Online communication between school and home

Online communication between home and school is the use of digital telecommunication to convey information and ideas between teachers, students, parents, and school administrators. As the use of e-mail and the internet becomes even more widespread, these tools become more valuable and useful in education for the purposes of increasing learning for students, and facilitating conversations between students, parents, and schools.^[1][2]

Overview

Online communication emphasizes 21st century skills, self-directed learning, self-advocacy, global awareness, and thinking skills for learners.^[3] Utilizing online communication methods, schools help students develop Netiquette, and technical and computer skills.^[3][4] In addition, teachers can provide parents with frequent information about school programs and their children's progress through automated e-mails, official websites and learning management systems.^[2][5] This communication can be achieved either synchronously or asynchronously, providing greater time flexibility.^[5][6]

With online communication, learning may occur outside traditional school hours as students participate in collaborative activities, like reading and responding to peer posts in online forums, experiments, group projects, research papers, and current events assignments.^[7] In addition, online communication can connect a wide range of individuals and increase the diversity of perspectives that learners are exposed to.^[3]

However, not all parents, students, or teachers have access to unlimited internet access or the digital technology necessary to participate in online communication, and it may be costly to initially implement the information technology, hardware, and software.^[8] Furthermore, schools must provide orientation to the online environments and technical support to ensure that all potential users are ready to participate.^[4] Teachers will also need to spend additional time online as active participants in the communication activities (e.g. act as the moderators of discussions).^[3][7] In addition, the immediacy of online communication can lead to students and parents' unreasonable expectations that teachers be 'on-call' at all times.^[8]

Online communication between parents and school

Online communication between parents and schools are online methods that serve as a platform for parents and teachers to exchange ideas. For teachers and administrators, online communication makes it easier to reach the parents and build the partnerships with parents.Online communication allows parents to receive real-time information about their child’s performance and activities at school, and flexible opportunities to ask questions and provide information to teachers and school administrators.

Benefits

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Creating modes for online communication can increase parent participation in their children's education, which in turn increases students’ interest in their learning. Online communication increases parents’ understanding of classroom procedures, philosophies and policies. Parents then feel more involved in their child's school and more connected to the teacher. In general, online communication improves parents’ attitudes toward conferencing with teachers and administrators.

This style of communication allows for more asynchronous communication and greater flexibility. With online communication, parents can initiate conversations and express concerns to teachers and school officials easily. In addition, informal communication through online chatting or forums can reduce parents’ anxiety of meeting face-to-face with teachers and/or school officials. When possible, online communication can also offer comfort through anonymity.

Challenges

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Though most of the time, teachers and parents want to establish communication, there are some challenges that teacher and parents need to face together. The most common challenges involve parent’s ability to use the software, their access to consistent internet access and language barriers. There may be financial costs incurred by the school, if they provide training or translation to parents in order to make online communication more inclusive.

Examples

At Whitestone Elementary, teachers send e-mails to each student's parent at the end of each week about students' behavior concerns, missing work, homework folders, and how the class went during the week. At the same time, parents can access the school website to see updates, ask questions and express their concerns.^[9]

California Lutheran University ^[10] uses the multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) called Tapped In to facilitate parent-teacher communication. This MUVE allows teachers and parents to communicate online about student progress. Teachers create virtual offices to hold online meetings. Topics for the meetings included homework, student progress, upcoming events and reflections.

Online communication between students and teachers

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Online communication between teachers and students facilitates the exchange of ideas and e-learning. Online communication allows students to access learning materials beyond school hours and develop relationships with peers and teachers.

Benefits

The creation of Web 2.0 and social networks means that knowledge is now collective and readily available online for students to access and contribute to.^[15] Promoting online communication between teachers and students creates opportunities for students to receive feedback and assistance from teachers and peers outside the regular school day and classroom. Student can e-mail or post questions, add their opinions to peer-discussions, and check official websites for pertinent information.

