Anyone doing their Learning Journals in electronic form not hard copy?

**mumx3** · 31-10-2009, 01:26 PM

Hi all

I have been doing my mindees learning journals in hard copy for the past few months.

I use post it notes and photographs and samples of work.
I do a brief obs, assess this against development matters and then add "Next steps". Ofsted were very happy with this, and I find it a managable thing to achieve and it is useful as it informs my planning.

The only main downsides are:

# I can type much faster than I can write so everything is slow and my arm aches!

#I find I am spending a fortune on ink and paper.

#It is time consuming in terms of cutting photos out and sticking everything into the folders.

#The time spent writing and assessing is minimal compare to the admin task of collating it all!

#sending journals back and forth and waiting for parents to remember to return them is frustrating and slows me down.

I want to do it all on my PC as copying and pasting pics will take second not minutes and I plan to share this with parents via email rather than in hard copy.

Now I wonder if anyone else does this and if it works well? What you would change and how parents respond to it?

Also are there any issues with regards data protection? I already use the childrens initials rather than whole names and could do this on my pc too.

Please advise.

**David Sheppard** · 31-10-2009, 02:46 PM

Hi,

If you have this information held on your computer you should register. It is actually really straight forward to do and currently costs £35.00 per annum. If you go to the ICO website http://www.ico.gov.uk/ you can choose a downloadable template for Nursery's.

There is a fairly comprehensive thread about the Data Protection issue being raised at the National Conference eslewhere in the forum.

However, if you read the other thread you will see that NCMA want to try to negotiate a better deal for childminders so you might want to hang on for the time being before registering.

Regards

David

**huggableshelly** · 31-10-2009, 04:06 PM

I do a mix as I too prefer to copy and paste but the children enjoy helping with their learning journals too, they do the cutting and sticking of photos and help me to add postits where needed.

I have one parent who enjoys taking the learning journal home, others look at them in my home, I too get frustrated when parents forget to return them so they are kept in my home ... after all its my work with their children and its important documentation to help me provide what their child needs. "my tool not theirs"

ALSO ... I bought some adress labels from staples, spent ages copy and pasting each EYFS goal onto them and printed out this is then saving me time writing out postits as I have them pre-printed.

REMEMBER to put your ink and paper through your books and your ICO fee too if you do decide to keep information on your pc/laptop.

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 31-10-2009, 04:27 PM

I type all my obs and insert the photo into the document and then print if off and put it in the childs file.

**Blaze** · 31-10-2009, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by DebbieS26

I type all my obs and insert the photo into the document and then print if off and put it in the childs file.

That's what I do...I also copy & paste the relevant EYFS bits from the downloadable practice guidance to save me time typing

**The Juggler** · 31-10-2009, 06:22 PM

I type and print off my written obs each month, print off a couple of a4 sheets of photos each month (which cover different learning areas) and then annotate/caption the photos.

I think it's nice to have a hard copy for the children and parents to look at.

I also type much faster than I write and my writing is appalling.

**singlewiththree** · 01-11-2009, 02:01 PM

I do online scrapbooks for my children so they idea has really appealed to me, the only problem I can see is I do stick a lot of the children's artwork in the folders too. I could still do the obs/photos electronically but would then have to cross reference with a physical scrapbook which had the work in.

**Madminder** · 01-11-2009, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by singlewiththree

I do online scrapbooks for my children so they idea has really appealed to me, the only problem I can see is I do stick a lot of the children's artwork in the folders too. I could still do the obs/photos electronically but would then have to cross reference with a physical scrapbook which had the work in.

How about scanning in the flat artwork and taking photos of the other? That way you could add them into the scrapbooks and give the originals to the parents or put them on the wall.

**francinejayne** · 09-12-2009, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by Madminder

How about scanning in the flat artwork and taking photos of the other? That way you could add them into the scrapbooks and give the originals to the parents or put them on the wall.

What a great idea! Thanks!

**Pauline** · 26-12-2009, 03:01 PM

If you do it all online you really need to think how you are going to be able to show it all to Ofsted at an inspection and how you can easily share it with parents, get their feedback and record that they have seen it.

**abijacgem** · 06-01-2010, 04:54 PM

Hi, this is my first thread

Was scanning through your post as I am coming to terms with all the paperwork involved with my fab new job. It seems as though you could quite easily go way over the top on the observations/assessment/planning side of things, which having my own kids and 3 full time minded I don't realistically have time to do. I was interested when you said .....
"I do a brief obs, assess this against development matters and then add "Next steps". Ofsted were very happy with this, and I find it a managable thing to achieve and it is useful as it informs my planning."

That sounds right up my street!!

I have done my first lot of assessments which took a while, but was great because I could see the differences in the children on paper. I am having a stupid mental block on the observations though

and how it all ties together. Do you have a copy of an electronic one you could send me for an example?

**mumx3** · 05-02-2010, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by abijacgem

Hi, this is my first thread

Was scanning through your post as I am coming to terms with all the paperwork involved with my fab new job. It seems as though you could quite easily go way over the top on the observations/assessment/planning side of things, which having my own kids and 3 full time minded I don't realistically have time to do. I was interested when you said .....
"I do a brief obs, assess this against development matters and then add "Next steps". Ofsted were very happy with this, and I find it a managable thing to achieve and it is useful as it informs my planning."

That sounds right up my street!!

I have done my first lot of assessments which took a while, but was great because I could see the differences in the children on paper. I am having a stupid mental block on the observations though

and how it all ties together. Do you have a copy of an electronic one you could send me for an example?

Hi just seen your reply. if you pm me your email I will see what I can do!

**charlie potato** · 26-11-2010, 02:55 PM

I'm due to have my first mindee under EYFS (my other mindees are 8 and over) from next weds.

Just reading through this thread and i realised that to type the EYFS bits on the computer would save so much time. I feel a bit swamped at the moment but i'll soon get into the swing of it. xx