Role of Parents/Guardians in Online Learning

The following are links to several resources, both ministry, collaborative, and articles on parental involvement/engagement in our students learning:

• 10 Strategies for Schools to Improve Parent Engagement
• DSBN Parent Resources
• Ministry of Education Publications for Parents
• Ministry of Education Parents in Partnership Policy PDF document with the policy laid out
• Parent Engagement Policy Ministry of Education Website
• Active Parent Engagement and the Role of Digital Portfolios

The last one listed, Active parent engagement and the role of Digital portfolios was the one that sort of lingered with me the most as I feel that it has so much relevance to 'life' right now and provides great tips on how to decrease the turn around time that can lapse between sending emails back and forth and it helps to bring the concept of active engagement to the talks rather then just having parents engaged. It also helps to bring those parents into the conversations who may not be able to make it to the classroom to see the students works or have discussions about what we are seeing with them, but through the digital portfolios the parents can see our grading, our comments/critiques, what their student is handing in, and provides them the opportunity to access and respond to us from wherever or whenever it is convenient to them.

As the article states...Actively engaging parents means having ongoing, honest, and meaningful conversations (one other resource we’ve found helpful is this set of free parent conversation starters available in English, French Canadian, Korean, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino) about student learning and growth at Bullis Charter School.

I think that the online learning and blended learning is something that is here to stay now after what we have just experienced, and this opens a whole new can of worms regarding parents in our classrooms. With parents working from home now, and their children possibly in the same room as them doing online learning there is the potential that we are sitting there with 30 parents in our classroom listening to our conversations and lessons and seeing students responses or screens being shared. It also opens up the parents to be unintentionally invited to the homes of the other students in the classroom...which brings up that whole equity and safety concept. I am torn about having the HS students leaving their cameras off because I cannot see them, and I have no idea if they are actually online or paying attention to me (I know with myself there were countless times my camera was off and I was playing on my phone or away from my computer folding laundry)...but I also know that it does help to create that equal playing field that the school campus brings regarding SES status and where students are living. I think that in terms of this there should be a school or board specific background that should be implemented so that way I can see who is watching me and involved in the class, and that the students are there and engaged in what is being taught to them. Because I can't know if they are actively engaged in the lesson if I can't read it on their faces. So this is such a hard concept to say one way or another what works best. 

Providing support to students can be easier or it can be harder. With the online world now, we can organize a video conference call, with their parents present or another staff member present similarly as there would be for a conference at the school, and discuss any difficulties that they are having without having the parents needing to take time off of work or organize for child care, or for the students who don't have transportation outside of a bus to get to and from the school we can have a conference online so they don't have to worry about missing a bus. If they are unable to make a parent teacher night we can organize an online call or video conference to accommodate them. As much as I personally do prefer the face to face interaction of a regular classroom, the online constructs to provide some positive alternatives to allow us to help our students.

I think that regarding the parents specifically in the online classroom, they have a role if they are invited into the classroom. In my opinion...even though it is online it is still our classroom and the parents don't just come and hangout because they are working from home that day in a face to face class (I am I/S qualified so for me it is different then P/J) so I don't think that they should be there for the online class, but I do know that this is something that is harder to control. I think that if they want to be actively involved in the lesson, they should be a fly on the wall, and then communicate with me via email, or whatever means of communication we have set up, to discuss any options that they think would best benefit the class but still respect the fact that it is my classroom, just online.