Communication and Technology (ISTE Standard 3)

As a teacher in the digital age, communication is becoming an increasingly important issue. So much information is available at all times through digital grading platforms, email, class websites, and even in-class tools like OneNote. While so much is said, a lot of important information often falls through the cracks. This led to my question around ISTE standard 3: What tools are available to communicate effectively with parents, and what are the benefits of using those tools?

Reading the provided resources this week was not super helpful for my question, and I'm not sure if I should be skimming these articles before I come up with my question, or if I should continue to do my own thing and just look for broader connections. Regardless, I enjoyed the article "Evaluating learning the 21st century" (Starkey, 2010) because it emphasized the importance of feedback. A takeaway from this article is that what teachers hope students are getting out of a lesson is not always what is really going on, so getting feedback from students about learning is just as important as it is for students to get feedback on assignments from teachers. I am a supporter of standards-based grading, even though I don't get to use it at my school (and need a lot more training in it if I were to do so!), this article demonstrates how assessments should look for completion of learning standards, rather than having an end product. Technology is useful in this regard because it makes the feedback loop easier. However, training in that technology is important; teachers must know the best way to use the tech, and not just know that it is available. This idea is explored in the blog post "Digital literacy vs. fluency" (Briggs, 2011).

So, I wanted to find out how I could be more fluent in my use of technology to communicate with parents at a school where parents receive a ton of information all the time. I read "Using technology to increase parental involvement" (Olmstead, 2013) and learned that it is very important for parents to feel informed about what is going on at school. Students with engaged parents do better, and technology is one way for parents to move from reactive engagement to proactive engagement. However, engagement wasn't my problem. I found a second article, "The changing nature of parent-teacher communication: mode selection in the smartphone era" (Thompson et al., 2015), that tackled the how of communicating. Published in a journal on communication, this article examined the effectiveness of different modes of communication and reported that theoretically, people should choose different modes of communication depending on the sensitivity of the topic at hand. What they found in a study of parents, however, is that convenience trumps sense, and that most parents choose email every time, only shifting to other modes when a situation has not been handled effectively through email. This is what I have seen at my school, and I now have a better appreciation for why we communicate in the manner we do. If I would like to investigate other modes of communication in the future, my classmate Alyssa Davidson posted a link to an article "7 free apps for keeping parents and teachers connected" (McCrea, 2013) that recommends apps like Remind101 and BuzzMob. I teach high school students, so mostly my concern with communication is helping my students learn to communicate effectively with me and build independence. Communication with parents is an important aspect of my job, though, and I will continue to search for ways to communicate in an effective manner.

References:

Briggs, C. (2011, February 5). The difference between digital literacy and digital fluency [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.socialens.com/blog/2011/02/05/the-difference-between-digital-literacy-and-digital-fluency/

McCrea, B. (2013, June 11). 7 free apps for keeping parents and teachers connected. THE Journal. Retrieved from https://thejournal.com/Articles/2013/06/11/7-Free-Apps-for-Keeping-Parents-and-Teachers-Connected.aspx?Page=1

Starkey, L. (2010). Evaluating learning in the 21st century: a digital age learning matrix. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 20(1), 19-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2011.554021

Thompson, B.C., Mazer, J.P., & Grady, E.F. (2015). The changing nature of parent-teacher communication: mode selection in the smartphone era. Communication Education, 64(2), 187-207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2015.1014382

Olmstead, C. (2013). Using technology to increase parent involvement in schools. TechTrends, 57(6), 28-37. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=eft&AN=91587612&site=ehost-live