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.

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.

From the first lockdown Frog schools have generously shared their experiences to help others. Almost a year down the line Frog would like to thank those involved.

The Real World Learning (RWL) series became the umbrella for sharing information volunteered through schools to help others. Stories have come in all forms, from anecdotes and articles to videos and speaker sessions from school representatives.

We have been so impressed with Frog schools and have no doubt that many will have benefited from this growing community. As we approach the next Real World Learning virtual event, it seemed fitting to use this forum to recognise the amazing examples we have been privy to.

The Real World Learning Recognition Awards shine a light on the schools involved in contributing to the community so far. As the stories were already shared, the Frog team has nominated schools under given categories. 

ICT Evangelist to pick category winners

Winners of each category will be independently chosen by the ICT Evangelist (Mark Anderson) and revealed at the next Real World Learning event.

Created for a History focused BSME webinar, Salesian College show us how subject leaders can utilise a digital platform to save teacher's time and extend opportunities for learners.

Supporting a Frog feature in BSME webinar: Using Learning Technology Effectively for Blended and Online Learning in History, Andrea Leforte volunteered to share her digital department structure. Although this is a History department example, her use of Frog to share resources and promote the department's work can easily be replicated for any subject area. Here she takes us through a very considered approach to bringing History lessons to life...

Structuring

"Crucial for me as a History Teacher, is developing that love of learning and intellectual curiosity and fostering that in our students. We're able to do all of that through Frog."

Going Text Book Free

"We decided to go textbook-free and instead build online textbooks."

Avoid book handling and cleaning with the Feedback feature available in FrogLearn*.

Marking books manually has become more difficult in the COVID-19 environment. In order to collect, mark and return work delays are inevitably added because of cleaning and quarantining submissions. The Feedback Application, available in every FrogLearn platform (and as part of the HomeLearning package), is an ideal way for students to submit work and for teachers to provide feedback, all without a physical exchange of books or paperwork.

How to use Frog Feedback

Watch this short guide to see how it works!

Frog Feedback in action...

How some schools are managing the process using Frog:

*Available in every FrogLearn platform and as part of the HomeLearning package.

When lockdown meant Kennet School couldn't go ahead with their annual Year 7 camping trip, the team came up with a creative alternative...

The Camping Challenge

Each Year 7 was challenged to try a number of 'camping' tasks such as, setting up a tent in the garden or making a den indoors. They had to cook camp food, try their hand at outdoor crafts, explore nature and much more. The concept was to recreate the experience as though the trip had gone ahead. Although their classmates would be absent there were some great family-friendly activities to share in.

"We also wanted to see the pupils' achievements, so set up a sharing page where pupils could upload "evidence" of their activities, enabling their teachers to comment on the pictures and help foster a shared experience."

Sue Busher
eLearning & Development Manager, Kennet School

The challenge has extended into the summer break but the site could be reused for pupils unable to go on future trips.

It is strange how the summer term has started yet schools remain closed. However, at North Lakes School, like so many others, we are continuing to work hard to ensure that all of our children receive the learning they need at home.  

Teachers have been providing daily online learning resources via our “Frog” Virtual Learning Environment.  There are numerous activities to help keep everyone engaged and motivated, from setting daily assignments to uploading fun pictures to class timelines.  Activities are developing and embedding skills taught throughout the year and encouraging children to be inquisitive.  Both children and staff are busy monitoring progress and interacting with the children in their class.

Pupil feedback...

Noah, in Year 5, wrote:

“Home learning has been a massive change for my daily life. At first, I struggled with the change and missed school massively. Now that I am in the routine of logging into Frog every day, I can keep in touch with what everyone is doing, and it is not so bad really. I have just received a Bronze Froggies award for my Online Learning!

All my teachers must be working very, very hard to get all our assignments organised, and keeping in touch with us on our timelines – it’s great to be able to keep in touch with my classmates and friends throughout the school”

The children are enjoying logging on to “Frog” daily, earning team points for their school team and checking the daily Froggie awards and certificates. The staff at North Lakes understand that this change in conditions is a very difficult time for all children. Teachers are setting creative activities, fun photo challenges as well as exercise challenges on their timelines. They are encouraging the children to look after their sunflowers linked to the school campaign #NLSSTANDTOGETHER.

