Other pages:

STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION – Strategic implementation to ensure success

GROUPS – Family Partnerships – Using Showbie ‘Groups’ to support Family Partnerships

GROUPS – Digital Floor Book – Using Showbie ‘Groups’ to support use of Floor books

CLASSES – Learning Journeys – Using Showbie ‘Classes’ as a digital learning journey

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS– step by step solutions 

Back to Showbie page

Showbie

– Classes to Create Digital Learning Journals

 

What is it?

“Reporting and communicating with parents helps them to understand and be able to discuss their child’s progress and share in their learning.   It is important therefore to identify and develop effective methods of reporting and communicating with parents and the wider parent forum in all ELC settings and schools,”

(Engaging parents and families, Education Scotland, 2019, p. 3)

“Staff recognise the importance of engaging families in understanding how to support learning in the child’s home environment.  Families are active participants in identifying and agreeing intended outcomes for their children and staff support them to achieve this.”

(Quality Framework for Daycare of children, childminding and school-aged children, Care Inspectorate, 2022, p. 27)

 “Conversations around observations of play need to feature regularly in team meetings and during professional training or collegiate moderation opportunities. Photographs taken or short videos of the children playing within the setting can be used to support these conversations. These also provide meaningful documentation opportunities for the children to revisit their experiences.”

(Realising the Ambition, 2020, Education Scotland, p. 50)

Benefits of using Showbie for Learning Journals

(Benefits using Showbie as a platform for digital learning journals- Inspire Showbie Training, May 2022)

Documenting learning on a digital platform can be significantly faster and more efficient than paper methods.

Paper learning journals often involve printing photographs which takes the practitioner away from their quality interactions with children. Using Showbie allows the documenting of learning to happen in the moment, when the learning experience is most meaningful to the child.

The use of Showbie on an iPad, means journals are portable and documenting learning can take place in real time and be completed with the child both indoors and outdoors (internet connectivity dependant).

Documenting learning digitally with Showbie ensures inclusivity to all practitioners, as posts are editable and can be supported using an automatic spell checker.

Practitioners also have opportunities for peer observation, learning from reading content of other’s observations which are easily accessible on Showbie.

Showbie supports the documentation of learning using a variety of media, including photo, video, audio and the ability to scan the children’s creations and mark making.

Showbie enables posts to be shared with multiple children. If a group of children have been learning together, a joint post could be written and then individual comments and reflections can then be recorded individually.

Parents can be invited to link to their child’s digital learning journal and view their individual learning journal in real time, enabling them to engage in meaningful and relevant learning conversations with their child.

Key Messages
  • Evaluation of a setting’s use of Showbie should be ongoing as to whether it effectively supports Early Years Pedagogy and Practice, and is in line with National Guidance.
  • Features of a quality Learning Journal should remain the same as expected for paper versions. See Learning Journal page for further key messages. 
  • Consider the organisation of the digital learning journal carefully and follow the organisation of your paper journal where possible. See set up guidance below for further details. 
  • Features of a quality observation on a digital learning journal remain the same as expected in a paper learning journal. Careful moderation is essential to retain high quality observations recording key learning outcomes and next steps.  See Observations page for more information regarding content.
  • Digital learning journals should be regularly moderated for quality by team leaders and senior leadership. Invite senior leaders to join your setting’s class as a teacher so they can easily access digital learning journals. 
  • When posting to multiple children, ensure personalisation and relevant learning is documented specific to each learner.

“In ELC and early primary settings, sharing children’s learning through blogs, e-portfolios and email are common place and can be very helpful for parents to see what their child can do in a real time experience. The caveat to this is that programmes which support this can at times, be too restrictive, in not allowing the unexpected or special moments that children experience to be recorded. We therefore also need to ensure that this special information is communicated swiftly through giving the child control of how to communicate his/her achievement. It may be simply a drawing or a painting but to have the original given to the parent or a quiet word with the parent to tell of the special moment when they come to collect their child can be more precious than a photograph. Both systems have their place and are necessary.”

(Realising the Ambition, 2020, Education Scotland, Section 6.5 – Digital Technology and the Young Child, p79)

Ways we can do this
  • Photos and videos can be uploaded very quickly, with practitioners recording observations in the comments section and/or use voice notes to record reflections on learning with the children.
  • Practitioners can refer to assignments as digital learning spaces, in which practitioners and children can document learning experiences and outcomes. This may make it easier for all Showbie users to understand your use of Showbie to support Early Level Learning and Pedagogy.
  • Parents are not able to contribute to their child’s digital learning journal in Showbie Classes. It is a one-way communication platform.  However, if practitioners share the student login details/QR code with parents, they could add achievements and interests from home. 
  • Links to educational videos or games following child’s interests or as part of next steps for learning can be shared with parents on Showbie. This will build parental confidence in recognising how to support their child’s learning at home.   
  • The features of a quality observation could be displayed or shared electronically to ensure all practitioners are clear about what should be included and a consistent approach is used across a team.
  • Showbie provides practitioners will the ability to write in the comment section and make use of the spell check facility. Colleagues can collaborate by proofreading/editing to ensure quality in the content of observations. 
  • Trackers and developmental overviews can be easily linked to each individual child’s learning journals, readily accessible to all practitioners.  If using trackers and developmental overviews, practitioners are able to protect documents from being viewed and edited by students using the assignment setting ‘Hidden’ which allows teachers to access the contents but parents and students cannot.

