The students' learning journey with NOA at Follo FHS

Follo FHS is the first folk high school in NOA's customer portfolio. The school is "...a safe haven, a place for generosity, and an arena for courageous learning," and the school's management takes its social responsibility to prepare students for adult life seriously. The introduction of NOA at the school not only solves the administrative need for attendance registration but is also part of the students' educational journey. Students are given the tools and responsibility to practice the task of registering attendance, and they must take ownership to keep track of their own absence.  

We had the pleasure of speaking with Anja Stidahl, principal at Follo Folk High School, and hearing about her visions and experiences with NOA in their pilot year.  

Relief, joy and learning  

When we asked Anja to summarize her associations with NOA, Anja said the following

I feel a great relief and joy that the students are given this responsibility. I think there is a lot of learning in this task. Therefore, I am very happy to have NOA with us at the school. 

Roll call at the morning assembly 

We used a lot of paper. We had one list for each line, and the teachers had to stand and call out all the students in the morning.

When Anja started as principal, she immediately saw the weaknesses in this old-fashioned practice. The lists were not only incomplete and time-consuming to register afterwards, they were also not in line with the school's principles. 

One of our principles is that Follo Folk High School should be an inclusive school where we daily prepare people for life through high professionalism in a safe community. If you are going to prepare young people who have just turned 18-19 years old, it is by having them register their own presence and take that responsibility. I think that's an important start. Such practice offers a fairer system. 

Anja found NOA through a quick Google search, and shortly after she made contact, Follo got started with NOA's functionalities. She is pleased with the follow-up and the good support they received in the start-up phase, and that they have received quick answers to their questions. Now Follo avoids cases where it's one person's word against another's regarding student absences, in cases where the lists have been lost, or where the absence is forgotten or not registered. 

Now that it became the students' task, we don't have those types of inquiries. They have actually stopped completely.  

A gradual introduction in the organization 

Anja says that the teachers were very happy right away because they realized that they don't have to record absences and can instead dedicate all their time to teaching. 

The students got their accounts before the teachers, and in the meantime, it was the students and the administration who did everything. After about six weeks, the teachers received training in NOA with the aim that they should be able to support the students who have questions or need to edit the attendance registration.  

We are not strict before Christmas because we use this period to learn this. Anyway, it is no worse than when we did it on paper. And even though everyone gets a little annoyed when we have to do some new things, we avoid something else, and we get a better result, all together.  

Extensive use of NOA  

Anja says that NOA is used in all subjects at the school.  

In addition to all subjects, NOA is also used for kitchen service and dormitory cleaning. And Saturday seminars. So we use it for everything! We have a user account called Internat Follo Folkehøgskole, and another called Undervisning Follo Folkehøgskole. So the activities that take place in the dormitory have their own school, with its own main menu. 

Anja highlights flexibility and care for the students' learning as the biggest gains with the school now having access to NOA.  

I think it's about flexibility, but also the fact that the students are given the responsibility for registering their own attendance. That you have control over your absence yourself, and can see it, follow it and take measures and adjustments to have control over it. I think that is a great degree of learning for our students.