As a school student (and that was a good few years ago now – think flared trousers and too much hair!) I loved mathematics. We were one of just two pilot schools for the then revolutionary School Mathematics Project. SMP focussed on things such as sets, graphs, Boolean logic, non-Cartesian co-ordinate systems, non-decimal number systems, matrices, vectors and more. It was visual, relevant (I still see the world in Venn diagrams!) and exciting. I did well, but then suddenly along came “A” levels; sadly, there was then no “A” level SMP maths, so I was plunged into a mysterious world of calculus, quadratics and algebra in general. It was like waking up in a foreign country, confused.

Years later, when the I first watched a (huge) supercomputer solving a quadratic equation I remember thinking how handy it would have been to access that kind of helpful power, day to day during my “A” levels. Sadly, that supercomputer’s cost ran into millions of pounds, and filled a room when we installed it in Westminster. Actually, it remains the most expensive and largest computer that I ever purchased.

Today however, thanks to the miracle that is captured in Moore’s Law (where Gordon Moore noted that overall processing power for computers doubled every two years or so), much more power than that huge early supercomputer is in today’s sleek phones, tablets, and laptops. As the hardware has got better, the software has got cheaper too! As a big fan of OneNote, it still amazes me that this simple tool has the power to let you type in, and then watch, as OneNote solves mathematical equations using many mathematical functions.

However, this is not about just solving those equations, it is about understanding those solutions and OneNote will helpfully step you through all the stages of a solution. You can repeat, review, vary and solve as often as you like. Repeat until understood. Brilliant!

This all matters of course, because in a world of big data and of algorithms, good mathematicians are scarce. Kids dreaming of a career as a Games designer need good maths. A career in health needs good maths, practically every senior career post, including in schools, needs good mathematics. Now, if I can just build a time machine and take wonderful OneNote back to my “A” level maths paper…

For many years, the terms Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) have been applied to almost all platforms in schools. We’ve built LP+365 to be different. With over 400m learners having access to #Office365 we believed it was essential to have a learning and collaboration platform that fully exploits the power of Office 365, yet was simple enough to learn within 20 minutes.

LP+365 is not an LMS. Traditional LMS are designed to deliver education courses, or support the teacher in delivering material to students. This usually means the LMS is process driven, often rigid and incompatible with modern pedagogies. Teachers usually require a lot of training and professional development, and many of these platforms are used as little more than glamorised document libraries.

LP+365 is different, it is a Learning and Collaboration Platform (LCP). A simple set of dashboards that presents all the functionality and apps within Office 365 that are proven to have efficacy in an education environment. Usage of these tools has been further simplified by having one-click tiles and an intuitive user interface. With the integration of our ‘one minute’ how-to videos and a full support site to drive adoption, LP+365 is a simple way for teachers to use Office 365 in the classroom thereby developing critical skills in learners.

LP+365 encapsulates a set of tools that are readily available at any time in any context, including the delivery of course material. The platform provides resource management tools, collaboration tools, communication tools, assignments, and analytics and administration tools. These can be used at any time in any context, supporting many pedagogical approaches.

With almost no limit on storage or types of content, the cloud based LP+365 App works on any browser, on any device on and offline.

With such a long history of LMS and VLE, why do we need a LCP? Research shows that students or learners who have strong collaboration and communication skills, as well as knowledge of Microsoft Office tools have a greater chance of employability. LP+365 seeks to give learners an experience of the modern working environment, whilst supporting many teaching and learning styles, and minimising the teacher’s training needs.

To experience LP+365 for yourself click here.

The LP+365 is fully integrated with Microsoft Office 365 meaning that you can still access all of the excellent Office 365 features offline so that lesson planning and organisation is a seamless online and offline.  Access you Outlook mailbox and calendar offline (guides can be found on our Support Centre Home Page), meaning you can still access your assignments for example.  The Class Notebook can be accessed offline too; make any changes you wish and the next time that you are online, these changes will be automatically updated for everyone to see.

Creating, setting and marking assignments could not be easier with our Office 365 integrated Assignment Tool.  Take a look at the quick support video on the Home page to see how easy it is to create dynamic assignments and tasks linking in everything from Youtube video links to coding as well as supporting resources or templates.  Don’t worry about mixed ability classes as you can select individual students as well as the entire class at one time.  Marking your tasks and assignments is made simple with our in-built comment function and the option to export the learner work statuses of each assignment for school-wide moderation.

Why not create your own community environment in your own classroom?  The LP+ collaboration tools; Discussions, Wikis and Blogs (guides can be found on our Support Centre Home Page) perfectly mirror real life social and employment situations equipping you with digital skills for your future.  Propose your own ideas for class projects.  Celebrate educational or extra-curricular success whilst promoting a powerful sense of student to class interaction.

As a teacher you will be increasingly encourage to experiment with digital technologies as a way to enable dynamic learning strategies.  It can be daunting to imagine how to develop digital content for learning assessment.  Let us here at LP+ take the stress out of embarking on a school-wide digital initiative as we offer a comprehensive user guides and quick support video guides on every feature of our solution.  Take advantage of our interactive webinars with classroom practitioners across the globe as well as peer coaching via our Communities page to share insights and advice on blended learning with LP+365.

LP+365 is a modern and exciting digital resource where teachers can share ideas and lesson plans, resources or useful links you have come across. For example, would you like to encourage music learning in your school? Download one of lesson packs to explore how the LP+365 app boosts learning outcomes through dynamic learning and collaboration. The Cloud Based Class Notebook is an excellent resource which can be downloaded and integrated across class dashboards fostering a charismatic teacher network in schools. The guides for all of the tools and features of the LP+365 web app can be found on the Support Centre Home Page.