My Kindy purchased ClassMon at the beginning of the year, and I would like to say how much I love it!  It’s so easy to use, and actually makes observing and keeping records fun!  We are using the Queensland Kindy Curriculum version.

Thank you for a wonderful product, I am really enjoying using it and have already recommended it to another School.

We have had your software since its inception, and it grows better constantly, thank-you! The support has been great, I look forward to all the new additions to the software in the 2012 version.

We at Korumburra have finished our statements!!!
It was so easy to do with ClassMon. All the relevant obs.... and I had written lots to show parents at mid year interviews were simply added with just a few simple changes.

A HUGE thank you.

I use ClassMon for keeping my obs and the TLADS and it's well worth it just for those aspects - the obs are filed in the EYLF Learning Outcomes and a quick glance will show if I have done none, some or a lot for each element  of each learning outcome. The ease of doing multiple obs is great - and you can still individualise.
And the Transition statements have been much easier - the admin stuff that is repeated, automatically goes to each child, and if you take a bit of time to set up a comments bank, then you can just use those and individualise from a base that you don't have to enter in first each time.
Dave is very helpful - I rang him on Melb Cup day and he helped me out including sending through a little video of what to do because I was having trouble with something.

ClassMon has been an amazing tool to streamline our observations and helping us be more intentional about how we keep records. It gives us a ‘system’, but equally important it has given us a team of IT wizards who are available and immediately responsive to our questions, ideas and troubleshooting needs.

I have no problem endorsing this product.

I have been working with Classmon [Folios International] since 2009. I have worked in a composite classroom consisting of Grades 4, 5, 6, & 7, and currently in 4/5.
Reporting time with Classmon is much less stressful, especially working across different grade levels. I have found Classmon very easy to manipulate and customise to meet the needs of our school.
The software developers are open to suggestions with regard to the needs of our small P-7 multi-class school. They have been flexible and are willing to listen to requests and implement requests where practicable.
I am so glad that the developers are flexible and have created a program that is adaptable.
Thanks for making my ‘reporting life’ so much easier.
Warm regards
Cheryl Slater

I have been using Classmon for the last year. I have found that it saves me heaps of time in keeping individual records, learning stories and writing transition statements, and has been a great tool for my planning. The progress report option has been popular with parents. I can answer the “how is my child going?” questions professionally and confidently. It is also useful when I have other professionals visiting a child, such as psfo and early intervention workers. This year we will produce digital portfolios for each child for the first time. The more I use Classmon the more uses I find for it. It really is the best tool I have used, and with the prompt support and updates it keeps getting better.

BPA Children’s Services were recommended to look into ClassMon software in early 2010. We were very impressed with the wide range of applications that ClassMon was able to provide, as were our Teaching staff, and we purchased ClassMon for each of our 25 Kindergartens and 6 Child Care Centres in July 2010.

One of the things that particularly appealed to us was the training provided by Dave, and the ongoing support that the staff have received from him as they have learnt to use the software. No request for help has been ignored, and the staff feel confident in emailing Dave when they encounter any difficulties navigating the program.

One year on and ClassMon is proving to be a fantastic tool. Last year most of the staff used the program to write Transition Statements, and by all accounts a great deal of time was saved. Staff are thrilled that there are so many different ways that they can use ClassMon in their programming and they regularly share with one another the new functions that they have discovered.

Classmon is a fantastic software program for early childhood program and planning, especially the child observational element that relates to the framework learning outcomes.
Learning a new software program is never easy but David has been invaluable with his support and guidance. He has responded quickly to all my emails and mobile phone messages. Although I might be asking him a question he has probably heard a hundred times before, he has been very patient and thorough with his support and it has been much appreciated.

Our staff members are very happy using classmon.  They are impressed to see how straight forward it is to use this program.  Writing up learning stories, doing our observations has never been so easy.  It saves a lot of time for staff to actually enjoy spending more time with the children.  We take our photos,  save them onto the program and start writing out an observation connecting them to the EYLF elements.

Dave came to our centre for a training session and I immediately knew this program suited my staff.  Any technical support we have had, was responded to promptly, taking the time to make sure we understand it.

I highly recommend classmon to any other sevice.

Dave was excellent with the support and training he offered. When we emailed or phoned to get further information we always found his responses were patient, prompt and easy to understand. The training sessions were hands on, interesting and inspired us to explore ClassMon fully.

FolioMaker allowed me to design my portfolio according to the Victorian Institute of Teaching's Standards for Professional Practice.