             

Click ‘edit student access’ to view the menu of options.  Select the most appropriate for your setting.  

  • Trackers and overviews can be updated and annotated within Showbie and exported to be stored electronically or printed to be used as part of transition.
  • Showbie can also be used as a digital floor book, with children contributing their ideas and reflections in collaborative planning or recording learning experiences. This can be completed directly in the app, using comments/audio/video recording or through the use of an application such as Book Creator and sharing to learning journals in Showbie.  For more information, see ‘Showbie- Using Groups as a Digital Floor book’.
  • Settings might consider having a designated assignment entitled ‘News from Home’, where contributions from parents are encouraged.

Linked Areas of Practice

Apple Teacher

Inspire Learning

Showbie

iPad bite-size demo videos

 

Tools  

Further Reading to support

Training to support

 

  • Student QR codes can be printed and laminated to go home for parents to login as their child and add photos or information about recent achievements or interests.  Practitioners can then share these with the child in setting and either plan to extend interests through provision in the environment or through experiences. 
  • Links or ideas of how learning can be continued at home can be posted in individual child’s digital learning journals on Showbie or shared with parents using a specific assignment entitled ‘Useful links’.

Showbie Groups and Classes:

This video has been produced by Showbie and will guide you through the steps to create a class.  Teacher Basics 4. – Creating Classes – YouTube

 
How shall I organise my digital journals?

The organisation of your digital learning journals should reflect the current practice in your paper journals.  If you organise by curricular area then make use of the folder facility to create curricular folders with learning spaces for each term within individual assignments.  If your learning journals are holistic and organised chronologically, then create assignments for each term.  Guidance for each method can be found below.

 

Holistic approach – digital learning journals organised by term.

  1. Create a class and give it a title, e.g. ELC 2022-23. Identifying the session date and class name can help other members of staff identify the class, e.g. senior leaders who might belong to many classes or parents with multiple children in the school.  Click to grant parental access.  Once the class is created, further class settings can be accessed.  Notification settings should be reviewed, to adjust your preferences to receive notifications via email or in app.

2. Click the spanner to add an assignment and entitle it with the term name and emoji. Set the term with no due date or select the final day of that term.

3. Adding students can be done manually by clicking the ‘Get Started’ option; ‘I’m a student’; enter class code; ‘Sign up with Username’; enter details and create your own username and password. Or ‘Get Started’; ‘I’m a student’; enter Class Code; select ‘sign in with Microsoft’ to use a child’s GLOW credentials.  

Keep a record of each username and password and use a systematic approach, e.g. Ben Thompson: username = BenT and Password = EastKyloeNursery. 

4. Class code can be found by clicking the class spanner and clicking settings.

5. Support can also be sought from Showbie who will create student accounts if you send them a spreadsheet of names of students to be added.

 

Curricular area – digital learning journals organised by subject.

  1. Create a class and give it a title, e.g. ELC 2023-24. Identifying the session date and class name can help other members of staff identify the class, e.g. senior leaders who might belong to many classes or parents with multiple children in the school.  Recording the year is also useful to reflect back when classes are achieved. Click to grant parental access. 
  2. Once the class is created, further class settings can be accessed. Notification settings allow you to adjust your preferences to receive notifications via email or in app.
  3. Adding students can be done by sending a class list of children’s names to Showbie support. Or it can be done manually by clicking ‘sign up for free’, ‘I’m a student’ and inputting your class code.  You will then be prompted to enter a username and password.  Keep a record of each child’s username and password and use a systematic approach, e.g. Ben Thompson: username = BenT and Password = BenT1. 
  4. Create assignments by clicking the spanner and personalise them by curricular name and colour. You could emoji’s to ensure accessibility for the children.  

6. By clicking the assignment, you will then see the list of students connected to the class.

7. Tap the child’s name and then tap the blue + to add photographs/video/scanned evidence of learning. Further annotation tools are also available when uploading documents.  Please see Showbie- Making Learning Visible for more information on the effective use of these with children.

8. Comments can be added by tapping the ‘write a comment’ section.

9. Shared photographs and comments can be added by tapping the ‘shared items’ tab at the top but as this is an individual child’s learning journal, always consider whether shared items are appropriate and significant for all children. Group photographs could be added this way, to be then followed up with an individual observation for the child entered by tapping their name.

10. Most recent entries can be viewed at the top of the feed.