A
large goal of education (and our school) is communication with parents.
But with social media galore out there, which one is best? I've
written previously in regards to which tool is best for e-portfolios, but not
for the topic above. And there is a difference. When considering
communication with students many have Twitter accounts, tweet often, can text
message with two fingers without breaking a nail, but are parents this adept?
Some of my parents don't have an email address so why would I expect them
to have a twitter account for them to follow? On the other side of the
coin is most parents have a phone and receiving tweets is easier than receiving
emails. One thing that is true though is
that most parents do have the Internet, at home or on their phone, so it's a
matter of getting the information out to them over a website.
There
are a number of websites that are made for the is task: Check my Marks,
School
Logics, or Student Achieve are but a few of the online
marking programs that parents can log into.
All have negative and positive features to them, each range in price.
As a parent they want to see the marks and what their child did not
complete. But as a teacher I want students to see more. I want parents
to see exemplars of their child's work. I want them to help me with late
or missing assignments. I want parents to understand if their child is
doing well in their learning learning process or need assistance from both home
and school. Mostly I want to be able to
communicate with parents at a drop of a hat. So what do I use?
I
need a website with all the child's notes and assessment strategies in it, so
if the student is sick the student and parent(s) can continue to learn at home
and the parent can understand what skills I am trying to teach/train their
child. I need a marking system that emails parents the child's
current standings, which also includes a section for work incomplete, work not
handed in, and also something that shows sick days to the parent. I want
to send out a group email to both parents and students informing them of
something happening in my classroom. The markings system MasterGrade
handles most of these situations:
emailing marks to students and parents, doing group messaging,
attendance and notes under each assignment outlining assessment.
I
want a calendar of deadlines of tasks/projects for parents/students to track to
help with ensuring students develop time-management skills. Presently I use IDoneThis (https://idonethis.com/), a Web 2.0 tool that
emails me, asking what I’ve done for the day, reminding me to update my calendar
and help me planning my teaching schedule.
It’s well organized, easy to use, but it does cost.
Finally I require a system
where at a glance I can assess the students' work/portfolios, with an area to comment and to suggest changes or possibly areas of consideration to think about, for further the students knowledge. SurreySchools.ca has this capability with the student blog creation. Student can upload pictures, files, and write their thoughts of what they've learned, and what they want to further their education. Best of all, as a teacher I appreciate that all blogs are listed in one section, no need to organize, just a click of the link of the student's name and you're on their blog. Each blog entry is dated, in order, so you can gasp at a glance what has been completed and what needs to be developed further. Both peers and the teacher can comment on the students' portfolios, furthering their learning.
I want and need many features, but it takes three programs to appease my needs for my students, parents and myself as the teacher.
Take a look at these tools and consider what you would like to use.
Nicole Painchaud @painchaud_n
Nicole Painchaud @painchaud_n
