Increase Parent Communication of Upcoming School Events
One of the difficult aspects of this project has been to narrow it down and find the core problem to an idea or a solution.
After brainstorming back and forth with my principal I decided to research into creating an app for iPhone users. I found a website that gives tutorials for how to create an app from scratch and even priced out what it would cost the district to purchase the software used in creating an app.
Here is a list of things that would be nice to include in the app:
- District/School wide calendar of events- football games, conferences, workshops (this would also be handy to have it sync events to your phone/ computer calender)
- Have a secure log in with individual user names
- Use the logo for the district as the application symbol
- Cafeteria schedule of meals and payments towards meal plans
- grade checks for parents (and students!)
- Classroom/ Teacher connection links
There would also be an "technology information night" for parents to come learn about the new app and other useful software along with basic computer tutorials.
We would offer kids a free dress or other fun incentives to get the students to sign up and register with the site.
After this idea, I found a company called "Event Link": https://eventlink.com/public/index.php
It is a program designed for administrators to get a message out to all users with instant alerts. It is free and there is nothing to install. In fact, their claim is "instant communication". It includes monthly and daily calendar of events, event reminders/ alerts, and instant alerts. There is an app that you can log into on your phone but also access from any computer with Internet access or even basic text messaging to receive alerts is an option for the user. The program can also utilize facebook and twitter accounts!
I can see the interest in making an app that allows family's to get information at the touch of a button. As for me working at low socioeconomic area there would be less than 20% of our students parents do not have an I phone. Our district has what is called a call out system that information is delivered to any select group or all students. The call out system is updated with the phone numbers listed in the packets that parents fill out at the beginning of the year. I have had information sent out to all parents that have students in the 8th and 9th grade to explore their interest in a certain program about to be offered. They can not respond to the call per say but it gets the information out so they can have their child sent to the proper place to sign up and gather more information. I believe that a strong school has good communication with it's parents. Any form of communication is good so I would not say the idea is bad in anyway but it would not reach enough of our parents. We also have a program that the parent's can sign up for to keep track of child's progress on a day to day basis pertaining to grades. I am not sure how many other schools use similar programs but we had good participation with it.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of using an app that allows educators to communicate upcoming events to families seems great; but unfortunately I have to agree with Phil, the majority of our parents do not own iPhones. I am very interested in finding better ways to communicate with parents, specifically because some of our parents tend to change their phone numbers every couple of week. Our district currently uses a variety of communication methods such as the old paper flyers/notices, local newspaper announcements, marquee announcements at every campus, district and school web pages, and a phone call system for middle and high school levels to alert parents of their children’s truancy and upcoming meetings. It would be very beneficial to find better cost effective and efficient communication methods.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of better communication between home and school. School truly is a community and to foster that feeling among students and parents is important. Have you looked at http://ejucomm.com/ ? This project looks very similar to what you are describing.
ReplyDeleteI humbly disagree with Aleida and Phil. There are over a million activations of smart phones each day. This trend will not slow down any time soon. I teach in a poor district, and even so students and parents have smartphones.
ReplyDeleteAlso the cost of these devices is dropping. It does not have to be the latest generation of smartphone in order to use these types of apps.
In my opinion, this is the perfect time to introduce an app like you describe. Get it to the marketplace so that it can be tested and improved now.
There may never be 100% adoption, but then again there is no system that is 100% effective. Papers get lost, phone calls go to inactive numbers, people move so mailings are not received, etc.
I think it is a fantastic idea and I look forward to seeing your progress.
I agree with both Phil and John. I'm also at a Title I campus where there are many at risk/low socioeco students/families. But I can see that when they're spending money it is sometimes on a new smart phone. Shannon, my principal has asked me to do the same exact thing for our campus. Thanks for the resources. Like John said, the trend will be growing to where the smartphone will be more of a commonality as time progresses.
ReplyDeleteI don't see the "Follow Me" option on your blog. Is there any way you can get that going?
I think the "Event Link" website is a great idea for those that do not have a apple device (I am one of those people). I wonder if google has an app that you could add to a google site that could send out a news alert to people's phone or email.
ReplyDeleteShannon, the app creator sounds awesome. Even better would be to create a template any school could use then share it with everyone else! Don't rule out Android apps as a good number of people have Android smart phones!
ReplyDeleteI want to look into this, too. I know that a few people have mentioned that even their low-SES parents are toting smart phones now. The fact that I've seen becoming more and more common is that these phones are being utilized as the household's only interface with the Internet. Rather than paying one bill for DSL or cable or any other Internet connection AND a cell phone bill, they're rolling up with the one device, utilizing bi-annual discounts to keep it updated, and using their smartphones as a lot more than just phones. The idea of an app would appeal to a LOT of the parents at my school.
ReplyDeleteAnd like John said, nothing is ever going to be 100%, but that's all the more reason to utilize every conceivable strategy to establish and maintain contact with home. We have a Parent Self-Serve system and were just talking tonight at the CEIC meeting about how to entice more parents to sign up for it. This may be one of the most important issues facing educators as there seems to be a growing disconnect between teachers and parents. I have never been to so many meetings where parents have come in ready to go on the offense only to find, to their surprise, that the teacher or teachers or administrators in the room were actually ON THEIR SIDE. We have to patch that divide by any means necessary.
Keep us posted on the progress on your app. Thanks, Shannon.