Parent engagement and technology. Our founding partner, Joe Mathewson, discusses how regular and reliable communication between schools and parents, which can be a challenge in large secondary schools, can be supported by educational technologies that are playing an increasing role in bridging the gap between school and home.
Many parents are keen to be involved in their child’s school life, whether assisting with after school clubs, fundraising for facilities, being involved in decision making on key school matters or engaging with the learning conversation between child and school. While this is so, the majority of information that schools share with parents has, traditionally, traveled one way, with many parents relying on their child to bring home school newsletters or paper homework slips that can be forgotten or lost. Mobile technology The proliferation of mobile technology in schools is encouraging the implementation of bring-your-own device and one-to-one device schemes. Information access. How to Boost Parental Involvement. This how-to article accompanies the feature "Parents Are an Education Secret Weapon Just Waiting to Be Discovered.
" Information is a critical first step to increasing parental involvement, and technology provides schools with fast and reliable ways to get important information out to parents -- whether it's a student's grade on the latest test or news about an upcoming parent meeting. Here are five technology-based strategies for getting -- and staying -- connected: Give Every Teacher and Administrator an Email Address Email can be the most efficient and effective way of handling routine matters, such as questions between parents and teachers or scheduling an in-person meeting. Many schools routinely provide all staff with a school district email address.
A word of caution: Parents who routinely use email for work may expect unrealistically speedy responses from teachers. Develop (or Enhance) Class and School Web Pages Distribute E-Newsletters Most students aren't reliable couriers. 5 Creative Apps to Connect with Parents from your Classroom! My 2nd Scholastic Post Having a positive relationship with the parents of your students can help your year get off to a great start.
I've found that parents often just want to feel connected and involved. Many potential issues can be resolved when they feel like they understand what is going on inside the classroom. As a parent, I know that my husband and I often feel the most uneasy when we don't know when an event is happening or how to help with an assignment.
Therefore, as a teacher, I've searched for and tried out numerous tools to help be more proactive in the classroom to solve any issues before they evolve into problems. {click HERE to see my 5 app picks!} A Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Using Technology To Help Engage Parents. I thought topic would a useful post for readers, and hope you’ll suggest other resources.
You can also see all my “The Best…” lists related to parent engagement here. Here are my choices for A Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Using Technology To Help Engage Parents: Joe Mazza, the coordinator of #PTchat on Twitter and a school principal in Philadelphia, has put all his parent presentations online in one place. He has many more resources on his site there, and should be the starting place for anybody interested in using social media to connect better with parents.
Tech May Have A Role, But Is Not Cure-All, For Parent Engagement is a post I wrote on the topic, and Myrdin Thompson wrote a response titled Did the Tech fail or was there a failure to connect to the Tech? Lorna Costantini has developed an excellent presentation on how schools can use technology to connect with parents. Check-out her Digital Parent Engagement – k12Online Conference 2010 presentation. is how she describes it:
Tech Tools for Parent Engagement. This week during #ecetechchat we discussed different tech tools that can be used to help create and sustain parent engagement in your early childhood program.
I think there are a number of great tech tools (many listed below) that are available today to help teachers easily connect and engage with their parents on a regular basis. And as we discussed during the chat, engaging with parents and building those relationships is vital to creating a strong, connected class community because it allows for a whole new level of home-school collaboration. One of the key points I took away from the chat was the power of tech tools to help teachers engage parents in starting a cycle of engagement that facilitates learning at home and can then replenish the classroom community with new energy. Engaging Parents Through Technology. It's no secret that children do better in school when their parents are involved in their education.
But with more families facing increased time and economic pressures, it can be difficult for parents to participate in their children's educational activities. Educators are finding that one way to engage parents in the classroom and facilitate learning at home is through technology. In recent years, many schools have turned to email, campus portals, blogs, online chatting and more to communicate with parents on subjects ranging from what's being taught in the classroom to students' academic performance. Our School.ca — Connecting parents and schools using technology. 5 Ways To Use Technology To Engage With Parents. Bringing technology into our classrooms helps teachers in a variety of ways.
From bringing great multimedia and injecting real people and real life experiences into what might otherwise be bland lessons, to making grading and classroom management easier, more seamless processes, it might be easy to forget how we even did things before our devices were the staples of our school days. The same stands true for connecting with parents.