Prior's Field share their 3 tips to encourage whole-school adoption of Frog.
Technology implementation rarely works in isolation, the successful ones are those where collaboration, training and regular use are all in evidence.
1. Forget about the technology at the outset
It's tempting to look at Frog as the starting point and then working backwards to engineer a solution for your school. Instead we recommend focusing on school practices and procedures, identifying opportunities to become more efficient.
Intangibles are the new measure of a digital product's worth, only by examining the value it has for individuals and organisations can a return on investment be fully realised. All stakeholders should be engaged to understand where workload burden and budget inefficiencies are of concern.
Creating a digitally positive culture will help your school adapt more easily to the pace of change. The next generations are using technology in their everyday lives and so will expect it to be embedded in their education.
Apparently 80% of our screen time is spent on just three main applications. We recommend setting a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for Frog to become one of the main three in-school as a measure of true adoption.
It will take time to steer a large group of people towards a common goal and understanding. We believe that two years is a realistic timescale for a whole-school adoption of Frog.
2. Be Strategic
At Prior's Field we implemented an information gathering process, auditing activities throughout the school and putting an objective against those we wished to improve.
For example, we placed an objective against school cover notices to reduce the number of emails generated and incorporate real-time sharing. This meant that everyone had a clear view of when each objective would be addressed. The additional benefit to this exercise is that individuals could see the positive impact it could have on their workload.
3. Get Launch Ready
Build
Being ready to launch 6 weeks prior to the actual launch date will allow time to step back, look at everything objectively and collect feedback from a select group of testers.
Test
If someone finds a broken link or a permissions issue, this can affect confidence down the line. The more you can fix in the testing phase, the better the implementation and user experience down the line.
Launch
We recommend setting the launch on a whole staff agenda. This ensures everyone knows what's coming and when. Providing a quick tour of Frog gives time for questions.
TIP! Keep the session brief, explain the what/why and how. It is important that everyone goes away excited by what's to come. Scheduled sessions could be set for later in the day to enable individuals to login and try it all out.
We applied the cutover method, which means the old system is cut and overwritten with the new system. This allows the new version to become immediately available when it's operational.
Summary
You can't communicate enough! The more people felt involved, the more they engaged with the technology.
Be clear about what you need the technology to do for you before it arrives. It is much easier to measure the impact when you know how onerous or expensive certain tasks and activities were before implementation.
Never stop learning! Frog hosts several free events throughout the year where you can learn new things. There's also a wide range of support materials available online in the Frog Community.
