Classfolio

Live lessons, assessment and pupil folios for UK schools. Built by a teacher, not a startup. AI does the first draft; a teacher signs the mark.

[Classfolio @classfolio]

1/4 — I'm a teacher. I built a marking tool. Then I spent a week trying to catch it out. 350 pupil attempts, one assessment, marked by hand and compared against the AI.

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Maths teachers: a rectangle is 3 cm by 5 cm. Double only its length. Before calculating, ask pupils whether the perimeter doubles—and why.

Which would you ask for first: a sketch or an explanation in words?

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An edtech workload check: what has to be done again every lesson?

A careful one-off setup and repeated copying, enrolment or file-hunting are different costs.

Teachers: which repeated admin step would you most like to lose?

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@TsuiAllen @Raspberry_Pi Thanks for putting this together, Allen. Your final checklist—account created, pupil enrolled, starter project open—makes the setup dependencies clear. Checking those from a test pupil's view before the lesson seems a useful way to catch missing steps.

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@TsuiAllen @Raspberry_Pi Thanks for coming back with an update, Allen. Have pupils been able to pick up their own saved project next lesson without much teacher help? That’s the bit I’d want to get right before adding another classroom tool.

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Physical computing task: an LED should blink, but stays dark.

Before changing anything, ask: “Which check would narrow down the cause, and why?”

Then record what it showed.

Computing teachers: which first check do pupils most often overlook?

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@TsuiAllen Thanks, Allen — that answers my question. Naming the square gives pupils a precise reference to use in their explanation. Useful to see the notation introduced as language they can use straight away, alongside learning how the pieces move.

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@TsuiAllen @schoolschess @TheChessShopUK A useful explanation task for this board: describe a move so someone looking away could reproduce it, then check it together. Would you introduce square coordinates first, or let pupils refine their descriptions as they go?

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@TsuiAllen @MathsSecondary The changing step length and turn make a lovely prediction task, Allen. Before running it, ask pupils what changing just the turn angle will do, then compare the drawing with their prediction. The unexpected result can be the start of the explanation.

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Board annotations can miss their target on a pupil's phone or translated slide. Classfolio shows a live picture of the teacher's board above the pupil's own, answerable slide. The design decision: https://t.co/f1WB7IFV45

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Classfolio asked teachers for a parent’s “preferred communication language”. It saved, but no feature used it. I removed the field. It led me to a larger decision: no parent portal. Here’s why: https://t.co/ZQ9qvbQqHX

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@tes @AlexJQuigley A useful check: ask pupils to underline the phrase that supports an answer, then explain why the tempting alternative doesn't. It slows the rush and shows whether the problem is reading the text or understanding the content.

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Teachers: what's one thing you do each week that no online tool does well?

I'm deciding which question types Classfolio should build next. 5-minute survey; no account needed, email optional:
https://t.co/AaynBX7C9y

#UKEdChat

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@TsuiAllen I like the 11-line example. A small program still gives pupils plenty to think through: predict a change, test it, debug the result and explain why it works. Those habits are a strong reason to keep teaching Computing, whatever tools come next.

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Yesterday’s Nova Education Trust INSET left me thinking about classroom AI. Some teachers see its potential; others worry pupils will let it do the thinking. Both concerns matter. We need to teach pupils when AI helps learning—and how to check, challenge or put it aside.

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@jcae2008 What a lovely milestone! A coding club gives pupils room to tinker, make mistakes and show each other how they solved something. Hope the first meeting is great fun for you and them.

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@TsuiAllen That’s lovely to hear. Seeing their own movement become a graph makes the sensor data so tangible. Thanks for coming back to share how it went!

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Before a bigger Classfolio launch, I’m spending more time on evidence than announcements: can we restore a backup, do our privacy documents match what the product collects, and do safeguarding checks work in the real workflow? I’ll share what holds up—and what needs fixing.

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@TsuiAllen @WirralCode @scratch The useful bridge here is that coordinates become a testable programming rule, not just labels on a grid. Before coding, I’d ask pupils to predict the knight’s possible moves and which disappear at the board edges—then compare their algorithm with those predictions.