How Future Teachers Can Use Technology to Communicate with Parents

Introduction

This project is designed for future teachers to recognize how they can communicate with parents using current technology. Students will be placed in teams of four, and will work together to determine how technology can be used to communicate with parents. Teams will work collaboratively to create a presentation; team members will write a minimum two-page individual reflection, using the APA writing style, on what they learned about using technology to communicate with parents.

Communication technology is a rapidly changing field that offers choices on methods for communication. As future teachers, you will be interacting with parents who may not have used many of today’s available technologies---as well as with parents who use many technologies. In order to keep the lines of communication open, you will examine the following communication technologies and describe how you can use them to communicate with parents:

- email

- cell phones for text messaging

- social networks

- class web pages

Your mission is to learn methods of communicating with the parents of your future students, thinking about these questions:

What communication methods are available for keeping in touch with parents?
What are the positive and negative aspects of current communication technology?
How will you use communication technology to communicate with parents?

Task

Teams are expected to prepare a presentation that will show the audience:

Communication technologies available for communicating with parents.
The positive and negative aspects of communication technologies used to communicate with parents.
How you will use technology to communicate with parents.

After gathering information on the topic, teams will prepare an interactive presentation for the class addressing the questions presented. The presentation could be a:

PowerPoint
Video
Web page
Speech with visual aids
Other methods as approved by instructor

Each team member will be responsible for writing a minimum two-page reflection describing what they learned about using technology to communicate with parents and how they will use the information as teachers.

Process

Browse the websites on the list below and, as a team, determine who is responsible for gathering information from each website. There are over 20 websites listed, so each team member should review at least four. As you review information from the websites, keep in mind:

Communication technologies available for communicating with parents.
The positive and negative aspects of communication technologies used to communicate with parents.
How you will use technology to communicate with parents.

Meeting:

Teams are responsible for scheduling times to meet outside of class while developing their presentations.

Meet and review your notes, deciding what information to include and what type of presentation format you will use.

Determine which team member is responsible for each part of your presentation, trying to be as fair as possible while working with each team member's strengths:

- Who will introduce the presentation?

- Will everyone have a speaking role?

- Who will create visual aids for the presentation?

- Who will be responsible for images/print?

- Have you answered the posed questions?

- REHEARSE YOUR PRESENTATION!

- Is your presentation between three and six minutes?

Presentations:

Each team will deliver a three to six minute presentation, answering:

What communication methods are available for keeping in touch with parents?
What are the positive and negative aspects of current communication technology?
How will you use communication technology to communicate with parents?

Citations:

Please remember to cite any information used from the provided websites, as well as any information you find on your own, using APA writing style.

Websites:

Technology has changed the way we communicate

How Social Media is Changing the Way We Communicate

How Technology Has Changed Education

A Primer: 3 Ways Technology Has Changed Education

How Has Technology Changed the Way We Communicate

How Technology Has Changed Our Communication with Friends ...

Ways technology has changed interpersonal communication

Technology for Teacher-Parent Communication

Using Technology to Communicate With Parents

Communicating with Parents and Students Using Social Media

6 ways to use social media to connect with parents

Social media for schools: a guide to Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest

3 Ways Schools Are Using Technology To Talk To Parents

9 Awesome Group Text Messaging Tools for Educators

Improving Parent-Teacher Communication Through Technology

Types of communication between Parents and Teachers

Improve Parent-Teacher Communication

Top Ten Reasons to Create a Classroom Web Page

Classroom Web - Purpose - Electric Teacher

Why Create a Classroom Website - Southgate Schools

Using a classroom webpage to communicate with parents

Evaluation

These rubrics show how your work will be evaluated. Your score will be determined by the success of your team, as well as your individual reflection.

