School takes a leap into cyberspace with 'Frog'

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14: Warwick Academy has adopted a Facebook-style learning platform where students, parents and teachers can have a fun, online learning experience.

It is the first school in Bermuda to install Frog, an online system with minimal technical ability required.

The learning platform is an integrated set of interactive online services that provide information, tools and resources to support and enhance educational delivery and management.

Communication

Dave Horan, deputy head teacher, said the programme was implemented in January and students came online in September.

He called the response “overwhelming” and “amazing”.

“In the UK and around the world, virtual education environments have been moving at a pace.

“The biggest advantages are that they are incredible communication tools.

“We have class calendars that are instantly uploaded and changed.

“We have got noticeboards for students and parents and we put all our briefing on there.

“We communicate all homework to students through it with a breakdown of what’s expected.

“In addition to that we have created quick links for things that will be helpful to us, such as websites.

“It allows us to create department boards and we can populate it with documents.”

Mr Horan summed up the reasons for introducing Frog as “students can access information, to allow students to learn through the tools we can use in here, and to get people to collaborate”.

“You have got to work with many teachers who have a variety of skills. Convincing people of the value of students being able to access and use the system is part of it.”

Asked how the response has been so far, Mr Horan said: “Kids are so quick to adapt and learn. It’s like Facebook and there a social network built in it.

“Basically what happens is students can interact with other students within the class and it’s academic-related.”

The deputy head said the programme has been implemented throughout the secondary school and will be introduced to the primary school in January.

Mr Horan said Frog also allows students and parents to keep track of everything that goes on in the classroom. Parents will receive log-in information in January.

“They’ve got 24/7 access of information. With the way people are moving, especially with mobile devices, that’s the way people are moving and learning.”