We are delighted to announce the launch of School Insights, our powerful new tool designed to help schools understand how teachers, students and parents are using Firefly.
Using real-time data, School Insights provides greater visibility into the impact of the Firefly platform across the whole school.
As we might expect, the disruptions experienced by schools over the last twelve months, and the need to deliver learning in a more remote format have led schools to explore the possibilities of technology in their teaching more than ever before. There is no shortage of options and possibilities out there for teachers to choose from, meaning that the need to understand exactly what impact online tools are having on the learning process has become more important than ever.
What schools will be tracking, depends a great deal on what they are trying to achieve in the first place, but the success of any tool, whatever its intended use, is heavily dependent upon the uptake and use by those it is intended for. At Firefly we have always believed in the importance of a solution that is focused on accessibility, with LMS and Parent Portal platforms that are easy for teachers, students and parents to engage with. If teachers, students and parents are not engaged with the platform, then it is doomed to failure.
“It is important that schools are able to understand the ways in which Firefly is being used, and by their different groups of users. We wanted to help school leaders understand what proportion of students are using the new tools available to them? Are parents actively engaged with the Parent Portal, and using it in the ways envisaged? To what extent are teachers adopting the new practices and strategies introduced by the leadership team?”
Rachel Anderson
Research and Design Lead, Firefly Learning
The School Insights Summary Dashboard provides an at-a-glance overview of all three groups in a school, showing what proportion of teachers, parents and students have logged in, when in the week they are most active and what time of day has the most usage. School leaders can also see who are the most active teachers and students, as well as which resources are most popular.
School leaders also need to understand how the technology is being used and what has been successful. In this way, they can see who is making the best use of the new tools and encourage them to share their practice with their peers, whilst identifying those in need of more help and supporting them appropriately.
To do this you need to be able to see not only how much different groups are using the technology, but specifically what elements are being most used. Detailed views of Teacher, Student and Parent activity make it possible to identify their most active (and engaged) users, as well as those who may be struggling and in need of more support.
Breakdowns of patterns of usage, such as across the week, or time of day helps schools to know when best to communicate with parents for example, or to identify worrying trends in work patterns - a student who is regularly using the platform at 2.00 in the morning would be a cause for concern, or a teacher who is spending a disproportionate amount of time creating resources may be struggling to manage their workload. This visibility of patterns of behaviour allows school leaders to identify where to intervene and why.
John Hattie advises us to know our impact if we are to bring about the best outcomes for our learners. School leaders will be able to make decisions based on what they know, rather than what they believe with our new School Insights tool making it easier to understand and track the impact of Firefly across the entire school community - students, teachers and parents alike.
“Firefly was a key platform during our at-home learning experiences. At a glance, we were able to see access trends for parents and students that showed parents were keen to access resources and information in preparation for the following day.”
Amanda Rablin
e-learning coordinator at St Peters Lutheran College
Visit our Insights page on the Firefly website for more information.