every individual student every minute of the day. But with the right tools at hand, we can empower our students with ownership of their own learning, ensuring they receive real-time feedback and are able to move forward even without us being next to them. 

1. Recognize the potential for personalized learning 

Every student is unique with differing backgrounds and their own strengths and abilities. Some students may struggle with learning difficulties, or have English as an additional language. Some may struggle with numeracy simply because they do not have the literacy skills to read the materials being presented to them. Others may require a challenge to enable them to grow. In a whole classroom situation, this diversity calls for a personalized learning strategy that can support every kind of learner.

2. Differentiation vs. personalized learning

While both are about providing learning experiences that are considerate of the diverse nature of learners that make up classrooms, differentiation is teacher-led, while personalized learning is very much student-led and is often supported by technology options, whether that’s software, gamification, or more tactile means of expression for reading, writing, fluency, and numeracy.

While no technology can take the place of an educator’s expertise and good teaching practice, it can effectively step up to be a “digital assistant” in the classroom. Place the right technology in the hands of students and they are then empowered to take on personalizing their own learning experience. Our own Read&Write is used by nearly 20 million students worldwide and gives the literacy support features teachers need to deliver a personalized learning experience to all students, while helping every student meet their full potential. 

4. Students are the masters of their own learning

Self-selecting the tools they need to access teaching and learning materials, and going on to successfully show what they know, significantly boosts their self-confidence in the process without adding to the existing teacher workload. By giving learners access to tools which enable student voice and choice in the classroom, teachers’ time spent on non-productive tasks is significantly reduced, freeing time to spend it more productively actively motivating, encouraging and inspiring learners. In other words … being a great teacher!

Edmonton Public Schools wanted to find a scalable solution that would provide students with genuinely impactful assistive technology solutions to improve reading and writing confidence. Aiming to become a 1:1 device system, by rolling out Read&Write to over 90,000 students, they found that it: 

Increased learner confidence and instilled a new independence in students

Increased student comfort with devices and allowed students and teachers to collaborate in real time

Following deployment of Read&Write, Will Rice, Educational Technology Planning at Edmonton Public Schools said "For us, Texthelp’s Read&Write is a Personalized Learning tool. We have changed the conversation from inclusive learning with a few kids to working with 100,000 users. Read&Write is not just for special education children, it is for all students.”

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If you’re ready to take a deep-dive into the potential that personalised learning has to offer your classroom, join us for a live webinar as we talk powerful tools to help you get started.

Texthelp Education Blog | Top Tips to Empower Personalized Learning

Five Top Tips to Empower Personalized Learning

Classrooms are more diverse than they’ve ever been. But with each a melting pot of students with different strengths, challenges, as well as language and numeracy abilities, it can be difficult for teachers to cater to every student’s needs. That’s where personalized learning can really come into its own, helping students take ownership of their learning while allowing teachers to confidently support different learning styles.

John McGowan, our EquatIO Product Manager was visiting Australia and was excited to be able to meet with Cal to introduce the power of EquatIO to a fellow maths nerd.

The fact that Cal was wearing his favourite t-shirt printed with Pi mathematical constants and a neck scarf displaying the Periodic Table of Elements when John and I arrived, definitely set the tone for the meeting!

I first met Cal when he was just three years old. In my role as an occupational therapist supporting independent use of assistive technologies by students with disabilities, I was fortunate to be able to facilitate a presentation by his parents, Megan and Grant, at the Inclusive Learning Technologies Conference in 2012 in Australia. They shared that Cal had choreoathetoid Cerebral Palsy quadriplegia resulting from a lack of oxygen at birth. They expressed their commitment to ensuring that Cal had a voice to share his personality and intelligence with all around him, also showcasing his achievements at the time on the family’s YouTube Channel.

Now, at 10 years of age, Cal still has no voice. Well, no spoken voice that is. But that does not mean he doesn’t have a lot to say. He uses both high-tech and low-tech tools to communicate. He had a lot to say back when he was three years old, but now he has so much more to say, particularly around his favourite topic of mathematics. According to Grant, “Cal could immerse himself in maths 24/7!”

His leisure hours are happily spent watching the science and maths-focused Numberphile and Vsauce YouTube channels, in between having fun adventuring in Minecraft. Even his jokes are all around maths and he has a lot of them to share.

Cal’s discussion with John explored the impact on parabolas of variables, number sequences, tangrams, the power of the Sigma function, Thales Theorem, magic squares, the Leaning Tower of Lire, and the use of Latex to publish maths in peer-reviewed journals! I’ll admit the less maths-savvy adults in the room (me included) were regularly Googling to find out more about many of the maths concepts that Cal was so excited to be sharing with John.

This is a whole lot of maths for anyone to cover in two hours, let alone a 10-year-old. So, it was easy to see why he had recently been recognized as a gifted and talented student and accelerated to secondary schooling, a year ahead of his age-group peers.

The problem facing Cal is that he needs a way of expressing his maths knowledge independently, without relying on a third party like his Teacher Aide or his parents to try to interpret what he is saying. This is particularly critical as his level of maths competence surpasses that of many of those supporting his communication.

EquatIO, in combination with customised grids set up using the Grid 3 on his Surface Pro computer and two buttons (called switches) mounted in his wheelchair headrest, means that Cal is at the early stages of being able to independently show what he knows mathematically.

The fact that Cal can now access the tools he needs to create digital maths means that he is not only equipped to communicate with his family and his school, but also with the wider maths community worldwide. Given that Cal lives in Broken Hill, a city quite literally in the Australian Outback and a solid 15-hour drive west from Sydney into the desert, this opens up many unopened doors for his future!

“I was astounded by the maths knowledge that Cal possessed. He got such joy out of using the Tangrams, counting rods, and other shapes in the EquatIO mathspace. Giving him a virtual version of these physical manipulatives empowered him to show his thought process in new ways. He loved to build representations with them and to try to connect them to the sequences that he loves to make algebraically.”

Cal’s thoughts on his first experiences with EquatIO?

Apart from his obvious pure enjoyment of all things maths made possible via EquatIO, he shared that he thought, “It will help me to develop mathematical sequences and theorems. In the future I want to code too.” He also then grinned and launched into a joke for us before we left. “Two mathematicians walk into a bar ...”

Meet Callaghan (Cal) Shepherd, a 10-year-old self-confessed maths nerd who was introduced to EquatIO for the first time this week.

Giving a voice to MathematiCAL thinking from the Australian Outback

Meet Callaghan (Cal) Shepherd, a 10-year-old self-confessed maths nerd who was introduced to EquatIO for the first time this week. 

Blog

International law firm, Pinsent Masons, are reaping the rewards of the Disability Confident scheme

Take PDFs to the Next Level in O365 and OneDrive

The potential of personalized learning for student engagement and achievement

The power of personalisation: letting students be the masters of their own learning

Five Top Tips to Empower Personalized Learning

Giving a voice to MathematiCAL thinking from the Australian Outback

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