It is very easy to set up and use...all I had to do was add my documents, images and even some video.
My lecturers loved the fact that they could easily move around the portfolio and find everything with just a couple of clicks.

I also really liked the way I can print my portfolio to a pdf (to email) or to paper without having to rearrange anything - FolioMaker does it all automatically.

If you need to make a portfolio for your Teaching Standards (or any other portfolio actually!) then I highly recommend FolioMaker.

Just wanted to say how fabulous the software is...the quick start guide, the easy beginning to the new year! I am so glad I had the priviledge of having this in 2010, because this year it is so much easier and I have the ability to just make it happen... I love it when it all comes together and becomes evidence to my time being more productive, thanks everybody!!!
 
cheers from the team at Yarra Warra

I had looked at a number of ways to produce my professional teaching portfolio for Uni - both online and offline. FolioMaker was by far the simplest solution, allowing me to simply add my work, choose a template then burn to cd - no fuss! I would recommend it to any Uni students who have to create a digital portfolio.

As Director of a busy kindergarten, I have for a long time, been searching for ways to make documentation of children’s learning an easier and less time consuming task for my teachers to manage. In the past we have been weighed down by the insurmountable task of recording observations for each individual child, linking the observations to curriculum outcomes, identifying learnings and noting down further planning for each child based on these observations.

After much searching on the internet, I discovered ClassMon and began to look into the potential it was showing for documentation of children’s learning. Over a number of months towards the end of 2009, I worked closely with ClassMon developers who were happy to incorporate many of my ideas and requirements into their program to suit my programming needs for our particular early childhood educational centres. I was also very aware that I needed a program that would assist us to meet and demonstrate National Childhood Accreditation standards.

I have now purchased ClassMon for use at our Centre and it is proving a hit with all teachers. Whilst it can be used primarily as a digital portfolio program for each child, we are using it more as a tool to document children’s learning in a way that children’s learnings can be printed out and stored in individual display folders, which for our clientele, are more accessible to parents and children than the digital counterpart.

In addition we are particularly finding ClassMon useful to make those regular short observations that teachers often jot down on bits of paper throughout their day and try to compile onto the computer later in the evening. It’s so easy just to go to the computer, make a quick observation of what the child is doing or has said, link it to the Curriculum with a couple of easy clicks and get back to the class. Through the use of the Checklist function in ClassMon you can even quickly note the date of this observation, add some further possible programming based on this observation and later come back and evaluate the activity once implemented – so quick and easy! In this way every child has their own ongoing individual learning program that can readily be shared with parents, other educators and the like.

ClassMon has the power to be useful to any educational setting because of its ability to incorporate any learning curriculum – just load up the curriculum rubric, your class details and you’re ready to begin. I strongly recommend it for teachers in early childhood settings regardless of the Curriculum they are using.

At last a fabulous support tool long overdue for teachers.

Sincerely yours,

Rosalie Natalier

(Director)

Thank-you David for a great session. 
My students enjoyed your presentation very much and although you covered so much material the students felt very encouraged to use your systems for their futures.   
You are a very engaging presenter and we really appreciated all the practical examples.

The work of David Harris and Folios International was first brought to my attention in 2008 by a faculty
colleague who recommended ClassMon as a useful tool in early childhood pre-service teacher education.
After a preliminary investigation, I attended a presentation/demonstration by David and was immediately
impressed by the open-ended, flexible design of this documentation tool. Even more, I could see how David
was receptive to the expressed specific needs and beliefs of teachers and worked with his software designers
to respond quickly with practical, enduring and user friendly solutions.
As a documentation tool ClassMon has many advantages for teachers across a range of early years education
and care settings as it can be configured with the relevant curriculum rubric for the learning context. I have
attended a number of David’s presentations of ClassMon for both in-service and pre-service teachers over a
12 month period and have noted each time how new features have been added to the tool to expand it’s
applications, while maintaining it’s open-ended nature and time saving benefits for users. Folios International
developed, and made available to Griffith University, a version of ClassMon for the Queensland education
context which was included in the choice of methods for documenting young children’s learning and
development in assessment tasks. Students who used ClassMon commented positively on how the tool
enabled them to organise and align observation data with curriculum requirements and efficiently generate
reports, portfolios and other documents which were suitable for both parents and education professionals.
The documentation of individual learning and development in early years settings in comprehensive and
communicable ways is a high priority in the National Early Years Framework. Developing strong partnerships
and clear communication with parents and carers is regarded as a key factor in supporting young children as
learners. Class Mon is the only tool I have encountered which equally supports teachers in these priority
areas.
In working with David Harris and Folios International I have found them to be receptive and responsive to the
needs of teachers in the facilitation of quality early childhood documentation. Their demonstrated ability to
provide practical, user friendly software solutions sets them apart from other software designers and products I
have encountered as both an early childhood teacher and lecturer. I am therefore very confident in my
endorsement of David Harris and Folios International.

