on line learning journals

[lou lou]

my question is does any one on here use on line learning journals I have seen there are several sites doing this now and I have been looking and thinking it sounds a really good idea and seems a lot easier and wanted to know what other childminders reviews are on this and which ones are good I have had a look at mega minder which is free and other ones that cost about £60 to join and just unsure what to do really does it make life easier ? thanks

[lollipop kid]

my question is does any one on here use on line learning journals I have seen there are several sites doing this now and I have been looking and thinking it sounds a really good idea and seems a lot easier and wanted to know what other childminders reviews are on this and which ones are good I have had a look at mega minder which is free and other ones that cost about £60 to join and just unsure what to do really does it make life easier ? thanks

I'm a big fan of Tapestry, which I have to say is making my life loads easier.

I moved across to it after doing a paper-based system that worked fine for me for the first 5 years or so. This was until I had an unannounced inspection (apologies that I've mentioned this in a few of my recent replies, but I'm just trying to bring something helpful to others out of what was a rubbish experience for me at the time). I was between my typed reports due to a crashed computer, so was only able to show her my handwritten notes in each of the children's home contact books, which I use to share wow moments/achievements with parents day by day, and which I used to reference every 3 months, when I wrote up the reports proper.

The inspector said she couldn't follow my handwritten notes (I hadn't highlighted the relevant bits - but I didn't actually need to as it was only me using it as reference, and I actually read the wow moments to parents each day anyway at pick-up time!!). She marked me down for not being able to show evidence of "regular and precise assessment and planning" - which is one of the descriptors under "Good" on the Ofsted inspection framework.

I showed her a completed Two Year Progress check for one of my children, and explained where I was with my handwritten notes for the other children as well as the abundance of photographs that I do on the children every day by way of observations & planning, plus any observation notes on my mobile, but she marked me down to "Satisfactory" anyway. This was despite my previous inspector a few months before looking at the same systems, and being fine with how I worked. She gave me my "Good".) :panic:

I've since trawled through everything on the EYFS about exactly what is the minimum amount of paperwork we need to do, put an appeal in, got nowhere etc. etc.

Anyway, in a bid to never feel so exposed again, I promptly moved across to Tapestry and, although I do still use handwritten notes, I don't need to rely on them - I use them as before in the children's home contact books so the parents have the stuff told to them at sometime, and also on Tapestry (which I might upload a bit later). (Yes, doubling up perhaps, but 5 years is a hard habit to break! :D)

I know that I am always up to date with Tapestry - it's also really easy to load photos into for the observations.

I also find Tapestry easy to work your way through (it's intuitive), even for someone who usually hates trying anything new.:thumbsup:

There are other reviews on it in the Forum, so have a look and see what others think. It's not that expensive to join, either - around £40 roughly for the year? I've just done my first Two Year Progress Check using it, and it took me 90 minutes only, whereas before I would spend the best part of a whole weekend on just doing one!

[hectors house]

Tapestry fan here too - been using it since May and yes it costs £40 a year but saves me that in ink and paper plus the photos are displayed on the screen are a really good size for parents to see (on their work computers, home computers, i-pads or phones). As lollipop kid says 2 year checks are now really easy - I used to spend about 20 hours on each one of mine, but now it takes about 2 or 3 (max) and that's only because I get stuck with the wording so parents don't take offence. My Ofsted inspector hadn't seen it before but loved it when I quickly showed how easy it is to link a photo (or video clip) to the observation, link in the relevant EYFS statements, you can also include COEL, Leuven scales and ECAT form. It takes seconds to create a summative assessment. Had my college assessor here yesterday (I'm doing a supporting children with communication course) I could show her all observations on a child with speech pronunciation problems, including videos so she could see how I had reached certain conclusions - she loved it too.

You can ask for a free trial if you want to see it for yourself - I was lucky enough to see it demonstrated at a Nursery cluster meeting by a Nursery Manager, she then came and did demo for childminders. 4 Nurseries are now using it and at least 12 childminders in our town, maybe worth asking on the Tapestry forum if anyone near you is using it.

