The be-all end-all of FreshGrade

On December 1, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn blogging, privacy, tech inquiry, tech toolsLeave a comment

FreshGrade Report

As you may have noticed over the past three months I have been researching FreshGrade. Now that my class is coming to an end I am going to summarize everything FreshGrade related for you. Enjoy:

What is FreshGrade?

My first ever post pertaining to FreshGrade defined it as “a digital portfolio and assessment platform that makes learning visible for teachers, parents, and students.” Although this is completely true, I think that I can add a few more details in now for you. FreshGrade is an online portfolio and assessment platform that helps educators, parents, and students have deeper conversations about learning. One of the founders of FreshGrade is Lane Merrifield, the co-founder and CEO of Club Penguin, one of the largest virtual worlds for kids. Disney later acquired club Penguin for 350 million dollars, which provided the capital used to create FreshGrade. FreshGrade was created to reduce teacher workload, improve learning outcomes, and engage parents and students. Specifically, it is used in schools as a digital portfolio; teachers provide feedback and track progression, parents are given on-going communication about their children’s learning, and students are given the opportunity to self-reflect on their growth. When creating an account you can download FreshGrade from freshgrade.com, from the iTunes App Store, or from Google play.

Important Features:

FreshGrade is integrated with Google translate so that teachers, parents, and students can read and write in the language of their choosing.
Voice to text. To use this feature on the FreshGrade app you can simply click on the microphone on your device, speak your comments, and the app will translate your words directly to text.
Free Webinars. Please utilize these! Especially before starting to use FreshGrade, they are extremely helpful and provide you with a lot of good information.
As a teacher you can create assessment tools, activities, objectives, and filter information on this application.
As a student you have access to comments that have been named, classroom announcements, and previous report cards. You can also email teachers directly, upload work and make comments, add different classes to different portfolios, and view your portfolio history.
As a parent you get notifications and emails that let you know once your child’s portfolio has been updated. You can email the teacher, look at your child’s portfolio, view their portfolio history, look at report cards that have been uploaded, view any invites or announcements, and download any photos added to FreshGrade.

Pros & Cons:

After further research I have realized that FreshGrade has corrected some of my original cons. With that being said, here is the new and improved accurate list of FreshGrade’s Pros and Cons.

Pros of FreshGrade	Cons of FreshGrade
Helps teachers, parents, and students track learning.	Need an email to access FreshGrade.
Helps initiate conversations between parents and students; better enabling parents to support their children’s learning.	Not all parents and students have access to a computer or smart phone outside of school.
Allows students to see online what they are expected to learn.	Teachers need to have an appropriate school device readily available to capture learning in the classroom.
Greener option than the paper portfolio as less paper is being used.	Lacks some tools that demonstrate creativity, such as drawing tools.
Individual profiles are available for the student, teacher, and parent.	Some schools have a no cell phone policy. Is it hypocritical to be using FreshGrade in these instances?
It is an on-going assessment tool.	One form of assessment does not fit all. Some parents, students, and teachers may be reluctant to use FreshGrade. Proper scaffolding must take place when implementing it into the classroom.
It is an extra way to check in with parents. Parents no longer need to wait for report cards or parent teacher interviews to be informed about their children’s learning.
Can lead to increased student and parent participation.
It is a form of digital literacy that can be incorporated as a tech tool to advance student learning.
· Notifications and emails let you know when your portfolio has been updated.

Things to Keep in Mind when Using FreshGrade:

Less is more: We want to ensure key areas of learning are shared and that we don’t overwhelm parents.
Carefully choose evidence that demonstrates and shows student learning.
Make clear assessment decisions: Decide which key assessment matter most and avoid overwhelming the portfolio.

