Avoid the Zune Effect in Trust-Wide PD Initiatives
- Last updated: 11th August, 2026
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You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Microsoft Zune. Founded in 2006, this was Microsoft’s answer to the iPod. Missteps with the marketing and inability to differentiate the product in the market meant it was short-lived and phased out by 2012. Despite its unique features, wireless music sharing, built-in radio, competitive pricing, ultimately the failed implementation led to its withdrawal from the marketplace.
There is a valuable lesson here for our work in education. How often have we seen a great idea in school fade away because of weaknesses in the implementation of the initiative? The idea is launched with a bang, the communication wanes, inconsistencies rise and one day, the initiative has, often unintentionally, been phased out.
At Aldridge Education, we fully recognise that schools are complex places and implementation is tricky. There is a myriad of examples I could give you which had a level of success equal to the Microsoft Zune. As the EEF states, ‘Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how great an educational idea or intervention is in principle; what really matters is how it manifests itself in the day-to-day work of people in schools.’ (EEF)
Rewind back to the start of our journey with IRIS Connect just over a year ago – we had a gap in our implementation we knew the technology would help us to start to get more of this right.
The Gap We Were Seeking to Fill
Step one was to define the problem we wanted to solve to find the appropriate solution.
Our main challenge as a Trust is our geographical disparity. We are privileged to have schools in Brighton, London, Salford, Darwen, and soon Warrington. However, this geographical spread can sometimes feel like a divide in connectivity. This has also led to many a night in a Premier Inn across the country, seeking to ensure support is forthcoming for all staff nationally.
Another barrier we were facing was our ability to have the tools to embed quality professional development. Much of our approach to professional development is centred around using instructional coaching alongside targeted staff training sessions based on See it, Name it, Do it. We are committed to this model, knowing we incorporate the EEF mechanisms and that this is what good quality professional development features. However, we faced several challenges, most significantly:
- Time to embed this structure successfully. The weekly observation was sometimes difficult to schedule given the hectic nature of a school timetable, reducing the frequency of the support and sometimes leading to unhelpful habits being embedded in practice.
- We had very few examples of models of good practice from our staff in our schools to support us with modelling the technique.
Several attempts had been made to collect videos of practice in classrooms, coaching sessions, training, and mentoring meetings but the IT got too complex and was never as slick and safe as we needed it to be.
Enter IRIS Connect.
IRIS Connect as a Part of the Solution
With the use of IRIS Connect, the geographical divide suddenly felt surmountable. Imagine this: a teacher in Salford films themselves teaching. They click two buttons, and this is shared with a colleague in London. Two more clicks and some typing later and there is precise feedback tagged to timestamped moments on the video which the teacher can start acting upon.
The technology is also incredibly simple to set up. The starter kits, complete with tablet, tripod and microphone, are intuitive and allow staff to easily set up at the back of their classroom using the IRIS Connect app. Removed are concerns about sourcing technology and GDPR worries about videos floating in different folders. Coaches and mentors can view lessons at their leisure, no longer feeling the straitjacket of the timetable.
A year and a term into our use of the technology, and it has changed our ability to communicate for the better. Sharing practice is now second nature for many, encouraging deep private reflection, connection with feedback, more efficient coaching feedback and collection of exemplars. IRIS Connect has particularly transformed the progress and experience of our ECTs and trainees whose connection with their mentors is more structured and stronger than we have seen before.
Implementation Lessons Learned
IRIS Connect has become a lynchpin in our implementation of several initiatives across the Trust, including connecting our network of instructional coaches, assessing and supporting the quality of ECT/ITT mentoring provision and giving feedback on training to leaders of professional development.
However, when introducing the technology, good implementation once again became a factor to consider; this impact did not happen without some careful thinking before the launch. We set out to ‘Create a clear implementation plan, judge the readiness of the school to deliver that plan, then prepare staff and resources.’ (EEF) The IRIS Connect team supported us with our approach to implementation which (for us) followed this process:
- A leadership Pathway on The IRIS Connect platform and EEF-style implementation planning template supported a structured approach to planning.
- We completed this template for the Trust-wide implementation of IRIS Connect, considering the gaps we were seeking to fill and the roll-out of the project.
- We gave this model to the in-school IRIS Leads to complete their own implementation plan.
- The plans were returned. Some were overzealous in their scope or not necessarily detailed enough to be sufficiently strategic. We realised more collaborative support was required.
- We arranged a network meeting with the leads and shared the EEF implementation paper, the summary poster and the implementation checklist.
- In the meetings, IRIS Leads read key sections from the report. They used these reflections to amend their planning. Key takeaways included ensuring their teams had adequate training on using the technology before launch, piloting their implementation with a small group before scaling, and ensuring the culture of the school was ready to adopt the initiative.
- The plans were amended and are now much more focused and making strategic decisions when it comes to maximising the potential of IRIS Connect across our settings.
- IRIS Leads fed back that they were appreciative of the support and collaboration. Having a network to use as a sounding board can only make our thinking stronger.
Through the guidance of the IRIS Connect team, and our collaborative work as a network, our implementation planning is now more thoughtful, structured as a longer-term project and based on a united culture of change.
Looking to the Future
As a Trust, we continue to reflect on our use of IRIS Connect and its contribution to our goals. With the support of our IRIS Connect consultants and account owner, we continue to review our usage statistics and make tweaks to how we are approaching our use of the technology. We are in the phase where we ‘Plan for sustaining and scaling an intervention from the outset and continuously acknowledge and nurture its use’. (EEF)
Now we are in Year 2 of implementation, we are also launching the use of some brand-new custom-built pathways on the platform, specifically designed for structured reflection and to aid reflective communication between coaches and their coachees using our Trust model. It is exciting to use the platform to further maximise the flexible use of time, efficient sharing of feedback and prioritising deep reflection in our everyday practice.
All in all, we have made excellent strides forward and know the consideration of our implementation is not something which ever ends. Thinking strategically and getting the best use out of this technology is one of our priorities – to enhance what we are already doing rather than replace it.
For Aldridge Education, IRIS Connect has been our iPod rather than our Zune. We are excited to continue to build on its success. Get in touch with us if you want a sounding board at the beginning of your implementation journey!
About the Author
Poppy Nobes is the Head of Professional Development at Aldridge Education. Poppy has held various leadership roles, including Lead Teacher for KS3 English, whole-school teacher training and CPD Lead, and acting Head of Department. In her current role, Poppy leads a team of five who spend their time championing the Trust’s ‘Growing Together’ professional development programme as well as delivering the NPQs, ECF and a SCITT training programme as a delivery partner for Teach First.
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