DayMap - Case Study
How Dromana Secondary College is Connecting the
School Community
School Profile
Dromana Secondary College is located in a rural
setting on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, with nearly 1000
students. The college embraces a strong sense of community to
encourage a united approach to the development of young,
knowledgeable, skilled citizens with a strong sense of
self-values and beliefs. Teachers and students are characterised
by small groups working together within a sub school environment
and the college seeks to forge strong and vibrant partnerships
with parents.
Dromana are proud of what they have achieved and
warmly invite interested parties to visit the college, talk to
staff and students and observe the college in operation first
hand.
Business Scenario
At Dromana Secondary College there is a
strong commitment to the expansion of learning opportunities and
horizons through information technology, with a belief that
computers in the classroom leads to positive changes in teaching
practices that can enhance student learning.
When the Victorian
state government announced it was running a stage 2 electronic
class registration trial, Dromana saw this as an ideal opportunity to
build on this commitment.
Dromana were looking for a solution
that was easy-to-use, had powerful reporting, did not require
further investment in additional computers and infrastructure
and integrated well with their existing systems. DayMap was
chosen from a number of other products because it met all these
requirements.
DayMap was implemented across the school,
initially focussing on class registration which provided an
opportunity for teachers to familiarise themselves with DayMap
and become more comfortable with using their laptops in the
classroom.
Business Solution
DayMap has a range of other
features, such as teachers journal, class plans, assessment,
student notes etc that were at the teachers fingertips every
time they marked a class. These features, although readily
available, were not mandated by the college at the time when
electronic class registration was. However, within a very short period
of time teachers started using these features for their own
benefits and found it easier and more efficient than the
traditional paper based systems.
With DayMap’s ease of use,
encouraging and mandating the use of these extra features was
not difficult as the class registration module was in place, working
well and had a high user acceptance. As Ray Owens puts it, “As
the person responsible for training staff on the use of DayMap I
was surprised at the enthusiasm and the relative ease at which
staff took to using DayMap”.
Once all
teachers started using the system, the value flowed through to
the students, who then had the ability to pick up class notes,
homework and assignment details from class, home or the library.
If they missed a class or a day of school they could still get
access to everything. DayMap is designed to deliver personalised
information to the user, so there is no need for students to search for the information – it is simply delivered to them. Along with this, students are able to submit their work electronically to their teacher, and receive assessment and feedback likewise.
Parents are also able to take advantage of the readily available information, and we have found that they are one of the main forces driving the quality of information in
DayMap. “DayMap allows me to make notes on what I’m doing in classes, so students and parents can reference them”
says Anne Sim, classroom teacher “It really has increased the potential for parents to be involved in their child’s education as they can check daily class notes as well as lists of assessment marks and overdue work by
logging-in, and many parents take advantage of this option.”
Distributing daily bulletins has become seamless and effortless using
DayMap – notices are electronically posted to every users opening
DayMap page and if the bulletin is marked as high priority the headline will scroll across the top of each users screen. Other information delivery, including email, are also incorporated into
DayMap. Outlook integration allows emails, tasks and appointments to be organised with the same ease and within the same screen as the rest of the user’s daily activities.
Benefits
A common theme that emerges from talking to the users of
DayMap is ‘time saving’. As Anne Sim points out, “..using
DayMap has had several advantages for me. Foremost is the fact that it saves me time. It is a central point for a great deal of information that formerly I had to go to the office or seek individuals to find out…”.
And Ray Owens, “Daymap has been a fantastic tool that has helped me become better organised and more efficient with the use of my time.”
Teacher’s time is valuable and the more time they can spend with students, using the skills that brought them into the profession in the first place, the more they feel valued, empowered and respected.
Every user that logs into DayMap receives a personalised view, allowing them to instantly visualise and plan their day at a glance. Teachers open up to see their timetable for the day, including classes, appointments and non-class activities/notes. One click and they have student lists, class notes, assignment details. One click and they have marked a
class. Everything is easy to find and use, it is a very intuitive interface.
Students enjoy the same experience, and the information is combined from all teachers entering details into
DayMap. Students can collect and submit assignments and homework, receive results and personalised comments and can check their own attendance records. Over the years they can build up a readily accessible record and track their progress.
For the school the cost of managing and delivering bulletins, class material and assignments, time allocated to absence management and reporting, even the cost of the chronicle are either eliminated or significantly reduced.
One of the most unexpected benefits that has evolved from the use of
DayMap at Dromana is the increase in parent involvement in their child’s education. Parents have become more aware of their child’s day to day workload as they check due dates for assignments and nightly homework, and because they have access to the class notes there is a lot more transparency in the teaching process. As Peta McGinley, Sub School Leader says “I feel the parents can take more responsibility for the child’s schooling as most of the information is there. They can even see the timetable and get the PE uniform ready.”
DayMap provides tools to build a readily accessible picture of students, including collaborated observed behaviour. A school leader or teacher can speak to any parent at any time and have teacher’s comments available. Glen Farrow, Assistant Principle notes “With teachers using
DayMap effectively important comments about students and their progress is readily available when interviewing the student and their parent/s.”
The collaborated view provides the school with a more complete picture of the students and allows teachers to formulate an individualised approach to teaching difficult students.
The Future
Dromana have always worked closely with the
DayMap development team, and further enhancements are being made to
DayMap as the needs arise. Now that more schools are using
DayMap their ideas are being incorporated and shared across the
DayMap community. DayMap is seen to encompass Dromana’s community values, using transparency, shared knowledge and parent participation, and providing an information technology rich environment in which to teach and learn.
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