How many times have we heard the conversation at the school gates of “So, what did you do today?” followed by the common response of “Nothing” or a run-down of the lunch menu?
Such responses can be frustrating for parents and teachers. Going into our 46 North Tyneside Learning Trust Schools to support their eLearning, I am privileged to see the amazing things that our children are doing in schools. So how can we share this information more effectively with their parents?
Technology should provide the answer. Recording learning on an iPad is easy enough but getting that record to parents can be tricky. Some of our schools are fortunate to have an iPad for every child but the majority of schools have class sets. The logistics of getting the work that students produce from the iPads into a central place is a nightmare, especially on older iPads that don’t have AirDrop. The process of “Leave your iPad on your desk when you go out to play”, and me rushing around each iPad to email the work (if I could) to myself, which would then clog up my inbox and be stored unnecessarily, was always a bugbear in my classroom
That is why we need to embrace the apps specifically designed to help us manage this process and which provide online learning journals for all, including parents.
My favourite online learning journal is Seesaw. I discovered it when I began in my new role as eLearning lead teacher for the trust. There are other online and tablet-based learning journals available but, for me, Seesaw is so useful for our schools as it is not objective driven. The app allows you to store, mark and share work with parents, and it works on Apple devices, Android devices, Chromebooks and any other device that has internet access. It’s such a versatile app that allows you to capture and store work and evidence that would normally be lost or never captured: those first ukulele music lessons, that amazing performance in PE, the class song/dance in the Christmas play can all now be sent home for parents to enjoy.
Their child’s work is presented in a feed view, which has a similar feel to Facebook. Parents, depending on the settings that the teacher has set, can like and comment on each piece of work, or record a voice comment if they prefer, and then this comment is sent to the teacher for approval. Being able to share the work that the children do on a day-to-day basis engages parents by informing them of the learning that is taking place in the classroom.
Parents can also be supported to help their children work at home through Seesaw. Teachers can send videos home to explain calculation strategies, how phonics are taught or even a note home as a reminder.
Find the app that works for your school and ensure that parents have the information to actively engage their children about their learning. Hopefully this will ensure that the conversations at the school gates are buzzing with specific information about what’s going on in the classroom rather than generic questions that elicit a vague response.
Laura Dickinson is eLearning lead practitioner for North Tyneside Learning Trust. She is on Twitter @eLearning_Laura