Group Presentation	Exceeds Expectations 5	Meets Expectations 4	Meets Some Expectations 3	Meets Few Expectations 2	Meets No Expectations 1
Introduction	Includes main points, conclusion, appropriate language, and strong delivery (elements), captivates audience, creates excitement	Includes 3 of the 4 elements, creates excitement	Includes 2 of the 4 elements, creates interest	Includes 1 of the 4 elements, merely begins	No element, has no introduction
Body	Answers all questions, well developed, clearly organized, great transitions	Answers 2 questions , organization mostly clear, good transitions	Answers 2 questions, organization mostly clear, good transition	Answers 1 question, organization lacks structure and transitions	Does not answer questions, no organization
Conclusion	Includes a review of all points included in body, strong summary	Includes a review of most points, average summation	Includes a review of some points, weak summation	Includes a review of 1 point, weak summation	Ends abruptly, no summation
Language/ Word Choice	Excellent word choice, rare grammatical errors	Good word choice, few grammatical errors	Good word choice, several grammatical errors	Poor word choice, several grammatical errors	Poor word choice, numerous grammatical errors
Delivery	Appropriate use of gestures, good eye contact, good posture, excellent inflection, timing between 3 and 6 minutes	Limited use of gestures, average eye contact, varied inflection, good posture, timing between 3 and 6 minutes	Some oral pauses (ums), limited eye contact, limited inflection, excessive movement, timing not between 3 and 6 minutes	Distracting mannerisms, no eye contact, monotone, heavy use of notes, timing not between 3 and 6 minutes	Reads entire speech/ presentation, timing not between 3 and 6 minutes
Reflection
Overall content	Reflection demonstrates thorough knowledge of at least four methods of communicating with parents	Reflection demonstrates some knowledge of at least three methods of communicating with parents	Reflection demonstrates some knowledge of at least two methods of communicating with parents	Reflection demonstrates some knowledge of one method of communicating with parents	Reflection does not demonstrate knowledge of communicating with parents
Language/word choice	Excellent word choice, rare grammatical errors	Good word choice, few grammatical errors	Good word choice, several grammatical errors	Poor word choice, several grammatical errors	Poor word choice, numerous grammatical errors
Applied learning	Reflection includes at least 4 methods student believes will be effective for communicating with parents	Reflection includes at least 3 methods student believes will be effective for communicating with parents	Reflection includes at least 2 methods student believes will be effective for communicating with parents	Reflection includes at least 1 method student believes will be effective for communicating with parents	Reflection does not include any methods for communicating with parents

Scoring Rubric - 5 point scale/40 points total

Total Points	Effectiveness Plan Score
36 to 40 Pts.	5 (Meets Expectations)
32 to 35 Pts.	4 (Meets Most Expectations)
28 to 31 Pts.	3 (Meets Some Expectations)
24 to 27 Pts.	2 (Meets Few Expectations)
Below 24 pts.	1 (Did Not Meet Expectations)

Conclusion

Conclusion:

As you prepare to become the teachers of tomorrow in this age of ever-changing technology, remember to be open-minded. By doing so, you will keep abreast of effective methods of communicating with parents.

Teacher Page of M. Teresa Dyer:

Welcome to “How Future Teachers Can Use Technology to Communicate with Parents”, a webquest designed to challenge college students in a teacher preparation course to consider how they will use technology to effectively communicate with parents. This project is designed for a college freshman level Communication for Educators course.

Resources:

The Eastern New Mexico University College of Education and Technology (ENMU CET) views itself and its constituents as a community of learners, involved in an on-going journey of investigation. This course reinforces the vision that the CET has a strong commitment of the preparation of life-long learners who are continuously involved in professional growth, learning, and development.

Continuous learning is seen as a long-term collaborative journey, or TREC (Theory,Research, Effective Practices, and Commitment). This learning journey is unique, while it leads to a sense of empowerment based upon the context of the high plains of the southwest, much of the journey is marked by means of the various measures or benchmarks along the way.

(adapted from http://education.enmu.edu/trec.shtml)

Objective:

This webquest will assist learners as they become knowledgeable about the resources available for using technology to communicate with parents (R, E).

Credits

Credits:

Everyone benefits from shared work. Permission is granted for others to use and modify this webquest for educational, non-commercial purposes as long as the author is credited.