Great when it doesn’t crash
This app has been great during lock down. The ability to mark work on the iPad and leave quality oral feedback has been well received by my students.
The frustration comes, as many others have said and it has also happened to everybody in my department, is that the app crashes during marking. It happens about once a week. After the crash you can no longer load pupils work. The only solution is to delete the app and reinstall it. Then you’ve got to log back on and it takes about 5 minutes to reload all the work and messages.
It seems to be getting more frequent. Happy if I can go for a day without it crashing.
The frustration comes, as many others have said and it has also happened to everybody in my department, is that the app crashes during marking. It happens about once a week. After the crash you can no longer load pupils work. The only solution is to delete the app and reinstall it. Then you’ve got to log back on and it takes about 5 minutes to reload all the work and messages.
It seems to be getting more frequent. Happy if I can go for a day without it crashing.
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Potential
The app actually is quicker to mark and give feedback on compared to my laptop. However, it is way to unreliable. It crashes once every 10-15 minutes, which could be in the middle of writing feedback which then hasn’t saved.
Fire Fly has made the home learning much more straightforward for my students, and it’s functionality is much better than other VLEs. However, the app lets it down considering most students will be accessing the content through their phones and tablets.
Fire Fly has made the home learning much more straightforward for my students, and it’s functionality is much better than other VLEs. However, the app lets it down considering most students will be accessing the content through their phones and tablets.
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Not very good
The app is slow, it crashes frequently, I usually redownload it every week or so. It seems to work OK for a few hours after and then the problems start again - I am half way through marking and suddenly the app shuts down, the work I have marked has not saved. When I type a comment, there is usually a few seconds lag. When I try to open a student’s work it can take anything from 20 seconds to never. When transferring a piece of work from email to the app it sometimes loses the entire task (although the task is still on the website). Too many problems to be worth using. It would have potential if it did what it was supposed to.
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Just crashes all the time
Crashes on nearly every piece of work I am trying to mark. Utter rubbish and totally frustrating until this is sorted. My colleagues are experiencing the same problems. Done everything that Firefly has suggested - delete and reinstall (numerous times); make sure IOS is up-to-date. All to no avail. Please rectify as a matter of urgency.
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If only it worked
I am using Firefly tinder and mark work for distance learning, it has been great for this. Unfortunately I have to rate the App as unusable, it crashes/shuts down so regularly without saving work that it is impossible to use for annotating and marking work, one of its main functions.
0 stars
I absolutely love Firefly as a teaching tool and with social distancing, it has meant that the students can still easily access work. That being said, I would never willingly use this app (and am stuck doing so because of social distancing). When marking pupils work, Firefly will often shut down without saving a copy of the pdf I was annotating. The tasks bar does not let me select my classes—it has included extra classes that I was made a co-teacher for a singular task, that I have since removed myself from. Otherwise, I have no link to these classes. They are not displayed on the website, but the app insists that I have ownership of these classes and therefore refuses to open my actual classes’ tasks. Despite the apparent update, the app does not allow me to attach a file (pdf or jpeg) from my iPad as feedback to pupils (which I can do in the web version). The app also does not let me modify tasks and instead directs me to the web version. Our IT have been in contact with Firefly regarding these issues and the response is to uninstall and reinstall the program, which takes a fair bit of time. Uninstalling and reinstalling does make it function well for a little, but we’re 6 school weeks into lock down and I’ve had to uninstall and reinstall more times than that.
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Keeps crashing
Great design and user friendly, but it keeps crashing after only a few minutes of use.
When it works, it’s great
I started using this at the beginning of the year, and found it to be great. However, updates have introduced two bugs, both of which will be deal breakers if they aren’t fixed.
1. You can no longer set tasks through the app - there is no “next” button from page two of the process.
2: Marking onscreen on my iPad Pro is no longer full screen, but a small window in the middle.
The concept and execution is generally impressive, though - a real boon to marking, management and planning.
Edit: first problem has been fixed, and quickly! Received an email about the second as well - a change to IPadOS has forced the change, and they’re working on a solution
1. You can no longer set tasks through the app - there is no “next” button from page two of the process.
2: Marking onscreen on my iPad Pro is no longer full screen, but a small window in the middle.
The concept and execution is generally impressive, though - a real boon to marking, management and planning.
Edit: first problem has been fixed, and quickly! Received an email about the second as well - a change to IPadOS has forced the change, and they’re working on a solution
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Response from developer
Thank you for your feedback and we are so sorry you are having problems. We have fixed the first issue you pointed out and if you check the app is up to date, you should be able to set tasks without a problem. We have also identified your second problem which occurred as a result of the iOS 13 update and have made a fix that will go into the next release. We are sorry for the inconvenience these bugs have caused and appreciate your feedback to help us identify them. Please continue to leave us feedback or send us a message from the Settings, Send Feedback section of the app or email us at support@fireflylearning.com.
Soo frustrating!
Won’t allow me to set a task which is why I’m using the app! Stalls on page 2/6 when setting a task and won’t let you advance to the next screen. If you try to delete the draft it won’t let you do that either! Sort it out Fitefly...not good enough!!! Grumpy teacher!
Response from developer
Thank you very much for your feedback. We have released a fix to the issue that you describe which is now live. If you could check Firefly for Teachers is up-to-date by finding it in the App Store you should be able to set tasks without a problem. Please don't hesitate to send us feedback through the app settings or contact us at support@fireflylearning.com so we can get in contact. We will be happy to help find a solution.
Old school is the way forward
This is a really great app, until it doesn’t work. Which is regularly. I’ve lost lesson plans, tasks etc. because of it. Very disappointing. Turns out paper is better.