Sincerely,
Helane Fittell

I have been working with Folios International for the past two years in my capacity as Coordinator of Early Childhood Education and Care at James Cook University in Cairns.

There is an obvious need for software to support educators in the early childhood field, particularly with the management of the National Early Years Framework. In my experience of seeking a suitable software program with which to teach Preservice Early Childhood Teachers, I have trialled other programs, which proved problematic for my use. ClassMon, with the support of Folios International, has proved to be workable and user-friendly for Preservice Early Childhood Teachers and is currently embedded in the assessment component of their Early Childhood subjects. It has also received great interest from the School-based Teacher educators who mentor these Preservice Teachers.

Folios International not only developed and supplied the software for my students, but they have also come to Cairns and presented workshops and follow-up training to students and members of the Far North Early Childhood Network. They have been very responsive to feedback from student and professional users, which has assured that the software remains relevant and easy to use.

If you would like further information about my experience with Folios International, please contact me at Reesa.Sorin@jcu.edu.au .

Sincerely,

Dr Reesa Sorin

Conducted by Mike Horsley and Kathy Bauer.

The Professional Learning Network of CQUni Noosa, conducts detailed and in depth evaluation of all professional learning opportunities, courses and programs that it manages. Evaluation includes positive outcomes for the session, challenges raised in the session, solutions presented in the session, areas for further development and suggestions for future learning opportunities.

This report has been prepared for David Harris of Folios International. The report contains evaluation data collected on his session at CQUni Noosa on Monday, October 26, 2009.

Positive outcomes from the session with David Harris. Twenty-one responses, all contained positive comments – this is a selection of 5.

    Fantastic, brilliant, easy to use, amazing. Love it!

    So simple and easy to use.

    An amazing tool, great time saver and a powerful way to demonstrate student learning.

    Fantastic, what a wonderful tool, looking forward to using it.

    Easy to use program. More effective way to creating folios.

Solutions presented in this session. Sixteen responses with positive comments on solutions.

    Time saving/prepared curriculum already provided.

    Time saving and user friendly, multiple portfolios at once – no more cut and paste. Easy to use at school and home.

    Handy hints, products to save time.

    Simplicity of creating folios, encourages the incorporation of digital portfolios.

    How to save time, multiple applications for software.

Areas for further development. Ten responses provided.

    National curriculum alignment, tutorial CD to take away.

    Possibilities for incorporating with One School.

    Picture file, backup, restore feature.

    Behaviour management.


Suggestions for further development. Seven responses provided.

All of these responses indicated the desirability of having a hands-on workshop with the opportunity to explore the software and learn how to use it to implement solutions to perceived area of needs and better use ICT in teaching.

Recommendation.

We would recommend, based on this evaluation that you consider running 2 hands-on workshops in early 2010.

It was great to see ideas that are very practical to use. David is a very good presenter and always adapts his workshop to the questions that the participants are asking.

I loved the ClassMon and FolioMaker products and I can already see how I could utilise these products in the Classroom.

Thanks David, that was a really worthwhile workshop you ran for us and it’s a truly wonderful product (s). Having worked in several different strands of Early Childhood Settings I can easily see what wonderful uses the Class Mon would be in any one of those settings.  It’s a wonderful resources for us time poor teachers!  I really believe that Class Mon would help us produce a superior folio.  We can put more into the children’s folio, as it’s so user friendly.

I absolutely love the versatility of Folio Maker, from both my experiences at Haileybury and now as Curriculum Coordinator at Patterson Lakes Primary School.

If at any stage, during production of a new version, you may like an opinion or feedback from a teacher’s/coordinator’s perspective, please do not hesitate to ask.  I am always interested in increasing technological power in the classroom and the value of reflection and thinking in children.  You should see the “Computers On, Learning On” program I have designed for my classroom, to encourage reflection and celebration of learning, on a daily/weekly basis, to support the Digital Portfolio pedagogy?!
Have a terrific day.

Very pleasant friendly delivery - simple language that could be understood by the layman. Excellent program - WHAT A TIMESAVER!

Very informative and practical, Dave was extremely helpful. The software has exciting potential and I would like to see the possibility of using it for the National Curriculum.