[lollipop kid]

Tapestry fan here too - been using it since May and yes it costs £40 a year but saves me that in ink and paper plus the photos are displayed on the screen are a really good size for parents to see (on their work computers, home computers, i-pads or phones). As lollipop kid says 2 year checks are now really easy - I used to spend about 20 hours on each one of mine, but now it takes about 2 or 3 (max) and that's only because I get stuck with the wording so parents don't take offence. My Ofsted inspector hadn't seen it before but loved it when I quickly showed how easy it is to link a photo (or video clip) to the observation, link in the relevant EYFS statements, you can also include COEL, Leuven scales and ECAT form. It takes seconds to create a summative assessment. Had my college assessor here yesterday (I'm doing a supporting children with communication course) I could show her all observations on a child with speech pronunciation problems, including videos so she could see how I had reached certain conclusions - she loved it too.

You can ask for a free trial if you want to see it for yourself - I was lucky enough to see it demonstrated at a Nursery cluster meeting by a Nursery Manager, she then came and did demo for childminders. 4 Nurseries are now using it and at least 12 childminders in our town, maybe worth asking on the Tapestry forum if anyone near you is using it.

Love your post - just wondering, what do you mean by COEL, Leuven scales and ECAT form? :blush:

(I haven't gone onto the Tapestry Forum yet - I'm guessing the answers are on there - but just wanted to ask!)

L

[mama2three]

CoeL are the characteristics of learning which are integral to the eyfs
leaven scales are I believe to show how engaged a child is at any time / activity
ECAT - every child a talker - a great tool for evaluating childrens speech and communication.

None are exclusive to tapestry , but its a real bonus that they are all available within the one programme.

I use Orbit and have found that for the first time I can keep on top of my paperwork. parents can access it immediately and love it . My ofsted inpector was also impressed. Its free and easy to use . I still do a paper file for 2 yr checks , LA tracker , ecat forms and the like.

[lollipop kid]

CoeL are the characteristics of learning which are integral to the eyfs
leaven scales are I believe to show how engaged a child is at any time / activity
ECAT - every child a talker - a great tool for evaluating childrens speech and communication.

None are exclusive to tapestry , but its a real bonus that they are all available within the one programme.

I use Orbit and have found that for the first time I can keep on top of my paperwork. parents can access it immediately and love it . My ofsted inpector was also impressed. Its free and easy to use . I still do a paper file for 2 yr checks , LA tracker , ecat forms and the like.

Thanks for the info. Makes loads of sense now.

I'm really encouraged that both you and Hector's House said that the Ofsted Inspectors you had liked these systems - I also couldn't help noticing your grades! (Well done to both of you.) I'd be happy with a Good at my next inspection - so here's hoping! :blush:

L

[hectors house]

Didn't think original message had been submitted, so submitted it again - now deleted!

[AliceK]

Another Tapestry fan here. I only just moved to it but already love it. I am using it as a LJ and also a daily diary so am on it every day. I have never had more up to date learning journals than I have now. It really is so easy to use. I upload everything as I go each day using my mobile and then just check and submit it all on the PC once all the children have gone home. The parents love it and some have even started replying to my daily obs on there, in the past no one ever wrote in the diaries or the paper learning journeys.
Def worth a look, for what it is it is a fab price :thumbsup:

Xxx

[lisbet]

Sorry to hear about your experience, lollipop kid - blooming all-pervading, inconsistent inspection regime :mad:

I'm also interested to hear about others experiences with Tapestry. I am happy with my paper all-in-one daily diaries/ learning journals, but I HATE doing the summative assessments and am very tempted by something that makes that more easy...

[hectors house]

Sorry to hear about your experience, lollipop kid - blooming all-pervading, inconsistent inspection regime :mad:

I'm also interested to hear about others experiences with Tapestry. I am happy with my paper all-in-one daily diaries/ learning journals, but I HATE doing the summative assessments and am very tempted by something that makes that more easy...

