Thursday 29 November 2018

Using Firefly in the Classroom


Technology in education or ‘Edtech’: A marmite issue. As a trainee and NQT I worked in a school where we were all given an iPad and encouraged to use apps in lessons to increase engagement. As much as I enjoyed getting a free iPad the experience left me cold. The drive for Edtech in schools can seem new, vibrant and exciting but it can also feel (dare I say it) like the Emperor’s New Clothes. Why? Like with any tool in education tech needs to do something better than the previous technology. After attending a conference last week on tech in education we considered whether new technology was doing something innovative or was just a ‘techy’ version of what has been done before. Take interactive whiteboards for example. In my practice they are a waste of money; there is nothing that I do with my IWB that I couldn’t do with a projector. Now, I concede that this is subject specific- I know Maths and Science teachers who swear by them. Yet for me as an English teacher, nothing compares to my visualiser. Why write semi illegible script using those horrible IWB pens on texts which I have had to cram onto PPT slides when I can just do this quickly and clearly on the same sheet of paper that my pupils are using. I’ve even heard people ask ‘but if you do that can use save what you have written?’ and my answer is ‘yes! I have a physical copy of it!’.

Back to the iPads… as engaging as these might be for pupils I remained unconvinced that in my English classroom that these iPads were enhancing or improving what could be done without them. Surely the purpose of technology is to make something easier or better. Often the iPads made things much more difficult and complicated; the opposite of what good edtech should do.

Therefore, when starting my new school, I initially inwardly raised an eyebrow when I saw that the use of ‘Firefly’ was being promoted and encouraged. If you haven’t heard of Firefly it is a Virtual Learning Environment which can be accessed by teachers, pupils and parents. Was this another iPad farce? It is safe to say that I am a complete convert. Very quickly it dawned on me how Firefly had the potential to enhance the learning experience and I wanted to share some of the features that I love from the perspective of a not particularly tech-savvy English teacher.

Homework:

Like many English teachers I have a problem with homework. I want homework to enrich and consolidate learning but I am painfully aware that due to the immense marking workload English generates, I don’t want to spend hours marking homework. Therefore, one of the biggest appeals of Firefly to me was the ability to set self-marking homework. I initially trialed this with my Y10 class and found that it worked. Firefly allows you to set multiple choice questions which will automatically mark and give a percentage. This data is then presented in a ‘Markbook’ which allows you to see the class results at a glance. You can also look back at individual responses and see any key misconceptions to inform your planning.

Setting up a homework task takes me roughly 10 minutes. Yet, next year these task will already be created and can be used again which significantly reduces workload. I shared this with my colleagues in my department and they bought into it. Split between everyone, you get a half term’s worth of homework for 10 minutes work. This is what Edtech should do- make life easier!

Below I have taken a screen shot which shows an example from our Y10 A Christmas Carol Homework Task and an example of what the markbook looks like:




Markbook:



Forums:

Another homework possibility is setting up a ‘forum’ where pupils can discuss an idea. In Y9 we have been studying To Kill a Mockingbird. As a homework task I have set various questions on the text as we have gone along. I have given pupils an outline of how they should respond (eg supporting their ideas with details from the text and responding or engaging with other pupil’s comments). This has proved really effective because it has created this sense of engagement and discussion with the text, particularly with quitter students who perhaps would not feel as comfortable contributing their ideas in a whole class discussion.

I have included an example of some of the comments below:




Revision Resources:

Firefly has the obvious benefit in English that you can set up a page with revision resources for your texts which, once created, can be easily updated year on year. The benefit of this is that all classes studying a text have access to the same resources and can access them on their phone or mobile devices.

I have included some examples of the Y8 revision resources I have created for my Merchant of Venice SOW.

The real advantage of this is that you can link to extra reading/ material that you can’t cover in class which can enrich pupils’ experiences of the text and stretch the most able.







Things I want to try:
There are so many possibilities with Firefly and as a novice (I’ve only been using this September) there are lots of things I still want to try including:
  •        Using the poll function for student voice/ evaluation on SOWs etc.
  •       Using the poll function to assess what topics pupils in a class want to revise most to adapt my revision sessions on the run up to exams.
  •        Using forums and the blog function to enhance DEAR time.


Do you use Firefly? What have you found useful? I would love to share some best practice.