What About the Parents?

By Clarence Fisher

As the Archdiocese of Philadelphia cohort has begun this year, there have been a number of interesting issues raised in the discussions. Among these has been a healthy discussion about the role of parents in helping their children learn about new technologies and in guiding their growth. As well, schools have debated how some of the communication tools that we find ourselves with are best able to be used to keep parents abreast of the progress their child is making in school.

How can communication technologies be best used to help involve parents with their child’s education? How can publishing classroom information on a blog or ustreaming events that are taking place in the school involve parents? Will it help them to become more involved with what is happening in their child’s lives?

These are important questions that are vital to the success of the educational enterprise and a great opportunity for us. In the cohort, discussions have ranged around how using products such as Grade Connect can help parents. As well, they are looking for ideas of how using Moodle and teaching online safety to both parents and students might help their skills.

Parents are the cornerstone of every child’s education and considering these types of questions is an important step.