For our EdTech Group Inquiry, our group decided to look at how FreshGrade could be used inside and outside the classroom, as a beneficial tool for students, parents, and teachers. We started by looking at what exactly FreshGrade was and how it could be used, we learned that FreshGrade was an online system that was designed to keep teachers, students, and parents connected. FreshGrade allows for teachers to design their lessons and schedules, give assessment and feedback on students’ work, and keep parents up to date with what their children are learning in the classroom. We learned that FreshGrade can also be beneficial for administration as principles can now use FreshGrade to create a community within their school, where others work can be showcased and everyone can engage. There were a ton of benefits to using FreshGrade such as the planning and organizing features, communication with parents and students, and the assessment features, but there were also some cons to using FreshGrade. FreshGrade does not support drawing, narration, or speech to text tools and it can become another task for teachers to keep up with, resulting with many not wanting to put in the effort. As we were researching for this inquiry we learned a lot about how FreshGrade can be beneficial for parents, and even had the opportunity to speak with a parent from school district 61 regarding what they thought about the program. In our interview, we learned that getting the most out of the program all depended on how the teacher was using FreshGrade in the classroom. Our interviewee said that he loved that his children were excited to show what they had learned at school that day and that this always sparked conversation about their day, and what they did in the classroom. He did mention that what you get out of FreshGrade all depends on what the teacher is posting, many teachers barely use it while others keep you updated with constant pictures and descriptions about everyday activities. He also explained that much of what his children’s teachers posted was not child specific, and did not include any form of assessment. We also learned about some of the cons that other parents experienced such as not having access to technology in order to view the site or that many parents are not comfortable having photos or videos of their children being posted for others to see. As we continued to research, we all realized that FreshGrade is an amazing program that would be very beneficial for future educators to get familiar with, especially here in BC as many of our school districts are using FreshGrade everyday in the classroom. FreshGrade offers many professional development day programs online to help educators learn how to get the most out of the program and can show how other teachers are using it within their classroom. We highly recommend that teacher’s check out our link below to look into signing up for their free class to learn how to get started with FreshGrade. We are very happy that we choose to research this amazing online program as it will be very applicable to our future careers and look forward to learning more about it in the future. 

Link: https://learning.freshgrade.com/p/getting-started-with-freshgrade-1

FreshGrade provides opportunities for student learning, parent engagement and formative assessment. A few examples given by FreshGrade that we thought were useful are the following:

1. Empowering Students:

FreshGrade portfolio allows students to take ownership of their work, as they are able to choose the information to post and reflect on their learning.

2. Provide Feedback:

After learning is captured, teachers can provide personalized feedback.

3. Track Student Progress:

FreshGrade allows teachers to look at student and class progress. This can be done through the class dashboard and also has a feature to alert parents if help is needed at home.

4. Assessment:

Teachers can use FreshGrade with regards to reporting and grading their students and potentially save time and reduce their workload. Teachers can select their desired assessment tool (mastery, score, custom, etc.) and assess each activity for each student and share with them. FreshGrade also provides an opportunity for students and parents to receive assessment consistently (not just three specific times a year), which should ultimately help students’ growth.

5. Learning Slideshow:

A learning slideshow is a way to show students’ learning and growth throughout the year. 

6. Personal Portfolio:

As education seems to be shifting towards using portfolios in the future, FreshGrade provides an opportunity for students to start building their own portfolio and allow the teacher and student to reflect on their personal growth and progress. 

7. Record Field Trips:

Teachers can use recorded field-trips to provide an opportunity to continue learning after the field-trip is over. 

8. Reduce Waste in the Classroom:

The environment is an important topic that students should be encouraged to think about. The amount of paper waste will be significantly less by using FreshGrade. 

Like we have discussed, FreshGrade is an amazing tool that allows teachers to upload and share their students work and progress with parents daily. By documenting their students everyday activities it can help make processes such as  assessment simpler and more accurate. FreshGrade comes fully equipped with all of these features and it is important as an educator choosing to use FreshGrade, that you know how to get the best bang for your buck. FreshGrade offers many different professional development courses that educate teachers and faculty on how to get the most out of using FreshGrade.

The first course that teachers could sign up in for free is Getting Started with FreshGrade which outlines the fundamentals on how to use FreshGrade on your own time. It includes a step by step process as well as practical examples on how to use FreshGrade in your classroom.

Another available course is I’m Proud of me! Mental Health and Self-Esteem through Digital Portfolios which discusses how through the use of FreshGrade, and giving constant and positive feedback to students can benefit children who are having mental health or self-esteem issues.