Privacy Implications:

In FreshGrade’s privacy policy one major point that is described is the difference between personal information and aggregate information. Basically, personal information includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, etc. and aggregate information is data collected from which individual user identities have been removed. Personal information cannot be sold and shared but aggregate information can. Like most other websites FreshGrade automatically collects usage information once you visit their site. This information is collected through cookies. Depending on your mobile device you may not be able to reject cookies. Additionally, if you do not accept FreshGrade’s cookies, you may not be able to use some of the network’s features or services. On a side note, once an account is deleted aggregate information can still be utilized. FreshGrade also has an extensive liability clause that basically protects them from everything. By agreeing to use the application you are waiving the right to a trial by jury, the participation in a class action, collective action, private attorney general action, or other representative proceedings of any kind.

What does this mean?

Take from it what you will. Overall I think that FreshGrade is a fabulous resource to use. Although there are cons, FreshGrade can be a source of extremely valuable learning opportunities. Of course, you are going to get out of FreshGrade what you put into it. Therefore, if you are committed to this resource and put time and effort into making it great for your students the possibilities are endless. I hope that in my future career I have the opportunity to use it.

Thank You Lovely Readers:

Thank you to all of the individuals who took the time to keep up with my weekly blogs. I hope that you learned a few things and enjoy the Christmas holiday as much as I plan too!

Future Day

On November 9, 2018November 26, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn augmented reality, blogging, classroom observations, edtech, gaming, image editing, multimedia learning theory, QR codes, social media, tech tools, virtual realityLeave a comment

Today in class we learned about (and got to play around) with Virtual Reality, Multimedia Learning Theory (sketch-noting), Augmented Reality, QR codes, and 3D Designs with Tinkercad. Here is a brief description of everything:

Virtual Reality: The University of Victoria has its own virtual reality gaming centre and today in class we were allowed ten minutes to play different games on it. Its extremely awesome and entertaining. I highly recommend trying it for yourself if the opportunity arises.

Multimedia Learning Theory: A cognitive theory based on the assumptions that there are auditory and visual channels for processing information that have limited channel capacity. For information to be incorporated into long term memory prior knowledge should be utilized. One way in which to activate Multimedia Learning Theory is through sketch-noting. Sketch-noting allows for a combination of words and quick images that allows the note-taker to listen, digest, and capture on paper the essence of what has been heard.

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Augmented Reality: We saw a brief tutorial on how a school incorporated augmented reality into a history lesson through ARIS. Another way that augmented reality has been used is through Pokemon Go!

QR codes: We briefly discussed QR codes with regard to augmented reality.

Here is a QR code that leads to my blog with any scanner application. Enjoy.

3D Designs with Tinkercad: We also briefly played around with Tinkercad creating our own 3D dice. We didn’t actually print our dice (although we could have if we wanted to pay around 80c for them). I found Tinkercad to be a bit confusing but I do like the idea of 3D printing.

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There you have it,

My Friday in a nutshell.

Inquiry Idea: K-5 + Technologies Learned in the Classroom

On October 26, 2018November 26, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn blogging, classroom observations, edtech, image editing, intellectual property, leadership, Learning design, multimedia, open pedagogy, social media, tech tools, video editingLeave a comment

Hello,

Unfortunately I have been putting this class on the back burner. But, not to worry I will be catching up this weekend! Get ready for at-least 2 new blogs this weekend.

Specifically, today in class we were asked to develop a k-5 appropriate inquiry using some of the technologies that we learned in class. The technology that I will be sharing with you is Google Photos, Screencastify, and Jing.

One important thing that I learned today when collecting photos from google is to go to “tools -> usage rights -> labeled for noncommercial reuse with modification. This now allows us to use photos that are copyright safe. (Something that I have never done in the past.. Yikes)

Screencastify is super cool as it is an extension from Google Chrome that allows us to record our screen activity. Jing is also a screencasting computer program but it allows us to take a photo of our screens and edit them (ie. creating arrows or descriptions).

For my Inquiry idea I will be creating a Grade 1 Guided & Controlled Science Inquiry based on foxes! This topic fits into the BC curriculum as some of the content that must be covered includes the names of animals, the structural features of animals in the local environment, and the behavioural adaptions of animals in the local environment.

