Communication+Tools+for+Teachers+and++Parents

Brittane's Topic

//**Watching**//

Why is Online Communication Appropriate?
I believe that it is important to have communication between teachers and parents. The internet is a great tool to use as it expands generationally. We've experienced the times when students fail to bring a note home to their parents and teachers often never have time to speak with a fellow teacher about an idea or topic. Online communication is an effective tool to use to reach colleagues and parents. There are plenty of different choices to use when trying to use a technology based communication tool. There are sites such as: Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Dimdim, YouTube and Blogger. These sites have different capabilities that gives you acess to video, audio, chat, telephone conference, file sharing and screen sharing. It is also a recent trend in text chat messaging, where you can group anyone in your contacts and are able to have a text conversation with all the members in that group, and everyone will receive each persons response. Also, you may simply rely on the most basic type of communication, email, which is very easy to use and pretty much everyone has one. media type="youtube" key="Ls8zoJlCQ24" width="425" height="350"

//**Wondering**// __**Questions to think about**__//**:**// //**Webbing**// __**Internet Resources:**__
 * What is Online Communication?
 * What are the benefits with using Online Communication Tools?
 * What are some Online Communication Tools?
 * What is the importance of communicating with colleagues/parents?
 * Could this be used with elementary students?
 * Are there any ways to involve the students in online communication?



[|http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~hkchang/nap.html] This site gives the importance on online communication and why it is a good source to use.



[] This is a wikipedia on Facebook. Facebook is another site that teachers can use professionally to communicate with eachother as well as with parents.



[] This is a wikipedia for Twitter. Twitter can be use to remind colleagues and parents about a particular event or meeting that is in the near future.



[|http://www.blogger.com] Blogger is an online blog that teachers can use to post students work and give a snap shot of what the students will be learning for that particular semester or year.



[] Dimdim allows anyone to have a online meeting via chat, audio, telephone conference, file sharing, and screen sharing, with anyone that is a member on the site



[] This site focuses on new technology fosters communication between teachers and parents.Teachers who regularly collaborate with students' families may improve overall academic achievement.



[]/2009/09/22/online-tools-boost-parent-teacher-communications/ This is another site that focuses on the importance of being able to communicate with parents and how difficult it is to receive communication from the parents because of students forgetting to give their parents notes, or comments given by their teachers and really those things has just become stored away in their backpacks. This site stresses the importance of having the parents involved in communicating with their students teachers and the importance of having effective communication.



[] This site has tools and applications available for parents to download on their iphones, or android phones. The parent can download these tools that way they can receive alerts from the teacher which will let them know that they need to check their facebook, twitter, blog, or website because their is an important message for that parent to see regarding their children.


 * //Wiggling And Weaving//**

The major benefits of using online communication is the acceptability. It is easier to send multiple people a link via email, or posting that link on twitter rather than making multiple phone calls to different people which could be time consuming. Most people check their Twitter or Facebook everyday, so it would be hard to not see a wall post or a tweet, whereas dealing with a cell phone, lines may get crossed or the call sometimes simply fails to go through. People are more likely to check their social networking sites than they will check their voicemail or return a missed call. Using online communication makes life a little more easier and less demanding, especially when reaching parents and co-workers.

There are many advantages with using online communication tools but their are also disadvantages. It is important to keep these websites very professional. Some conversations can be misleading if is not serving the appropriate purpose. There are also a problem with false identies when dealing with sites such as facebook and twitter. Anyone can find a picture of that teacher and post anything under that person's name, so we all have to be aware of hackers.


 * //Wrapping//**

All of the sites are all highlighting the facts that effective communication is needed between parents and teachers. It is very common for students to forget to take notes home to their parents and either leave that note at home or just forget to give it to their parents on accident or on purpose. Parents and teachers need to know the technology that can be used to communicate with parents and their colleagues. This message could be given to the appropriate audience by way of e-mail since that is what schools have on file nowadays. The administrators or each students can send a mass email letting parents know that they will be changing the way they communicate with those parents. They can give the teachers, professional twitter name, and Facebook account address as well as their blog address if that is something that the teacher will be interested in starting up. The parents will have all of that information on the email. The parents will be asked to send a tweet, or post a comment on the teachers Facebook status that will let the teacher know that the parent receive the email and has a twitter or Facebook account. If that parent does not have twitter or Facebook, they would be encouraged to make one, or that teacher can make a blog, or website that would have the list of events and things that are coming up that will be due.

//**Wishing**// I've learned that there are so many resources on the web that allows teachers and parents to communicate with one another. The ineffective communication is a topic that is popular around the nation. I believe that schools should have their own individual social site that is for teachers and parents to communicate with on another and that website be nationwide for all school districts. The catch is, each school would have an individual code, that only can be used by the faculty and parents that are at that school. This way it will keep an unwanted people out of the site. It will be sort of how Facebook was for Harvard when it first begun. How and who will start this new trend? That answer is unknown.