Using Technology to Increase Parent Communication

You can post, or "tweet", messages up to 240 characters. This can include text, hyperlinks, photos and videos. Other users can "follow" you and easily read anything you write.

Parent communication can be enhanced by participating on a well-known platform that many adults already use on a regular basis, thus avoiding logging into a separate school-only account.

You can make your teacher account "private," only allowing confirmed parents to see your tweets. And the DM (direct messaging) feature can allow you to communicate with one parent directly.

Drawbacks include the 240 character limit for tweets and that some people find Twitter's format confusing at first.

This tool is for making student grades, for individual assignments and assessments, accessible to the parent.

This enhances parent communication because you do not need to depend on the student to keep their parent up-to-date. A parent can be as involved (or un-involved) as they desire in knowing the status of their students grades and missing assignments.

It is important to stay up-to-date on logging in information, or the tool becomes a source of confusion for parents and ultimately not useful at all.

Privacy is a benefit of this tool.

E-mail allows a one-on-one conversation between teacher and parent.

Parent communication can be enhanced because it can be written and read at the teacher's and parent's most convenient times. It also allows for timely conversation, instead of having to wait for phone messages to be returned.

Conversations can be on-going, if necessary. Attachments including photos or copies of school work add to the convenience of this as a tool

A draw-back is that some things can be misunderstood when communicated in writing, that would be much clearer when discussed verbally.

This tool can be used like a traditional parent-teacher conference, but the ease of use allows convenience for parents and teachers, especially if contact is needed more frequently.

A drawback of using this tool is that some parents may not have the hardware necessary or if they do, it may take some time to learn to use it.

Unlike email, if you are video-conferencing you need to be dressed and groomed professionally, as if you were having a face-to-face meeting.

Online calendar tools allow you to make the classroom calendar accessible to all families. You can include whatever you'd like, from test-dates to student's birthdays.

This can enhance parent communication in that they will not have to contact you with questions, nor will they need to count on their child's memory for important dates.

Most calendar tools are very basic; in-depth details about any event will need to be disseminated in other ways.

This tool, as others, is only as effective as the people using it!