SIMS SharePoint Webparts

As more schools try to give parents better access to information on their children SharePoint is becoming the preferred tool. Many Education Authorities are now offering SharePoint to their schools although not always with the necessary training or support.

As a SharePoint Consultant with Officetalk I have been called into a number of schools lately to offer advise and workshop style training on how SharePoint can best be used.

With many schools in the UK using CAPITA's SIMs the move to SIMs Webparts are proving very popular and a great SharePoint starting point for many schools. This allows parents to really see what their children have been up to.

So how can schools take their SharePoint Project further? Some schools are looking at using is for their VLE with packages E-Learning Management packages like Share Knowledge allowing them to import SCORM compliant courses. Other Schools are using SharePoint for shared calendars, School Policies, Time-Table Planning, Canteen Menus, Detention Letters and other quite original ideas.

Officetalk are interested in helping any school in the UK to really develop their SharePoint to allow it to blossom.

If you are not already familiar with SharePoint you might find this short clip useful.

SharePoint Basics

If you have any questions about the use of SharePoint in Education please drop me an email on andy.dale@office-talk.com.

Also if your school is using SharePoint in any interesting way please leave a comment saying what you are doing.

Welcome to SharePoint in UK Schools Blog

Last year saw a rapid increase in the number of schools and colleges in the UK starting to deploy SharePoint. The improvements of version 2007, the Government 'recomendations' on all schools having Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) and Microsoft's Educational discounts has pushed many down the SharePoint route. Hopefully a route that they, their teachers and their students will find very rewarding.

This Blog will hopefully assist many education organisations in their use of SharePoint during 2009. Whether your school is using SharePoint already, you are considering SharePoint or just want to know what SharePoint is we hope you will find the answer here.

The SharePoint in UK Schools blog is as the title says aimed at Schools in the UK but we don't really mind who reads it and we hope it will become a valuable information source.

The blog will be hosted by the SharePoint Consultants at Officetalk often written by our Senior SharePoint Consultant Andy Dale, but we hope to involve a number of other Guest Contributors over the weeks. Officetalk are a Microsoft Gold Partner based in the heart of the UK in the lovely Vale of Evesham. We are a company who work with SharePoint or SharePoint Add-ons and nothing else.

During 2008 Officetalk worked closely with a number of Local Education Authorities and schools to assist in SharePoint installations. Some of these we will be showcasing on this blog in the coming weeks.

We really want this blog to reflect the needs of anyone involved with SharePoint in Schools so we would be grateful if you could add any suggestions in the comments section below.

If you are thinking about SharePoint for your School or College then a good start is to see if you need full MOSS or if WSS will do. Please take a look at the link below to find out more.

Which SharePoint Version

Happy SharePointing in 2009.