Schools are promoting the use of ICT for parents to support students' learning and help them engage more in their child's process. It is a way for parents to better understand what their child is doing.
From the video attached it transpires that there are parents who nowadays prefer texting than receiving letters from schools.
Through the use of ICT parents can have access to the moodle sites which students themselves use. At the parents' convenience, students can show at any time what they did during the day, the resources they are using, work done, etc.
From a particular student's experience it is evident that students appreciate the use of ICT, since it facilitates the fact that today students have the opportunity not to miss out on any lessons due to their absence.
An idea which I really liked from this video is that in the site there is a Parent Area, from which parents can get all the support needed. Parents are being provided also with immediate up-to-date information on school activities, child's behavior, progress, etc.
Therefore as we can see ICT is a tool about communication and bringing parents in the community.
An online foundation named E-learning for Kids, http://www.e-learningforkids.org., is an existing non-profit foundation dedicated to fun and free learning on the Internet for children aged 5 to 12 with programmes in mathematics, science, reading, health and computers. This website also delivers academic resources which are particularly helpful to students in their studies. It also aims in improving the quality of education as well as encourages self-learning among students and promotes ICT.
ReplyDeleteReference:
http://www.e-learningforkids.org/
I full agree with such a system for communicating information to parents or guardians as it provides a continuous method for monitoring their children's progress in various subjects. It is also a safer way to ensure that messages, notices or even results, do actually arrive at their destination (of course depending on the correctness of the e-contact information provided).
ReplyDeleteJonathan Brincat, a creator of one of this week's WiKi entries (http://mcastelearn.pbworks.com/E-learning+eco-friendliness) also highlighted the eco-friendliness of e-learning. I recall the vast amount of newsletters, progress reports, invitations for social activities, etc...that we used to take home for parents in our days at primary and secondary school. All this waste of paper can be avoided when using such a system. Many educational institutions in Malta have in fact invested in similar pilot projects.
One must take into consideration though, that not all parents may be IT-oriented as their children! This could result in important notifications not being read or purposely hidden by their children who might be 'facilitating' this process for their parents.
I found the video very interesting. It is clear that using technology can help parents monitor their children better, whilst keeping close contact with the school and its activities.
ReplyDeleteIt is high time that the Maltese government and educational institutions started looking into such possibilities. There have been initiatives related to ICT and parents of students in primary schools but many of these have lost their hype. An example of such is the website for ICT support initiatives (ICT Learning Center, 2007) which has not been updated since 2007! This may be the cause of bad planning and lack of support, a common problem with most initiatives in Malta.
With possible help from European funds, technological approaches should be explored to enhance the presently-deteriorating level of education.
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ICT Learning Center. (2007, November 19). Welcome. Retrieved June 23, 2010, from ICT Support Primary Support Initiatives: http://schoolnet.gov.mt/ictprimary/supportinitiatives/
I find this very interesting. Maybe this system of giving online information to parents would not have applied a few years ago. Even the parents of today, I believe, are not all computer literate. So if this system was implemented today it cannot completely eliminate all the paperwork, such as newsletters, student results, circulars, etc.. It would have to be used, at most, in parallel with the hardcopy system.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in the future I can easily see it succeed. The parents of the future are the teenagers of today, and the rate of computer literacy amongst teens is obviously increasing. Besides, in most of today's families, and probably also of the future, both parents work. Therefore a system using which they can obtain information online, rather than having to go to the school premisses, would be of great help to parents.
I think that the use of the internet and of modern technology is very useful for schools to communicate with parents. If the school does not send printed material and send information be e-mail or sms to parents there is more chance of the information arriving to the parents because when students are given notes for their parents they might not pass on the message or lose it. I also think that it is about time that the modern technology that is available is used and this will also lead to a reduction in the amount of paper that is used.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above comments as I think that implementing such a system would be beneficial but there is a big problem which is related to computer literacy of parents. Although nowadays ICT has been integrated in education, some students may still find it difficult to use such technology, let alone some parent/guardian which have never used a computer.
ReplyDeleteI personally feel that such a system would be beneficial for all parties if it can be applied in all schools which teach students up to secondary levels. In my opinion I do not see the point of having such a system for grown up students (aged 16 and more). I do not agree with parents days for students who are ‘grown-ups’. I feel that any student attending at an institute such as ours should be doing a course from his own free will and there is no need to inform parents with his performance. If parents show the interest then there should be the appropriate measures implemented so that this can be made possible.
This is very interesting though I find it a bit contradictive. We all know that e-Learning requires self-discipline, and children lack this kind of characteristic. At the same time, grown-up students have it, but they don't require parental observation.
ReplyDeleteSo the only scenario where parental engagement can be applied is when e-Learning is implemented with youngsters(which again is not usually the case, especially here in Malta).
