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.

Two Frog schools shared their approach to the safe distribution of exam results. 

Frederick Gough School & ePortfolios 

A large secondary located in Scunthorpe, Frederick Gough School has made great use of Frog ePortfolios to distribute individual exam results. The ePortfolio system enables the quick creation of a secure page (known as a Site) for every student across a year group. The school plans to add a results file to every student’s ePortfolio the day before results day. On the morning of collection, students will be given access to their page which will securely contain their results.  

Controlling Access 

Using the ePortfolio List widget a direct link to each student’s page can be added from the student dashboard.  The important thing to note is that each ePortfolio is private to the individual and the school is in control of sharing it. 

Finham Park School and FrogParent SIMS Linked Documents 

Finham Park is a large secondary school located in Coventry and they plan to use FrogParent SIMS Linked Documents to distribute their exam results.  SIMS can publish individual reports to Frog, which Frog displays using the Linked Documents widget.  These results can be published from SIMS as soon as the data is in the MIS.   

Controlling Access 

The results are not visible to students until the school’s Frog administrator uses FrogParent Manager to publish the documents.  By using FrogParent, the team control when and how exam results are seen by pupils. 

Note for Admins: 
To ensure students can see their own documents, make sure you have the preferences set in System Preferences. 

Like to setup something similar for your school? Get in touch and we'll talk over your options.

See how Greenshaw High School in Surrey are using Frog's feedback tools to provide comment-based feedback and marking for students.

Captured by Adam Barnes in the school's Geography department. The video shows how he marks work submitted by students and provides them with enriched feedback using annotated comments and digital stickers. 

How Greenshaw High School have been using Frog for feedback:

Watch video on Youtube.

See how Oak House School in Barcelona have made the transition to distance learning easy for staff, students and parents through their ongoing use of Frog.

Captured by Nicki Taylor, Head of Primary at the school. The video shows how the school have delivered engaging online lessons and structured their Frog platform to support the needs of the different age groups. 

How Oak House School have been using Frog:

Watch video on Youtube.

Whilst managing remote learning, many schools are finding it a real challenge to identify those pupils not logging-in regularly to access work and assignments.

Assignment Open Report

The FrogCode Assignment Open Report widget really helped the Kennet School solve this issue. This is what the school had to say:

“The Assignment Open Report identifies which pupils have unopened assignments within a specified date range. The report provides us a clear list of what the unopened assignments are and also which teachers they were set by.

Primarily, the school’s pastoral team use this tool to take a top-level view of all pupils, they can easily identify which ones are not engaging with remote learning content and put interventions in place to engage with them.

Additionally, this widget also assists the school in identifying those pupils in need of support such as, well-being, workload or access to technology.”

Mr C Ellison, Deputy Headteacher
Kennet School

Discover how British School of Paris are using Frog to create a Flexible environment, provide a Reliable platform, promote Order, and offer opportunities for Growth for their staff and students.

Captured by Keith Pearey, this is a two-part video series showing us how the school are helping their children to use Frog whilst at home. 

How the school have been using Frog to:

Create a Flexible environment
Provide a Reliable platform

Watch video on Youtube.

Promote Order
Offer opportunities for Growth

Watch video on Youtube.