Lola, in Year 5, who is a member of Elterwater class, would agree that even though she is finding it difficult to learn from home, she is enjoying the use of the timeline throughout the different classrooms. She also believes that many children would agree that the assignments and online activities like Charanga YuMu are really helping them keep on track.

At North Lakes, we enjoy learning together, whether it is online or at school. We aim to achieve our best and continue to support our children the best we can.

North Lakes School has also produced a free Home Learning Links site for families which is available free to any reader.  It contains free, safe links to help promote home learning and also includes advice and tips for Online Safety for parents and children.

It is available from this link:

The Edron Academy, Mexico City

Frog has been used extensively across the school during the recent pandemic and school closure to keep our students making excellent progress. Frog has been an invaluable teaching and learning tools for students, teachers and parents.

In building this platform, three elements were vital for effective, extended learning:

• Focus on blended learning;
• Integration of extra-curricular activities;
• Emphasis on wellbeing.
  
  

Blended Solutions Work Best

Pedagogically, Frog is a self-contained virtual sphere and a link to other platforms, enabling a mix of live and recorded lessons, with links to interactive subject software. This keeps learning engaging and varied. Teachers can focus on individual needs by timetabling small group support sessions, using linked video communications software, such as Zoom or Google Meet. Parents can oversee their children’s work without the burdens that home schooling often brings. Online learning must be engaging and effective so as to counter parental perceptions that it is an inferior substitute to traditional schooling.

Keep it moving

Away from school, children become more physically inactive: longer screen time, irregular sleep, and less favourable diets. Without activities and the interaction with friends, the negative effects on health are greater. Isolation breeds frustration and boredom. Lack of contact with classmates and teachers has enduring effects on mood and attitude. And the normal separation of spheres, school and home, suddenly abandoned, invades a child's personal space and sense of freedom.

Frog has helped to construct social solutions of a virtual nature. Edron activity providers give home based exercise which all the family can do. Regular live lessons give Edron children a friendly face and some semblance of school. Duke of Edinburgh has moved online.

Well-being is the way

Whilst the academic and pastoral welfare of children has been the first focus of schools, the needs of parents, teachers and wider staff must not be overlooked. Mindful of the needs of all staff and parents, Frog is used to stage online activities, share useful articles and bring the community together, in parallel with zoned Whats App groups to check on staff wellbeing. All staff have access to professional counselling and full coverage of medical costs. In turn, teachers are stepping forward with sessions, such as Edron Master-Chef and Yoga for staff.

Written by,

Bedford High School had been using Frog for over 6 years, with mixed success in terms of getting the whole school community to engage with the Virtual Learning Environment. When the closures were announced, they realised the one infrastructure that would remain stable during the challenging times ahead was technology. With a focus on providing  home learning support for their students, Bedford High worked with Frog on a design update of their Parent and Student portals to make them more appealing and user-friendly. 

Preparation and training

The school took fast action ahead of enforced school closures, creating a clear and coherent contingency plan for how their home learning process would work. They placed Frog at the centre of this, with all assigned work to be put through their platform.

All students received refresher training to ensure they knew how to use Frog and guidance was provided for the new virtual home learning process.

The process included the use of FrogSnap as a feedback tool for teachers, enabling them to provide whole-class feedback rather than every student individually.

To ensure parents were well-informed and engaged in the process, Frog Messaging was used to keep them updated.

The impact

"The analytics were showing we had captured the school community's attention as we were seeing a six-fold increase in users."

"We have found that our users have become more accustomed and accomplished with their use of Frog and we are dealing with significantly less technical issues."

Gabriel Calwell Assistant Headteacher

The school is also using Frog to help subject leaders (SL's) to build their refined curricula. A Bedford High School Curriculum site has been devised to ensure SL's upload key resources to support their subject curriculum. This ensures all subject resources are in one place.

Summary of approach

• Agreed process and roll-out
• Guidance and support provided
• Central place for all subject resources
• Use of communication tool - Frog Messaging - to keep parents informed
• Curriculum site on Frog for subject leaders to upload key resources