Steve, I posted a blog yesterday entitled E-learning for Children's study patterns(http://mcast-elearn.blogspot.com/2010/06/e-learning-for-childrens-study-patterns.html)on which I highlighted that very same site. I agree it is truly educational and an inspiration for both kids and parents.
ReplyDeleteNadia, I believe that other than this being beneficial for the kids it is also helpful for the parents. Most parents are too busy today to have a chance to go to school for parents day or meetings with their children's teacher. I am sure that most of them feel as though they are missing out on quite a bit of their children's childhood as school is an essential part of a child's life. However, with life being so hectic few parents can do otherwise, hence their hands are tied. We have to only take a look at MCAST's full-time lecturers to prove this. However, with such a system the parents can be kept updated regularly and feel a part of their children's life!
In Malta there is a particular school who's website is full of educational content and informative for the parents. This is St.Francis School in BKARA. I have supplied a link to all those who wish to check out this school's site! http://www.stfrancisschoolbkara.com/
Children living in areas of deprivation often demonstrate low attainment and poor social development on school entry. This is often followed by under-achievement, lack of motivation and unsocial behaviour. All these problems are frequently linked to a lack of parental involvement in children’s early learning. There are many reasons why parents in area of deprivation do not provide the levels of support that would best help the educational and social development of their young children. They may be constrained by poverty, lack of knowledge or a lack of well-targeted services. Much has been done in recent years to address these problems and develop integrated support services for children and their parents. This has been both across the public sector and through joint working between public, private, voluntary and community groups. Several initiatives have also focused on helping parents to support their children’s learning, including programmes by Sure Start and the Basic Skills Agency. These support families and help parents gain skills to assist in their children’s development.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=8411555
The above abstract confirms the importance of parental involvement. In Malta there are schools who involve parents and like it was said on the video, messages and reports are also being sent through e mails which is of great benefit to the parents, at least they know what is happening. I also know of nurseries who daily send pictures to parents showing the development of their children in the different areas. This contribution to parents is highly recommended and as a lecturer in the early years, I try to instil its importance to my students. However it is the deprived families that suffer most, we need to engage in helping them to use IT. I recommend support groups and parents helping each other to gain skills and knowledge in their children’s development, this is an area that needs to be addressed first.
All of these ideas are very interesting but I find it problematic in some areas. First of all I think that there should be a limit of involvement for the parents. I agree with the parents area where parents can submit their suggestions or complaints. This reduces the number of parents going to school to talk to the teacher. Secondly like what John said, there are parents who are not IT oriented and thus we need to take this into consideration and not having an online communication facility only.
ReplyDeleteMy wife, being a primary school teacher, commented on parental involvement through ICT in both positive and negative ways. She agreed that it can be beneficial in more ways than one; especially when it comes to dealing with important issues such as classwork and homework in case of students being ill, reporting serious behaviour issues, passing on important messages from the school and so on. On the other hand though, as always, no system comes without its disadvantages. My wife strongly commented on the fact that there exist a good number of parents who are not in the least interested in their children’s education, at times through no fault of their own in the case of illiteracy for instance, and at other times simply because they cannot be bothered. Some of them in fact do not even turn up for Parents’ Day. Then again, the crux of the mentioned disadvantages lies with parents who are completely on the other end. For such parents, the information passed on by the teacher through emails for example is never enough; they always seem to want to know more. In such cases she feels that such parents turn out to be nuisances and also try to invade the teacher’s privacy, not to say make the teacher involved think twice about whether this system of using ICT as a means of communication to enhance parental involvement would have been a good idea after all.
ReplyDeleteA great advantage of ICT is improvement in correspondence and surely this can be used in e-Learning for parents. I think that it is a positive thing that parents would have the ability to view the student's progress and be able to check the content that is being delivered.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there should be a limit though to all this. The tutor should have the ability and freedom to deliver content using his/her professional judgement without having to be questioned by the respective parents.
What should be clarified is that the parents should not have a determining influence on the content or delivery techniques adopted by the tutor.
In most instances when one “learns” something in a vacuum s/he finds t much more difficult to make heads or tails of it as well as to remember it , than when one learns it in a context.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the relevance to the issue of using ICT with parents? Well John Muscat and Luke Vella Critien commented about the possible lack of ICT knowhow on the part of parents. Most people might not know how to use a computer just because they did not need to know. If the need arises then I am sure that most of them would get the grasp of it. When MCAST adopted the use of e-mails as the main method of communication, there were some lecturers who were of not ‘as proficient’ with the use of e-mails most of them were apprehensive about the idea. MCAST went along with the method none the less and sure enough after some time most of those which did not know how to e-mail were quickly learning the ropes. One of the things which did the trick was the sending of the payslip via e-mail...why because now they had a pressing reason to learn. Had MCAST just used the email for basic notices I am sure that most would not have bothered.
The same issue applies with the use of ICT to communicate with parents. If schools give parents an important reason to use it the will.