FreshGrade offers courses on Developing a Growth Mindset through Digital Portfolios  which discusses strategies on how to use FreshGrade to shift students from a fixed to a growth mindset.  It is stated that through regular communication with students and by promoting self-reflection in digital portfolios it can encourage a growth mindset.

There is an assessment course called Assessment Strategies That Promote Learning Instead of Labelling that enables teachers to see into how using student observations, conversations, and products can give great insight into their students learning.

Lastly, FreshGrade offers a course on Increasing Student Metacognition Through Self Reflections  which discusses how reflection drives forward student learning and how it can lead them to take ownership of their learning.

We as educators are always looking for new and efficient ways to interact and communicate with our students and parents. The use of technology in the classroom has made this so much easier and FreshGrade is an amazing tool that many districts in British Columbia are starting to use. FreshGrade allows teachers to plan lessons easily and efficiently, it also keeps all of your lesson plans organized in one easy to view area. The program lets teachers attach assignments and media that their students can easily access whether in the classroom or at home. Each student can also make their own digital profile, that allows for teachers to view all student work in one place. It also lets the teachers leave their students comments and feedback on all assignments. Students can also write and discuss their learning in their own learning journals, letting teachers see where students may be struggling or what they liked about an assignment. Another feature that teachers love about FreshGrade is that it allows for them to enter all grades into the gradebook feature, making assessment simple and organized. By having all students assessment and comments available on the site, teachers can communicate with parents more efficiently about their students progress. 

Although FreshGrade has many positive features, after some research we have found a few cons that users should take into consideration. The program does not support drawing tools, allow voice narration, or text to speech tools. The program can also be very time consuming for teachers as it adds another task for them to be completely and updating everyday. For parents who may not feel comfortable with having their students information on the internet, teachers may find it difficult to be sending feedback both on FreshGrade as well as in other forms for those students who are not on the site. All in all, FreshGrade has more pros than cons and we believe that this is a program that we as future teachers would be interested in using with our own future students.  

FreshGrade is an amazing tool that educators can use to make lessons, assess and keep track of each students progress and learning in the class. For parents there are many benefits that come from the use of FreshGrade such as receiving daily uploads of information from the teacher such as photos, videos, audio, and notes. For parents it allows them to feel as though they are truly involved in their child’s learning process by being able to visually see what the class is doing each day and the content being taught. They also attain the ability to comment on their child’s work, which allows parents to give positive feedback on something their child is doing really well in, or equally if  they were struggling with something parents will know what the class was working on and be able to give their child the support that they need in order to succeed.

Parents do not have to wait for parent teacher meetings throughout the school year to learn how their child is doing in the class, with FreshGrade parents are sent frequent updates from the classroom teacher discussing their child’s learning and achievements and can understand how their child is doing in each unit or subject.  FreshGrade also has an app which makes it more accessible for parents to receive information regarding their child’s learning while at work or on the go.

A downside to FreshGrade is that if the parents are not confident in their technological abilities they might not know how to correctly navigate FreshGrade or use it in the best way to benefit their child. As an app,  some parents have had issues with it crashing and not showing pictures of videos in the best quality so it is not always reliable. Some parents might also have different opinions on the use of pictures and videos of their child online. Even though FreshGrade has a strong privacy policy it is completely understandable if a parent does not feel comfortable with their child’s learning information shown online.

For our group Ed Tech inquiry we have decided to look at FreshGrade. FreshGrade is an online system that allows for teachers, students and parents to stay connected with what is going in the classroom. The site gives you the tools as a teacher to design lessons, schedule assignments and projects, as well as, grade students work and give feedback on assignments. The site also allows for parents to stay up to date with what the class is learning and look at how their children are doing in the classroom. School District 61 Greater Victoria has been using FreshGrade for a couple years now, and the response from parents, teachers, and student has been very positive. On the SD61 website you can find all kind of resources and articles explaining FreshGrade and how effective it can be for the classroom. For this inquiry we will be looking at the Pros and Cons for teachers, students, and parents as well as contacting SD 61 teachers and asking them about their thoughts on the program. We will also be talking to a parent whose children attends a SD 61 school and getting their opinion on the program. We found this topic to be very applicable for us, as some of us may find jobs in the SD61 district and will have to use the site in our own classroom.

By: Laura Anthony, Angie Cauthers, Clara Kucher

Here is a link to the SD 61 websites resource page on FreshGrade:

• https://learn.sd61.bc.ca/freshgrade-for-parents/