The workshop definitely inspired me to incorporate ICT more into all areas of the curriculum. Really liked Millie’s presentation using the webcam. Just taking digital photos rather than scanning work in is also a simple but great idea. Thanks for all the extra tips, Dave.

In regards to the workshop I absolutely enjoyed every moment of it. It was great to see such an enthusiastic presenter that really knew what he was talking about. I like that not only did he teach us about the ClassMon and FolioMaker software but also Picasa. Picasa is a great way in which teachers can incorporate and play with photos in the classroom to display students work. It also links nicely with the ClassMon and FolioMaker software as you can reduce picture size to add to students’ folios as work samples.

ClassMon and FolioMaker are two programs that I will purchase very soon. I would like to see the Essential Learnings be incorporated in the ClassMon software as Early Childhood Educators are progressively using the Essential Learnings within their teaching. I like the way the teacher can make as many observations and recordings of how the student in progressing all in the one program. I also like how the program can add work samples and show the learning records of all class members/ students across all Key Learning Areas.

FolioMaker is a great program that will assist me as a University student to complete a folio for my exit of uni. I like the way that the children can all make their own folio and the teacher can monitor this through the school network. This is a great way to incorporate ICTs in the classroom.

Overall, I think both Programs are great. Thank you.

With the opening of our new school in January 2009, we were looking for a fresh and exciting way to report on our students’ progress. We found ClassMon, and were thrilled with the ability it gave us to showcase our students, while providing a comprehensive report to parents.
We love that it is paperless, and allows us to add data, information, photos, motion clips and achievement levels throughout the semester. It has allowed our teachers to spread the dreaded reporting and portfolio time over a whole semester, and they couldn’t be happier!
The portfolios/ reports were very well received by parents, and we have been contacted by many schools, and parents who’s children attend neighbouring school, enquiring about our reporting methods. Our teachers loved the flexibility of the program, allowing us to make our own rubrics to suit the Qld Syllabus and Early Years Framework; it was specific to our school and our students.

Having taught for fifteen years, and worked with as many report card templates, it is fantastic to finally have a program that is not only user friendly but fun to use!

I have dreaded 'report card time' of year because of the mundane and error ridden nature of producing a paper based report card.  This year, for the first time, I enjoyed compiling the information on each child in my class, especially uploading photos and videos demonstrating (rather than just 'telling') what a child knows and can do!  It was even more worthwhile because I knew how excited the children, and parents, would be to view such a meaningful and purposeful account of their learning.
Add to all of that the fact that there is no longer a 'report card time of year' to dread, as information is entered as it occurs - when it is nice and fresh.  I'm so pleased that we have found a system that works - and one that we won't ever need to change!

Using Class Mon was such a fun way to do report cards and portfolios.  To be able to show parents their child's learning through photos and videos instead of using paper report cards and portfolios,  that do not allow for photos or videos, was of such benefit to parents and an exciting way of showing children's learning.

Negotiating through ClassMon is very easy and being able to put various comments in multiple children's folders was time saving.

I would just like to thank you for introducing us to ClassMon. What an incredible early childhood tool!! Finally, there is a Portfolio database to support the development and learning of children from birth to five that is simple and effective. Class Mon is not only effective in an early childhood setting as a practitioner, but is also an incredible teaching tool for supporting the understanding of emergent curriculum.

The benefit of the ClassMon program is that it can be specifically designed to support the individual framework or curricula of settings, and for our site has helped transform our Foundations for Families: a birth to three framework of effective practice into a visual portfolio of development and learning, linked to the new  Early Years Learning Framework.

The reporting features of ClassMon enable practitioners to upload photos, work-saving and enter observations to build a picture of the child which will assist in supporting the co-construction of the children's learning to facilitate their individual development.  Thank you once again for such an incredible tool.

Geraldine Harris
Program Manager: Communities for Children Family Support Program and Author of the Foundations for Families: a birth to three framework of effective practice

I have been using Classmon for over a year and I have found it really easy to use, time efficient and great for reporting to parents.  The constant updates allow the program to be improved and I enjoy having input into this process.

Classmon is a fantastic program and I would recommend it to all prep teachers.

I used classmon to do my parent/teacher interviews just before the holidays and it made it very easy to show parents lots of examples.  I definitely didn't have the rush and panic leading up to interviews because I'd been putting in examples all the way along (because it was quick and easy to do). I probably had more videos and photos than I needed purely because it was so easy to store and use them.
Karen next door loved it. Also it was nice to be using a program that I knew wouldn't freeze up when moving back and forwards during the interview.
I really like the built in photo resizing that you've put in because I used to do this manually. I also like the change to the multiple observation tool (adding each child's name).  I haven't had a play with the inbuilt video player yet.
I'm starting to think about what I need to put into the folios during the second half of the year so that the year one teachers get the right information.