To start off the class inquiry I will most likely present a fox gif. tumblr_p3lgz4Tz561uocsx1o1_500

Once this is shown to the class I will ask: “What do you see? What do you know? & What do you wonder?” The answers to these questions will be the basis for the inquiry.

If I wish to present more photos to the class I can select some noncommercial rights images from Google and edit them using Google Photos. The process is uploaded below.

Here is the edited photo

Here is the original photo

As you can see I lightened up the photo and cropped it.

Here is a photo of me using the application Jing. As you can see I am using Google Photos to edit this photo. I have added an error to the edit button so that I don’t forget how to use this application once I get home and add it to my own computer.

Tech Tool Review: FreshGrade

On October 5, 2018November 26, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn blogging, privacy, safety, social media, tech inquiry, tech tools, twitterLeave a comment

FreshGrade is an online portfolio and assessment platform that helps educators, parents, and students have deeper conversations about learning. One of the founders of FreshGrade is Lane Merrifield, the co-founder and CEO of Club Penguin, one of the largest virtual worlds for kids. Disney later acquired club Penguin for 350 million dollars, which provided the capital used to create FreshGrade.

FreshGrade was created to reduce teacher workload, improve learning outcomes, and engage parents and students. Specifically, it is used in schools as a digital portfolio; teachers provide feedback and track progression, parents are given ongoing communication about their children’s learning, and students are given the opportunity to self-reflect on their growth.

In my own opinion, I believe that Freshgrade is extremely valuable. As a student teacher I have learned that assessment is ongoing and FreshGrade is one way that holds us accountable to that. Although this app has downsides as described in the cons list below, I believe that it is an extremely useful tool to use.

Some common Twitter hashtags with regard to #FreshGrade have been #needbetterreporting #portfolio #parentalengagement #education #edtech #beyondtheteach #studentdrivenclassroom #innovation. Most posts show how the app is being integrated into the classroom, although right now there is a buzz about Lane Merrifield joining the cast of Dragons Den for season thirteen.

Pros of FreshGrade	Cons of FreshGrade
Helps teachers, parents, and students track learning.	Need an email.
FreshGrade is integrated with Google translate so that teachers, parents, and students can read and write in the language of their choosing.	Not all parents and children will have access to a computer or smart phone.
Online portfolios can be printed if needed. It is green, as less paper is being used.	Teachers need to have a device readily available to capture moments in the classroom. This can be a privacy concern, as teachers need to be using school electronics, not personal devices to capture moments.
Individual profiles are available for students, teachers, and parents.	Consent needs to be established before posting anything about a student. What happens when certain students can’t be photographed for safety concerns? How do these concerns affect their learning if everything is done on FreshGrade?
It is an ongoing assessment tool, which saves the teacher time.	Lacks some tools for creativity, like drawing tools.
It is an extra way to check in with parents. Parents no longer need to wait for report cards or parent teacher interviews to be informed about their child’s learning.	Some schools have a no cellphone policy.
Can lead to increased parent participation.	FreshGrade is an American app – some privacy concerns with it not being Canadian, as there is a difference in privacy laws.
Helps parents to better support their children in their learning. Further, it allows parents to see their child’s learning as it is happening.	One form of assessment does not fit all. Some parents, students, and teachers may be reluctant to use FreshGrade. Need a familiarity of technology.
Allows children to see what they are expected to learn, which improves student ownership and self-directed learning.	There is no clear notification for due dates of assignments. There are no notifications or alerts that can be set up to alert students of approaching or past due assignments.
Students receive immediate feedback.	In the free version, e-portfolios do not carry over from one year to the next.

There are many more pros and cons of FreshGrade but I am only uploading ten for this Tech Tool Review. If you would like more information please keep up with my weekly blogs and review my tech inquiry assignment at the end of the year.

Have a look at FreshGrade for yourself before then! https://www.freshgrade.com/

Here is a helpful tutorial if you need any help navigating the site https://youtu.be/UbHiGi7_Hi0

Michelle Shields

Category: tech tools

The be-all end-all of FreshGrade