Through online learning communities of teachers and peers, students can build relationships with other users and establish a sense of both connectedness and belonging. Some students, who are less likely to participate in face-to discussions, are more likely to participate in online discussions and activities. This online communication enhances the strength of the relationships between students and both their peers and teachers.

Challenges

Student can demonstrate antipathy towards online communication or peer interdependency in internet forums. In order to be productive, online communication between students and teachers requires trust, interactivity, common expectations and shared goals. Some students expect teachers to be on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, placing unreasonable expectations upon teachers.^[16] In addition, most students spend participate in online communication from home, which means that parent's help is often required, but may not be available. Finally, students may lack the technical skills or access to the technology necessary to involve themselves in online communication.

Role of teachers

Teachers have great responsibility in the establishment of online communication and communities with students, because of their leadership position. Several of their in-class characteristics must extend into the online environment, such as their ability to guide student behavior and learning. With online communication, teachers must model and demonstrate appropriate Netiquette throughout their persistent involvement. Teachers should also encourage their classes to evolve into learning communities in which group processes have the power to influence the behavior of individuals.^[15] These online environments should foster a sense of openness, friendliness, and trust, so that problem solving becomes a group function.^[15][17]

Examples

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Teachers and students can e-mail questions and answers to each other about course content and assignments. Schools and teachers can maintain official websites with important information about events, assignments, and resources that students can utilize outside class.

Both students and teachers can post messages in online forums as a part of homework assignments. In this way they can present different points of view that they don't have any chance to present in the classroom.

Online study groups allow students to maintain relationships with their peers from a distance. These study groups can be created within a classroom’s social networking site, allowing users to connect with each other directly, beyond typical chat rooms and forums.

Teachers can develop virtual tours, virtual education, and virtual learning environment for their students in multi-user virtual environments (MUVE).

Technology and tools

The most widely used online communication tool is e-mail between teachers, which provides opportunities for asynchronous communication, instantaneous distribution to a mass audience, mobile access, and file exchange.^[21][22] Teacher-created websites provide online access to administrative information, calendars, links, blogs, etc. Internet forums allow learners and teachers to articulate ideas, give and receive feedback, reflect on the perspectives of others, and receive clarification of concepts.^[23] social networking sites are used for focused and open communication between users. Blogs allow individuals to express their ideas in greater detail and with multimedia.

Course Management Systems (CMS)

Various course management systems (a.k.a. Learning Management Systems or Virtual Learning Environments) are designed specifically for facilitating online communication in education. Effective course management software tends to include more information, widgets, functions, and customization options than teacher-created websites.

Most course management systems include:

• class information: calendar, syllabus, details of pre-requisites, assessment information, and a FAQ
• a notice board with up-to-date course information
• learning materials: course content, copies of visual aids, reading materials and links to community resources
• assessment opportunities: self-assessment, peer-assessment, and formal assessment
• communication support: e-mail, threaded discussions, and a chat room
• differentiated access rights for teachers, administrators, and students
• document authoring tools
• administrative tools: student tracking capabilities, statistics, and reports

Example CMS Softwares:

• Claroline
• JoomlaLMS (a LMS based on Joomla platform)
• LAMS(the Learning Activity Management System)
• SharePointLMS(a LMS based on MS SharePoint)
• ITWorx CLG
• CCNet
• Coggno(an e-learning software platform and courseware creation toolkit)
• Chamilo
• Dokeos
• eFront
• ILIAS
• Moodle
• Sakai

Other examples

SnappSchool is a tool that allows K-8 teachers to keep parents up to date on what the kids are learning in the classroom via SMS and e-mail, so that the parents are better able to support those lessons in the home. A free beta is current up and accepting teachers to participate.

TeleParent is an automated parental notification system that allows teachers and administrators to send messages home over the telephone or internet in multiple languages.

Parent Teacher On-Line (PTO) is a web service for scheduling parent-teacher conferences and assisting parents with special booking requirements.

Student Jotter is an online tool for students to organize and display their coursework in an electronic portfolio that parents and educators can monitor. Student Jotter also includes internal social networking software, blogging and direct messaging between students, teachers and parents.

