We had a great time learning from each other during Week 2 of #ParentCampChat where our conversation centered around Communication.
What we learned from the chat is that there are really three types or viewpoints of communications between school, teachers, students and parents.
The first type is what we will call the overall or general information. This type of information is typically for the general audience of the school and are such items as first day of school information, general announcements or events going on at school. We asked if schools have surveyed families how they get their information or how they prefer to get their information. Only a few schools have done so. Through our survey we have been conducting, information is primarily learned through direct messaging from school such as emails, all calls, text messaging or postings on school social media accounts with Facebook being the most popular.
The second level of communication is that which involves individuals students. This second level is broken into two perspectives – from the teacher and from the parent. Most of the information communicated in regards to individual students are done through emails, student information systems or electronic platforms such as Summit, Canvas, Edginuity, Google Classroom or Infinate Campus. Class information is often sent out through direct messaging platforms such as Remind, ClassTag, FlyerConnect to name just a few. Which platform chosen seems to be up to the teacher, school or district, but there may be multiple platforms depending on the preference of the teachers. The easier a system is for a teacher to use, the more likely they are to use it. But just as each of us have a preference for an Apple device vs an Andriod device, so do teachers on platforms and tools which they use.
Here comes the issue – if a family has multiple children and those children are in multiple schools and have a number of teachers. Parents are forced to learn and create accounts on many different platforms. It can become overwhelming, if one child has three teachers all using different communication methods and then multiply that by two or three more children? What does that create? Overwhelming feelings for parents/guardians and tuning out because it is just too difficult or frustrating to check all of those places for information.
How do we solve this problem? Is it possible to have one place for parents to go to check all of those various information sources at once? Maybe someone in the edtech space will develop something like a dashboard that will work for everyone? In the meantime, how do we make it easier and less frustrating for parents & families?
Did you miss #ParentCampChat Week 2 – Communications? You can catch up by scrolling through all of the tweets on our Wakelet summary: https://wakelet.com/wake/51edbe73-8841-48d6-a330-062627a89870
There is still time to complete our How do you get information survey – https://www.parentcamp.org/feed/survey1-information/
Catch #ParentCampChat each Wednesday night on Twitter starting at 9:30 pm ET/8:30 pm CT/7:30 pm MT/6:30 pm PT. Check out our upcoming topics on the Calendar page on the ParentCamp website. Make sure you follow @ParentCamp for updates. This week on July 3rd, we will be talking Celebrations! How do we celebrate accomplishments of our schools and students. 
Note: Any programs, companies or websites mentioned does not equate to an endorsement by ParentCamp.
