User:Kaiserino

PNAIS Conference 2006 Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools School to Home Communications

=PNAIS 2006 TechShare Conference=

School to Home Communications
School to Home Communications

[include ppt from john] - background on school to home communications

School responsibility for students' interest in communication technologies? (myspace, IM)....it's not really a technology issue but parents view it as such.

How to stay on top of technology used in school/home communications (accountability to parents): Keeping track of the school-parent process Open access to tech dept, shape faculty/student community to process Designate student as being responsible for laptop and its status Communicate with parents and administration expectations Service Level Agreements (SLAs) or support tracking system (logging, escalation matrix, etc.) Software: Windows based Trackit (http://itsolutions.intuit.com/Track-It.asp), includes SLAs and help desk support system. (CRM: customer relation management software)

How to adress MySpace issue: -block it (for faculty and students) at school -at home, open communications with parents, provide training -address communications at early grade levels -boarding school: block during school hours?

Student assignments/info notification to parents: -issue is faculty don't update or buy-in to system Software: blackbaud netclassroom and faculty access (http://www.blackbaud.com/) before thinking of software, look at culture at school and talk to faculty about whether to have standards, IT shouldn't be the driver...it's a curricular desicion Accountability should ultimately fall on faculty+administration Posting assignments vs. grades could determine solution too. Reporting tools/software should decrease or simplify faculty work for adoption Each family or student needs to have unique login identifier Digital portfolios for students - potential future, change way teachers teach? (digital records of events, continuums, etc.) (rubicon - curriculum mgmnt software) Digital portfolios - storage, bandwidth issues? (Hammer - hardware solution, <$2000) Digital portfolios - @graduation students can take their work with them on DVD or Thumbdrive. Which work to save? no current standards.

Electronic assessments - still have official transcripts?

Parent communications: How to deal with parent roundabout communications? Provide school sponsored, moderated solutions. (yahoo groups, netpals, etc.) Address culture, guidelines even before tech solutions.