InterfaceXpo School Audits - Optimising Our Schools For Learning Outcomes

While InterfacExpo 2025 now seems like a long time ago, the Learning First team have been steadily working through many School Security and Learning Audits.

The results of these audits have been remarkably consistent - for example, none of the schools we have audited to date have had optimised security settings, meaning that they were all vulnerable to attacks from Ransomware and other bad actors. Thankfully, these security issues have been rectified, for free,  in just a few minutes. 

With regard to the Learning Audits, a similar level of consistency has emerged - many of the fabulous tools and strategies that delegates were exposed to at InterfaceXpo were not activated in most schools - once again, we have rectified this, in minutes, for free. Meaning that both kaiako and ākonga can now benefit from many of these tools and the teaching strategies that they enable and accelerate. Some of the most common Apps not deployed included Readalong, Gemini for Teachers, and the successful deployment of Google Education Plus licences.

The deeper reasons behind why we are running these audits for schools, are explained more fully in the section below.

One Size Fits Nobody!

One size does not fit all, when it comes to shoes, clothes and learning - when we have looked at the outcomes of our school audits to date, they all have one thing in common - they have been designed with a one size fits all approach. As the diversity of our learners grows, then so too much the personalisation of our systems and infrastructure.

“Nudge Theory”

Every staff member in a school is in the business of behaviour management - traditionally, we think of this behaviour as being around compliance and following (school) rules - while this is of course important, what’s even more important is the management of learning behaviours. Much of our work in schools is concerned with implementing “Learning to Learn” programs, so that all learners succeed. Before this can happen, they must believe that they can succeed, and this is where “Nudge Theory” comes in. 

Nudge theory is a concept in behavioural science that suggests that subtle, indirect suggestions can influence people's behaviour and decision-making without restricting their freedom of choice. In schools, it involves designing learning environments in a way that make desired actions easier and more appealing, while still allowing individuals to make their own decisions. 

In a busy school, nudge theory can be used in many ways, to further improve teaching and learning - here at Learning First, we build this into all our schools, with how the ICT infrastructure is managed (while saving the school considerable money), and also how PLD is co-constructed and implemented and how the resulting successes are measured.

Here at Learning First, we remain committed to optimising the technical infrastructure of NZ schools, so that our hard-working kaiako can find it a bit easier to deliver for our increasingly diverse ākonga. While the differentiation of learning experiences is essential to meet the needs of our highly diverse classrooms, it is also vital that the infrastructure is differentiated to meet the differing needs of kaiako and ākonga. Here are just a few, very basic examples of this:

• Default tabs automatically open for more junior learners

• Accessibility tools are optimised and deployed appropriately

• Deployed shared bookmarks to different year levels

• Password strategies that accommodate ākonga with lower levels of literacy

• AI tools deployed thoughtfully

• Chrome Apps automatically deployed to different groups of learners
  

Better Outcomes Can Cost Less!

Many of us might assume that a better product or service will always cost more money - Learning First continues to challenge this model. We deliver better infrastructure set-up and support, and for less money. Meaning that resource strapped schools can redirect savings to other priority areas, including the provision of highly effective PLD. All of this leads to significantly better outcomes for ākonga and reduced levels of stress and workload for kaiako.

If you’d like a recap on all that we offer, here’s a link to Martin’s keynote at the Auckland InterfaceXpo event in May.

If you’d like us to review your current ICT support arrangements, arrange a free Security Audit for your school, or a paid Learning Audit, feel free to contact us.