[Advisory] RE: [Secondary] RE: Online Reporting in Schools

[Ray Tolley]

Colin,

A really helpful reply, much appreciated.   My real frustration is that you
and your team have had to put in a lot of hard work (I know, I was doing a
comparable job a few years ago) and probably thousands of individuals up and
down the land are similarly doing the same sort of pathfinder work in
isolation.

We really need a new social group of 'Pathfinders' who can share each
other's expertise and ideas.  Perhaps Naace is an ideal platform for such a
venture?  Certainly we need something more user-friendly and immediate than
Becta! 

As much as a 'Geek Club' might provide some technical solutions it is down
to individual institutions' educational vision and strategies to drive the
work forward.

Best Wishes,

Ray Tolley  FEIDCT, NAACE Fellow, ACQI, MBILD
ICT Education Consultant
Maximise ICT Ltd
P:  http://raytolley.v2efolioworld.mnscu.edu/
B:  http://www.efoliointheuk.blogspot.com/
W:  http://www.maximise-ict.co.uk/eFolio-01.htm
Winner of the IMS 'Leadership Regional Award 2009'

-----Original Message-----
From: secondary-admin@talk.naace.org [mailto:secondary-admin@talk.naace.org]
On Behalf Of Colin J Revell
Sent: 01 January 2010 10:55
To: advisory@talk.naace.org; secondary@talk.naace.org
Subject: RE: [Secondary] RE: Online Reporting in Schools

Ray,

We have had various offerings becoming available over the last few years,
some of them include;

VLE - (we don't yet use this very efficiently but we are getting there) This
gives access to lesson material, e-portfolio etc from any location and has
been very useful for helping absent students keep up with their studies.
EMAIL - Available to all staff and students from any location via web mail
TEXT - We now regularly text information and reminders to parents - this has
been especially useful in reducing absenteeism
REMOTE ACCESS - All staff and students can log onto the schools network and
make use of all of the facilities
SIMS - Whilst this is nothing special in itself, we do make good use of the
facilities e.g. electronic registration
RESOUCE BOOKING - I have written a set of web pages that allow staff to book
rooms, minibuses and other facilities online - again this can be done from
home
HELPDESK - we now use SPICE as a helpdesk - all staff and students can use
this to report and track ICT faults and requests.

The current development is using SIMS LEARNING GATEWAY to give access to
sections of the SIMS system to Parents & Students i.e. frequent progress
checks (about every 6 weeks), attendance information (real time), positive
and negative behavioural information (real time) and soon we will be able to
issue all reports online using SLG. This system also allows staff to write
reports on any internet enabled machine and we are looking at using smart
phones to take registers on trips etc. The goal is that, apart from reports,
all other information will be real time. For example - if I put a child into
detention for not completing homework, the parent should have enough
information, in real time, from the system to understand what has happened
and why. Similarly, if I award some sort of commendation this too should be
on the system immediately. We are only just giving out the first parental
logons, but we are aiming to have full school wide access by the start of
next academic year.

Several of the systems we now have in place need to become far more fully
embedded in the school for their full potential to be realised - this is
where I see the main challenge.

The only other thing I need is a more intelligent spell checker on my email
client!

Colin

-----Original Message-----
From: secondary-admin@talk.naace.org [mailto:secondary-admin@talk.naace.org]
On Behalf Of Ray Tolley
Sent: 31 December 2009 23:18
To: advisory@talk.naace.org; secondary@talk.naace.org
Subject: RE: [Secondary] RE: Online Reporting in Schools

Colin, was that a Freudian slip, 'wandering' instead of wondering?

There are plenty of hints, even as far back as 2006 in the 'Functional
Requirements' eg:  
Requirement 21 Access off-site (Mandatory) "The intention is to enable
anytime anywhere access and to include all types 
of users including teachers, pupils and parents.
Requirement 29 Portfolios (Mandatory) "This kind of functionality is
sometimes provided as part of an e-portfolio. But ‘e-portfolio’ has various
definitions and there are several functions that can be provided, possibly
via links to a range of web services. Portfolios could include goal setting,
identifying interests and learning plans."
Requirement 31 Tracking (Mandatory)  "This shall include reporting whether a
learner has completed a particular resource or could include more complex
scores or assessment data. Tracking information should be used to provide
feedback to learners."

Admittedly, some of the other requirements in the document appear quite
dated some 4 years later on and many further hints can be gleaned (with a
bit of hard work) from later edicts.

I suspect that organisations on Becta's preferred list have been thinking
about on-line reporting for some years now.  I expect many of the big
suppliers will have all the answers concerning their interpretations of
on-line reporting at BETT.

You say that you are 'in the process of rolling out secure on-line access to
parents'.  I'm intrigued by this because some VLEs have been capable of
doing this for several years.  I would be genuinely interested to know what
information parents will have access to in your system.  Does this include
progress (possibly weekly)?  Does it include real time personal comments by
individual subject teachers?  Does it include the recording of (informal)
formative feedback from tutors, mentors and peers?  Is this a DIY system
that you have developed or are you working in conjunction with a VLE
supplier?

Kindest Regards

Ray Tolley  FEIDCT, NAACE Fellow, ACQI, MBILD
ICT Education Consultant
Maximise ICT Ltd
P:  http://raytolley.v2efolioworld.mnscu.edu/
B:  http://www.efoliointheuk.blogspot.com/
W:  http://www.maximise-ict.co.uk/eFolio-01.htm
Winner of the IMS 'Leadership Regional Award 2009'


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