Primary School - Frog, Moodle or Google Clasroom

[boomish]

We just had our demo of Frog this morning and I have to say I am impressed with the integration of data, apps and simplicity, we currently use Fronter but for nothing more than pages of links etc.

 

Trouble is Frog seems quite expensive, esp as each bolt on costs £2 per child, then a setup fee etc, we are a primary school with approx 350 intake, so again I'm looking at alternatives before we sign. Can anyone tell me how much can I do on Google Classroom or Moodle compared to Frog? I'd love to save our school the money and the 3 years min commitment to a platform that might get underused.

 

Even if it takes us time to build but I just need to know if they offer a similar experience or features. EG flip learning, getting the parents involved in their child's progress, teachers ability to hand out homework quickly etc One feature I liked was a teach could do a safe search and all images and you Tube clips were automatically striped of ad's enabling teachers to post/set homework questions & quiz's interactive subjects very quickly.

 

Appreciate it if anyone that has experience of both or all of them could give me some feedback as to what it's like to use day to day, I am also concerned Google will have students data, & Moodle might be a lot of work to setup & neither will offer the features or simplicity of Frog.

 

Appreciate any feedback..

 

Alan

[ForgotMyPassword]

You'll always find people that LOVE their platform of choice (and vice versa) - whilst I'll get burned alive for it I would suggest avoiding Moodle for Primary - to me, it's just not that intuitive or user-friendly. There are companies that can skin it up and pull it apart to make it easier to use but I've no experience of those.

 

What Frog does it does well - I think it's a good choice for primaries - especially if planning a rollout to parents etc. Google Classroom is an awesome tool but I think it's got a while to go yet before it becomes the 'go to' platform for schools. Frog's iPad integration is still not what it needs to be but I would assume this is only going to improve.

 

You've got a lot of choice, eSchools are worth a look, Canvas (by Instructure) is AWESOME but I wouldn't recommend for a primary as the interface is simple but not that engaging and then there's the various others that float about - for example I'd check out ClassDojo, it's not a learning platform per se in the way that we might think of one but it's a superb tool and the cost is nada.

 

Ultimately it comes back to why you are considering such a platform in the first place! What's the strategic vision? Is it all about T&L or are you looking to engage the wider school community?

 

Good luck, implemented and used properly such systems can have a big impact - it's a lot of work but worth it!

Edited March 23, 2015 by ForgotMyPassword

[boomish]

thanks for the great reply, that's really helpful as I've spent the last 2 hours toying with Moodle and setting up a version on my computer to play with, but although this is fine for me to do I don't want to spend tons of time on this only to find teachers don't like it, or it's not very good. It just seemed very popular here.

 

I suppose the basic needs are to provide something better than Fronter as we pay a lot for that! One of the main requirements is homework can be set easily by teachers and pupils can logon from home and fill it out easily. Then if the teacher can see all of that homework on a timeline or stats can be kept or progress can be followed by parents that would be fab. Finding resources and an open community of activities would really help, basically anything to save the teachers time and increase the productivity of the learning whilst making it fun & engaging for the pupils. Most of what I see is crap, even the Frog demo we saw today he showed us FrogPlay but as I pointed out to the rep it didn't look very exciting for the pupil, it looked like 5 pages clicks to find the games room. I can add a link to a game from a front page easy. lastly whatever we use has to be responsive and universally compatible so HTML 5 so it can work on all platforms. I suppose if Frog was cheaper it would be a no brainer but it seems a lot, esp when we can get these functions for free, just not in an easy to use package.

Not a lot to ask really:)

[NotSoFast]

I'm not even sure you need a 'VLE'. Google Drive on its own offers free web-based access to resources. We have access to Classroom but at present don't need it. In a primary I could see even less need as each class could just have a shared folder, and perhaps a Google site for information, links etc.

[edutech4schools]

Same as above. All my primary schools have Google sites as the main website and bit of other Google services for what you could call a VLE.

[wiseoldowl]

Hi Boomish

 

I'm sure you've asked but from your query and responses I'm not clear so the first question I'd ask is, "What do your teachers, pupils and parents want from a VLE or even an online presence apart from Homework Management?" If you use the feedback as your baseline, you will find a solution and get buy-in from stakeholders. At the end of the day, it's not so much about the product or service but how it is used by the users - if they don't use it, then ....

[boomish]

Thanks Jeremy for the post, In answer to your question I think the trouble is Teachers might have an idea of what they want but Pupils and parents may not, I'm sure though if we made them aware of whats possible, ie tracking their pupils progress or engaging their child to learn from home with something fun, they would want it.

 

Trouble is until we trial it and test it we can't offer anything. I think as others have said here using a VLE can be a waste and there is little need for a complex system in a primary school. Hence why I'm looking for something simple yet offers lots of possibilities for the future of the school, and most of that comes down to a well designed VLE.

[wiseoldowl]

If I can make a suggestion then Boomish, check out the use of LearnDash within Wordpress. It's a really simple to use but comprehensive plugin that given the ease with which you utilise WP it might form the basis of something to get some feedback. I've often thought WP very suitable for most primary schools and Learndash would add something more VLE like as the site moves forward. Justin Ferriman has done a good job on this at WordPress LMS Plugin by LearnDash® and there is also a demo site you can use to get a feel of what could be offered. Might be something to grow into down the track.

[grahammm]

We're usingg Frog after realising that Fronter, was pretty naff. We love it and have all the add ons as its brilliant. We now use it for our school website which links with SIMS etc. www. d rochester primary.com

 

I'd say go for something easy for staff !

[Rodders]

I've worked in a few schools that have eSchools. They were mostly primary but now have a decent secondary platform and mobile app.