UpToUs is an online tool that allows parents, teachers, and administrators to connect and organize students' groups and activities.

Tapped In is a Web-based learning environment that offers teachers online professional development through their online tools, resources, professional communities, and support.

References

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2. ^ ^{a b} Keltner, M., Hammond School City, I. N., South Bend Community School Corp, I. N., & et al. (1990). Building School Home Partnerships: A Handbook for Educators.
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Watson, J., Gemin, B., & International Association for K-12 Online, L. (2009). Management and Operations of Online Programs: Ensuring Quality and Accountability. Promising Practices in Online Learning. International Association for K-12 Online Learning
4. ^ ^{a b} Harrell, I. (2008). Increasing the Success of Online Students. Inquiry, 13(1), 36-44.
5. ^ ^{a b} Swick, K. J., Humanics Associates, A. G. A., & et al. (1979). Building Successful Parent-Teacher Partnerships.
6. ^ Moles, O., & Office of Educational Research and Improvement, W. D. C. (1992). Building Home-School Partnerships for Learning: Workshops for Urban Educators. Pilot Version.
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8. ^ ^{a b} Southern Regional Education Board (2003). Essential Principles of High-Quality Online Teaching: Guidelines for Evaluating K-12 Online Teachers.
9. ^ ^{a b c} Tobolka, D. (2006). Connecting Teachers and Parents Through the Internet. [Article]. Tech Directions, 66(5), 24.
10. ^ ^{a b c} Erlanger, W., Virgen-Heim, V., Bryde, B. (2001). Connecting Parents and Teachers using MUVE. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development 1998 Yearbook: Learning and Technology, pp. 3-27
11. ^ Perkins, M., & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a Course Management System to Improve Classroom Communication. Science Teacher, 73(7), 33-37.
12. ^ ^{a b} Valcke, M., Bonte, S., De Wever, B., & Rots, I. (2010). Internet Parenting Styles and the Impact on Internet Use of Primary School Children. Computers & Education, 55(2), 454-464.
13. ^ ^{a b} Furger, R. (2002). Making Connections Between Home and School: Parents Become Active Participants. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/making-connections-between-home-and-school on Oct. 10, 2010
14. ^ Pegrum, M. (2009) From Blogs to Bombs: The Future of Digital Technologies in Education. Crawley, Western Australia: UWA Publishing
15. ^ ^{a b c} Rose, S. (2010). Connectivity: A Framework for Understanding Effective Language Teaching in Face-to-face and Online Learning Communities. [Article]. RELC Journal, 41(2), 137-147. doi: 10.1177/0033688210375775
16. ^ Davison, M. et al. (2006), The Learning Styles, Expectations, and Needs of Online Students, College Teaching 54(1), 185-189
17. ^ Alley R, Jung B (1995) Preparing teachers for the 21st Century. In: O’Hair MJ, Odell SL (eds) Educating Teachers for Leadership and Change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 285-301.
18. ^ Mislove, A., Marcon, M., Gummadi, K. P., Druschel, P., & Bhattacharjee, B. (2007) Measurement and analysis of online social networks. [Article]. Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGCOMM conference on Internet measurement, 29.
19. ^ Rovai, A. (2002) Building sense of community at a distance. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 3(1): 1-16.
20. ^ How the Internet Has Changed the Student and Teacher Communication - 6 Things They Never Argue About. Retrieved from: http://www.everythingdsl.com/featured-articles/student-and-teacher-communication
21. ^ Thompson, B. (2008). Characteristics of Parent-Teacher E-Mail Communication. Communication Education, 57(2), 201-223.
22. ^ Power, M. (2010). Parent, Teacher, Student Communication — Going Beyond Paper Newsletters and Emails. Retrieved from: Retrieved from: http://blogs.scholastic.com/top_teaching/2010/09/parent-teacher-student-communication-going-beyond-paper-newsletters-and-emails.html on Oct. 10, 2010
23. ^ Hammond, M. (1999).Issues associated with participation in on line forums--the case of the communicative learner.

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