Tech Reformers & Reynolds

With Reynolds using a lot of online platforms and curricula, adopting Teams for students had to be easy so it would not add much to the learning curve for students or staff. In addition to trusting the cloud-based security built into Teams, Krull looked for a solution that worked as a Team App to empower staff to manage student interactions.

They wanted a solution to augment the accountability Teams offers teachers in dealing with student texts and chats whether supervised or not. Krull recommended Senso for Microsoft Teams. The school started with a pilot of Senso for Microsoft Teams with teachers using the Microsoft Teams apps that gave them a view into violations without launching another app.

With Microsoft 365 in place, John Krull, President of Tech Reformers, worked with District staff to ensure email, internet, and collaboration were safe for all students and staff.

One of the biggest challenges was ensuring teachers and students had a safe online experience whether searching the internet, working in an EdTech application, or using Microsoft Teams.

Having previously made the Teams platform available for teachers and staff, the district wanted to provide the same collaboration platform for students with a focus on safety, which is where Senso for Microsoft Teams came in.

The Reynolds technology team deployed Senso for Teams app to staff Teams default apps. The move to Senso for Teams required a no adjustments in use of Teams. And he reported that the integration of the app into Teams made it easy to use and eliminated a learning curve.

According to Krull, the primary value of using Teams for learning is connectivity. “Enabling students to connect with each other and the teacher,” he says. “It maintains the connection whether remote or on-site. And Senso for Teams and Microsoft Insights provide safety and data to measure it.” In the first few weeks of using Senso for Microsoft Teams, one principal told Krull how pleased he was with how Reynolds was maintaining a safe learning environment.