I just add the EYFS statements for relevant ages, add whether emerging, developing or secure in each area, go to snapshots and it instantly creates a summative assessment.

I did one last week and it said a child was secure in 30-50 months for maths but I didn't feel that he was - when I checked which observations had contributed to this judgement I could see that I had "ticked" a couple of statements from 40-60 months and this had changed the average gradings - I could overide the grade though and change it back to 30-50 developing as there were still lots of statements that hadn't been reached.

[Lal]

I use Orbit and have found that for the first time I can keep on top of my paperwork. parents can access it immediately and love it . My ofsted inpector was also impressed. Its free and easy to use . I still do a paper file for 2 yr checks , LA tracker , ecat forms and the like.


I've been using orbit, but it doesn't download the information when I ask it to. Is it behaving for you mama2three?

[joannetalbot]

I've been using orbit, but it doesn't download the information when I ask it to. Is it behaving for you mama2three?

It hasn't been behaving for me for a long time :angry: parents postcards have been lost and any support i've needed from the team who run the group has been virtually non existent; it took them 3 weeks to reply to an email.

it started to make me feel v nervous tbh so ive decided to make the move over to tapestry with Hectors House's help and support. :littleangel:

im v impressed so far; alot to get your head around but in the long run it'll make my life alot easier:thumbsup:

it did feel that orbit had gone too quiet with the forums almost dead most of the time so i do wonder how much longer it'll keep going for. just my view of course but i've just got a bad feeling about it tbh :blush:


jo xxx

[NinkyNonk]

I've been looking at this also, as I'm tempted to move online. Just a couple of questions though....

there are so many different companies you can use - what are peoples preferences between something online or a database? I understand if it's a database you're not relying on the internet, but equally if it's on the internet parents can have a log in etc?

Also, if moved over to online - would you backdate everything and copy over what you have on paper or keep the paper LJ and start afresh from a certain date online? I only work term time so could potentially start after a school holiday.

[mama2three]

I've been using orbit, but it doesn't download the information when I ask it to. Is it behaving for you mama2three?

Its been fine , whats the problem?

[lollipop kid]

I've been looking at this also, as I'm tempted to move online. Just a couple of questions though....

there are so many different companies you can use - what are peoples preferences between something online or a database? I understand if it's a database you're not relying on the internet, but equally if it's on the internet parents can have a log in etc?

Also, if moved over to online - would you backdate everything and copy over what you have on paper or keep the paper LJ and start afresh from a certain date online? I only work term time so could potentially start after a school holiday.

Hi, for some of my children, I did exactly the same as you - that is, move over to Tapestry for children whose LJs until my changeover had been paper-only. I backdated to the start of the year for two children, and started afresh straight onto Tapestry for my new joiner. (I got the new parent to fill in the stuff that goes into "All About Me" for example re. his starting points, which helped me immensely and meant that she was on board with Tapestry from the start - I can always rely on her to add in home observations, for example!)

It's entirely down to personal choice. One benefit for me is that I wanted to capture as much info as possible on Tapestry so that I could use their format reports for my periodic reviews and move away completely from paper-based.

The helpline is brilliant on Tapestry. You just email them your query and they are extremely fast at coming back to you.:thumbsup:

I'm sure others will tell you more.

All the best,

L

[NinkyNonk]

Thanks, that's a great help. I only started childminding in September last year so haven't got masses of paperwork but I find it all painful and would prefer something online. I have a new starter after the easter hols so I'm wondering whether to move over ready for them.

[Lal]

Its been fine , whats the problem?

I have observations (with and without photos), assessments and album photos for each child. All my parents are signed up, but if I ask fir a learning journey to be created all I get is a cover followed by a blank page. I've tried changing the dates, including albums and postcards, not including them..... but it make no difference.

[mama2three]

I have observations (with and without photos), assessments and album photos for each child. All my parents are signed up, but if I ask fir a learning journey to be created all I get is a cover followed by a blank page. I've tried changing the dates, including albums and postcards, not including them..... but it make no difference.

Sorry Ive no idea, I would email them , though from other replies on here may take a while for them to respond!