The Prep teachers are thrilled with the ease of doing the reports and printing them off.

FolioMaker implementation for John Paul College, Queensland, Australia

Staff members were faced with the challenge of compiling a digital portfolio that would capture the inquiry based learning journey of the Prep students. It was envisaged that a folio would provide a series of anecdotal observations - backed by multimedia artifacts - which would combine to demonstrate for parents the child's progress along the learning journey.

Folios International became our partners in designing and delivering the Prep Portfolio in 2007. In close collaboration with the Folios International development team - a fully customised solution has been deployed which incorporates the Learning Statements from the Queensland Curriculum. Folios International have been able to integrate the reporting process into the folio development and teachers are able to systematically observe, monitor and comment on student progress. The data collated in the folio updates the teacher's record keeping and generates the personalised report for each student. This report, which forms part of the digital portfolio, is mapped against Education Queensland's Learning Statements.

All of this information is delivered to parents in an attractive user friendly web based format. Feedback from parents has been overwhelmingly supportive with parents commenting particularly on the quantity of information that is presented in the folio. The folio has helped to build communication bridges between the classroom teacher and the parents and parents have commented that they are able to revisit milestones in their child's learning journey through the folio.

Teacher enthusiasm for the development of the digital portfolio has been positive and they are unanimous in their support for its continued use in 2008. Simple features including the automated updating of records; the ability to manage the customisation of rubrics; the integration of all media types including sound, graphics and movie files; the ability to update multiple records concurrently - all combined within a user friendly interface have made the folio an essential professional tool to support teaching and learning in the Prep classrooms.

Folios International have committed to the development of enhancements to the Prep Folio and have actively sought feedback on the use of the product from staff. The emphasis on customisation, flexibility and integration ensure that the Prep Folio will continue to be our premier reporting tool in our Preparatory Years classrooms.

Jan MacNamara

Information and Learning Technologies Co-ordinator

John Paul College
 
 

In my capacity as Deputy Head (Teaching & Learning) Renaissance College, one of my strategic roles and responsibilities is to lead the implementation of sound assessment and reporting practices. To support this aim the college principal, Mr. Peter Kenny, directly engaged Folios International to implement an electronic assessment and reports system to communicate student achievement and progress.
Renaissance College is a brand new school established in August 2006. The college offers academic programs within the International Baccalaureate (IB) framework – Primary years program (PYP), Middle years program (MYP) and Diploma program (DP). Renaissance College is the first through school in Hong Kong providing all three IB programs for students from years 1-13. We have completed successful pre-authorization visits for all three programs and recently obtained authorization for the Diploma program. RCHK is now a recognized IB World school.
This testimonial is provided in recognition of the successful implementation process and supportive working culture developed by both Folios International and Renaissance College. At this point it is significant to note that Folios International were selected by the college curriculum council as their specific database system (InquirySys) and its internal tools are reflective of both the college and IB assessment and reporting values. Beyond this, the level of technical support and customization offered by Folios International highlights a significant degree of flexibility and growth required for new school development.
The Folios team was exceptionally accommodating to our requests and engaged in a lot of dialogue and collaboration to further refine the report database to meet the various IB program demands. This collaboration included both face-to-face meetings and online discussions.
Working with global partners does have inherent challenges however; we found the response and support from Folios International both timely and appropriate to our needs. I was particularly impressed with the broad range of people the Folios team engaged with in order to gather requirements and thinking. These discussions were then taken and reflected as practical outcomes within the actual reports database.
As with all electronic implementations there is a huge requirement for system testing, refinement and professional development. These factors were well planned and included online tutorials and practical workshops to help orientate the end user. Staff feedback indicates that the system was user friendly and served to communicate assessment information accurately.
International schools can take practical steps to include aspects of the host nation in documentation including school reports. The Folios team supported the inclusion of Putonghua (Chinese characters) to acknowledge the bilingual context and community in which Renaissance College exists. To conclude this testimony Folios International created a grade bank function. This function allows curriculum coordinators to synthesize and interpret report information. The ability to make data-driven decisions about reporting and assessment data supports an iterative approach to teaching and learning and adds value to the practice in general.
As testimony to the success of this project Renaissance College intends to develop and mature the present working partnership with Folios International.

Peter Kenny & Dylan Hughes, Renaissance College, Hong Kong