Inquiry Topic 1-
Using the "See Saw" application to increase the amount of parent engagement we currently have with our syndicate's online reporting system.
This topic relates to a current issue in our practice because we have identified that the online reports documenting digital examples of student learning are not currently being viewed regularly by parents. Currently our students create online reports where they have to create pieces of evidence that demonstrate mastery of learning across different curriculum areas. These reports are worked on throughout the year before being shared with parents on the last day of term. While they are an effective learning tool for students, parents are currently not engaging with as regularly with the report as we would like.
In order to increase the amount of parent engagement that we get our syndicate is going to trial using the "See Saw" digital portfolio next year. The ap is unique because it sends alerts to parent's phones the moment a student posts a new piece of evidence.
Here is how I plan to use Wegner's "Communities of Practice and Social LearningSystems".
The Domain- This will be teachers that are using, or already have, used the program. In our school this will be the senior syndicate team, as well as the junior and middle syndicate teachers who have already used the ap. The domain will also include teachers in our COL who are using the ap.
The Community - This will predominantly be my fellow team members, as well as other staff across the school. Within my team, we will interact regularly at staff and syndicate meetings, as well informally throughout the year. Forming a community with the other syndicates will also be important as they have experience using the program. We will be able to meet with them throughout the year at staff meetings, as well as during breaks and at other informal times during the day. The community could comprise of teachers on the web who are also using the ap through google plus, twitter, or other online forums.
The Practice- Within my team we will record the experiences that we are having in the notes of oour weekly team meetings. We will be able to build a collection of exemplars of different examples of digital technologies that can be used to showcase learning across different curriculum areas. Encouraging each teacher to create their own exemplars will be a challenge for me, as I have a tendency to rush in and do things myself or for other people. I would say that I do this with the intention of being helpful to people, but I can see how this can prevent others from feeling they have ownership of an initiative.
Hello Kynan, I can understand your frustration with your target audience (parents) not engaging with the online e portfolio. May I offer a perspective from the parent point of view. The end of year sharing event summarising a whole years effort I would find probably occurring at a very busy time with end of term and holidays approaching, and also lacking context - no teacher commentary, no triangulation, no progressive understanding of the child's journey to get to the final report. This is what I imagine I would feel as a parent. But in reality, in order to get true data on the preferred user experience (parent experience) I believe the best people to ask and interview is the parents. For example, given options, A, B, C, what would you as the parent prefer? Ask parents what are the reasons for not engaging. I believe this is called market validation in the business world.
ReplyDeleteMy gut reaction to an app that sends an alert to my phone the moment a student posts, is... oh no, more distraction, like those irritating Outlook email pop up notifications, how do I turn this OFF. Viewing a piece of my child's work is not a time critical event in my busy working life. I as the parent want to be able to choose when to view my child's work, preferably together with the child, to bring the piece of digital work into context of the child's perspective as the creator. This would have more value to me than immediacy. I'm expressing parental agency here. Wenger states as number 2 of the 7 principles of cultivating COP is to open a dialogue between inside (teachers) and outside (parents). Perhaps this could occur at parent interviews or discussion of the expected parental viewing of the e portfolio should be explained at the introductory session for parents at the beginning of each year. Or perhaps engage the class parent in the first instance, and get the parent to collect a parent focus group. I also think the parental eportfolio viewing should be collaborative, train the children to be the facilitators of the parents digital engagement at home. This would give students agency too.
I too, just want to just get on and solve the problem, and we both know the technical side, however, this is not the whole problem. I think in this case applying a Design Thinking process starting with human centred (parent) empathy will be critical, with multiple iterations on each version of user experience, to result in success as defined by all stakeholders - teachers - students - parents. Good luck, I think eportfolios are a fabulous idea for the learners and assessment. My professional group is making the transition from paper to eportfolio next year, finally, but my students are adults, so there are no parents involved!
Amanda Charlton
29.11.2017
Thanks for your thoughtful reply Amanda. I see your point about bombarding them with alerts at times that are not convenient. I will make sure that as a team we specify the types of learning examples that we will share, as well as a schedule around the frequency of our posts.
DeleteHi Kynan,
ReplyDeleteWe changed from blooger to Seesaw as a sharing tool this year. The students manage the content and teachers proof before posting. We have signed all our parents up to the app on their preferred devices. The first one was huge as it involved the whole school, so we had a multi-prong approach of emails, at meet the teacher nights and at parent interviews and student lead conference days. Now we only need to focus on new enrolments. Yes, a few do feel 'irritated' by the notification as Amanda pointed out above, but any initiative will have naysayers. The vast majority LOVE it! Our data shows that they engage regularly with the content and many parents comment back on their child's posts. The kids feel empowered to share about their day because they have a concrete sample to talk about and parents find an 'in' for asking about their child's day. One type of posting that our parents don't seem to like is the type that a teacher may send out to whole class, even if it was a whole class activity. They prefer personalised, student created content.
All the best with your journey. Feel free to contact our deputy principal (Rob Hutton) at Kristin Junior school to chat about his learnings if you are looking for an open and honest perspective.
Hi there
ReplyDeleteChange is difficult for many, and parents fall into this also. Seesaw is definitely a great tool to use, however, I wonder if it is worth considering other apps that have the same purpose. I guess it's really important to understand the intention of using the tool first and it may be worth considering parent voice to inform the way you move forward. I would definitely ask around other centers using this and other tools for the pro's and con's and see if you can match this with what you are looking for and to achieve.
Hi there
ReplyDeleteChange is difficult for many, and parents fall into this also. Seesaw is definitely a great tool to use, however, I wonder if it is worth considering other apps that have the same purpose. I guess it's really important to understand the intention of using the tool first and it may be worth considering parent voice to inform the way you move forward. I would definitely ask around other centers using this and other tools for the pro's and con's and see if you can match this with what you are looking for and to achieve.
Good luck. I look forward to reading your developments.
Donna:0)