Digital Tools Increase Parental Involvement in Schools

As the modern approaches to education are becoming more diverse and flexible, technology is becoming more and more helpful in developing the connection between schools and parents. Parental involvement has gotten to a whole new level as a result of technology; parents get to interact with their children’s education processes in a way that was never possible before. Thanks to this change, there is now a possibility of bringing a convergence of parents, teachers and students in order to improve learning achievements.

The Transition to Digital Matters:

The New Normal
Unusual was it to have parents living in society’s education systems affairs with occasional meetings with teachers or receiving reports from our children’s schools. Owing to advancements in technology, parents can be updated on the performances of their children in real-time. Google Classroom, Edmodo, and Seesaw give parents the ability to get full access to the assignments given, grades, and comments from the teacher. This feature is very important as it helps parents to regularly observe their child’s performance, especially in their academic work, and possibly correct a poor performance.

Furthermore, there is an enhancement in the communication between the teachers and parents in other varieties of classrooms. Many parents use emails, messaging applications and special school communication applications such as ClassDojo and Remind for the teachers to send messages to the parents regarding the updates, reminders, and announcements. Such a steady stream of information makes parents more involved and concerned and thus strengthens the school-home partnership.

Promoting Parental Involvement Using Applications:

Other factors that are proven to be contributing toward enhancing parental involvement are also the special apps that are created for parents using mobile gadgets. Bloomz and Schoology are among the apps that provide parents with all the information they need regarding their child’s attendance, homework, and even their child’s activity in other co-curricular activities. Many such apps have built-in facilities such as event calendars, forms to sign up for volunteering, and even virtual parents teachers’ meetings, and that makes it convenient for busy parents to engage with their child’s school activities.

Especially for parents of preschool children, ClassTag and Brightwheel help parents to receive daily updates on what is happening in class, photos, and videos and thus, parents feel their child is engaged during the day. In addition to providing information to parents, these tools also include the parents as active participants in their child’s learning process.

Existing and Emerging Trends of E-learning:

This involvement has been greatly enhanced by the online learning platforms, especially when caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why such platforms as Khan Academy, Coursera, and EdX are helpful; for example, parents can learn together with their children or help them with homework. Some of these sources also offer practical solutions to parents regarding curriculum, which may be used at home to support their child.

Also, there is the use of Learning Management Systems like Canvas and Moodle through which the parents receive the content of the course offered, Student progress, and interaction with teachers. These systems offer holistic data in the child’s learning environment such that the parent can be more supportive.

Good Practice of Meeting Challenges and Practicing Equity:

While it is evident that there is amplified parental participation due to digital tools employed there are some drawbacks. It is, however, important to understand that not all parents have access to technology and or the digital literacy skills required in the management of these platforms. Schools must, therefore, ensure that the technology available to parents is made available in a form and level, which any parent is able to handle and use. To overcome these challenges, some of the strategies include conducting training on the use of the online platforms, ensuring that the platforms offer multilingual support, and ensuring that the platforms are optimized for mobile usage.

In addition, there is always the problem of when and how much to use e-mail as opposed to when it is appropriate to have a face-to-face conversation. Strategies like the use of technology may improve the level of engagement; however, it should not be a substitute for face-to-face communication. It is recommended that schools keep on adopting such platforms while still providing other forms of parental involvement that use conventional strategies so that the use of technology does not fully displace parental involvement.

In conclusion, Internet technology, and other related tools have greatly influenced the manner in which parents monitor their children and interact with teachers on matters of child learning and education. When adopted, these tools can enhance inter and intra-school support to enhance every child’s parents, and teachers support. Nevertheless, some important issues that are related to the digital transformation process should be solved to make it possible for all parents to support their child at school. In the future, as technology changes, the supportive roles that parents can play to enhance their child’s academic achievement will also change.