Tech Tool Kit # 2

Tech Tool Kit #2 9/17/15

Cloud based communication has been growing exponentially throughout the years. From Dropbox, to Google, to Amazon, to Apple, there are many different ways for information to live on the cloud, and countless ways to access that information.

I envision the adoption of cloud based technology as something that will revolutionize education. The benefits of making information instantly available to everyone who could benefit from it are obvious, but the implementation is much more tricky. Identifying the ways that cloud based communication can increase classroom efficiency are tricky, and even trickier is figuring out the ‘how’ of that implementation.  

One current example of this is an app called ClassDojo (https://www.classdojo.com/) ClassDojo is an instagram-like service that allows teachers to share students work with their parents. According to teacher reviews, this app does a great job at encouraging active participation between school and home life. It also motivates the students to be more active because students know their parents will see their work. You can also push messages out to parents, and the app will notify you when a parent has read your message, or viewed your post.

Because this app is a mostly one way communication tool, it is very important for the teacher to use it consistently. Parents can show their appreciation with ‘hearts’, which are essentially the ClassDojo equivalent of Facebook’s ‘Like’ button, however they cannot write anything that other parents will see. This is a very important thing to consider, as ‘collaborative social media’ such as Instagram or Twitter invites everybody into the conversation - which would be important to me if I am dealing with a disgruntled or unstable parent.

For this technology to be beneficial there would be a crucial step at the beginning of every year to engage parents and convince them to download the app. It’s tough to anticipate how difficult this would be at first, but I believe with a positive history, good word of mouth, and consistent use, it would become easier to convince parents over time. It would be important for me to convince parents to download the app and participate, otherwise the technology becomes useless.

One plan for rolling out this app that I think is best for everybody is to take a ‘strength in numbers’ approach. If an entire school system uses a technology like this, and a parent is able to get updates on all of their children’s classes, including reminders for field trips, a communication channel to the instructors, and a direct feed of all classroom activities, then the value of the app to the parent grows exponentially as opposed to if it was just for one class.

With this in mind my first step would be to get the school board and other instructors on board to attempt a school-wide implementation, or at least create a plan for implementation over time.

This technology can be a great tool to benefit students in several ways, but again it only works if everyone is on board and puts forth the effort. I’m very interested in continuing to find ideas and ways for students to connect their school and home life for more immersive learning and more parental engagement, but the idea that the biggest obstacle will be teaching the other adults (parents and other instructors) is a bit daunting. It can be very difficult to change someone’s mind, or to convince them to try a new approach, especially if they are already doing what they perceive to be working well. The key here would be to convince them of the critical role that technology has in the classroom, and that adopting these changes will present challenges at first, but opens the door to a much better educational experience for everyone involved, and overall I think we can all agree that this is the number one priority.