Followers

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Action Research Plan Draft- Week 3

OUTCOMES
ACTIVITIES
RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED
RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES
TIME LINE
Benchmarks/
ASSESSMENT
Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
Discovering how much and what form of technology parents use at home
Survey current use of and access to technology for parents at home
Flyer sent home with students, research how to create a technology survey
Staff, Parent, Students, Computer Staff, Parent Involvement Committee,
Administrator
1 week to create, pass out, and have students return to school
Review and document parents responses, evaluate the greatest form of technology at home

Discovering other school districts form of parent communication through technology.
Research other school districts smart phone applications and use of communication
Utilize the “app store” application on my smart phone to find other school districts, and Google other school websites
Myself, using my smart phone and the internet
2 days of refining search
Create a excel sheet with 10- 20 school district with what form of technology used and to what detail.

Discovering Cost of App Programming, and how to Program, what software is needed and if there is a more affordable form
Research cost and time for creating a new “app” for school or district or other possible forms of communication
Utilize the Google database to price software, and watch tutorial videos on how to create app
Myself, using my smart phone and the internet
3 days of refining search and watching tutorial videos
Deciding and discussing with administrator best form of technology for communication improvement

Using Event Link Program and start using on administrator phones
Create School database with calendar on Event Link website and download on administrators smart phones
Follow the steps listed on https://eventlink.com
/public/index.php
And using school calendar to input events
Administrator using registration and inputting calendar of events, and downloading app
2 days of utilizing administrator time for registering and inputting calendar of events
Registered school on Event Link and school events logged with administrator access

Discovering practical use and application of the new app, email and texting system
Create a focus group to try out new application
Notify teachers and PTA about the new system and have them try out and give feedback on their preference
Teachers and PTA members, friends, and family, administrators
2 weeks of getting focus group registered and using
Focus group has registered and received at least 2 notifications

A large response of parent interest and forms returned with RSVP
Create informative flyers for parents to attend a parent involvement “technology night”
Flyers for registration are sent home with students and returned to office
Students and Parents, Secretary help to pass out notifications to all teachers
1 ½ week to create, pass out, and begin arranging event, and have an expected head count
Flyers are passed out to 8th period teachers, sent home with students, and RSVP

Arrange a successful “technology night” to train parents and register for Event Link.
Host a “technology night” to train parents on how to use new software program, register on event link and train on other basic software
Door prize arranged, Catering arranged, creating a workspace for everyone, getting everyone to a computer or to a projector, Having an itinerary and Hand-outs with information for parents that night.
Any and all member in the community, Teachers, Staff, Parents, Students, Administrators
Food catering company, Computer Lab teachers and librarians, and any door prize donator
2 month planning period, 1 night event
A large turnout at a technology night, with food, software training, and parents are most importantly registered for Event Link

A large database of students and parents registered and receive updates on school events
Continually use and update Event Links database Follow-up with effectiveness of new tool
Event Link database
Faculty and staff, members throughout the community, parents, and students
Ongoing post action research
As new school year begins parents are notified to register to receive notifications and updates constantly using the calendar








































































9 comments:

  1. You did a thorough job in creating you action research plan. It sounds very informed and based on previous research and knowledge. One thing that I do want to note though, is that if your goal is to increase parent communication, do you think sending a parent survey home will result in the expected feedback from parents? How will you make sure that the students give their parents the surveys and how will you make sure to get them back from the majority of the parents? I tell you this because due to our middle school campus's experience with parent communication, sending papers home with the students is ineffective unless tied to other factors such as calling home to inform parents that the survey will be sent home or by giving incentives like free dress passes. Ironically, this situation supports your topic of finding better and more efficient ways to communicate with parents.
    FYI: My project is on increasing student motivation in the classroom by incorporating brain-compatible strategies in the learning environment. These should work for any subject and one of the strategies is music. Follow me if you're interested. http://hazelvalverde.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my goodness gracious! Your plan is gorgeous! Mine looks like something stapled to a tree. How did you do this?

    Well, anyway, I don't know if I mentioned this the other day, but one of the things that we were talking about last week in CEIC was the possibility of having a parent night during which we would offer light refreshments to parents who came out and the opportunity to sit in a computer lab, sign up for Parent Self-Serve, visit with the ladies in the office to finalize their application for Parent Self-Serve, and possible fill out a web-based survey about the campus and their interactions with us. Maybe you guys could incorporate something like that to get your surveys done. We also talked about doing it again on nights of events like our choir concert and so forth to bring even more parents who might not come up just for free light refreshments but will show up to see their children perform. If we can get them in front of a computer either before or after the concert, we might increase our participation in the Self-Serve system. Just an idea and a half for getting that survey filled out and submitted by as many parents as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really do think shannon should become an IA when it's all over with.

    But back to your plan... anything that increases communication with parents is a good thing. It doesn't matter if it's a large school or a tiny district. Communication always seems to be a problem. I look forward to seeing your results. You might find something that would be of great value to our district. Best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  4. This is awesome and I am awe-struck. The depth that you have covered in your plan is incredible to have such a concise schedule. Im sure you can do it, but what is the back-up plan in case your schedule is force changed? I would really like to show this to my IT guys here. I think that they would appreciate your pursuit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this idea for using technology at our schools. I am super interested in following your research to see how things work out. I think this is so beneficial for everyone; the administrators, teachers, parents and students. Both from the perspective of a teacher and parent I would love for the school where I work and the school where my children attend to have something like this in place. My only suggestion would be if you have some flexibility with your scheduling, your scheduling is so precise that I don't think you are allowing yourself much flexibilty. Just my thought, you may have it all figured out but it's just an idea.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your plan looks very interesting. You put a lot of time and effort in to creating it. I like the idea of sending a flyer home with the students, but sometimes what we send home with our students doesn't always make it home. I know at my school when we have an event like this such as Parent Night, where we use a call out system to call all our students' parents to remind them of the event a few days before and the day of the event. Also if your school has parents’ emails on file, you can send the flyer out in an email. I don’t know if these ideas will help you but good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awesome job on the plan! I am interested to see the results. What happens if you don't have internet access how will they receive the information? I have small children and I think its funny how they have colored folders and one is for take home/parent sign, but as kids get older the less things go home? My middle school could use some help with communicating with the parents, the more they know ahead of time the less they can grip about! From the looks of your plan you are ready to begin, great job!

    ReplyDelete
  8. All I can say is WOW...I dont feel so well now!!

    ReplyDelete