After going through this course and getting help from several students with skype, yugma and other topics, I was wondering how this would work with a school because of student illness. As it is, I have been working with about 15 students who are currently ill and they are not able to come to school. I have met with the teachers and explained what was wrong with the students but I am having a difficult time getting the work for the students. I put out the students timetable with a request for the homework so that parents can pick it up and leave an email adddress so that the material can be sent via email, but it does not seem to work.
I understand that teachers are very busy but the ill students need work also. How can this be improved upon? If each teacher had a wiki account with their syllabus or a blog then this would be much easier to accomplish. Students and parents would be able to access the information on a daily basis, like Mr. Boltons’ Math Blog. With a subscription to grade book, the marks for the students could be kept on line and the students and parents could access the grades from home when provided a subscription password by the teacher. This will allow pparents and students to view their progress in a course, find out if there are any missing assignments and or test. This allows constant contact between the teacher and parent. The grade book allows for email between the teacher, student and parent. This is an excellent tool for communicating between all parties.
The question arises: What about parents and students who do not have access to a computer or a basic telephone? (In this day and age! YES, many students do not have a basic telephone in their home). The student does not have the capability to go and check out these sites. Nor do you have contact with the parents. Then step back, lets go the old way, call the parent. Find out when the parent is available and then call them. Once you have contact with the parent then give them the information they need. (Again, big problem: A large group of students do not have a telephone or it is out of service.) A question was asked: How is it that the family has a cell phone contact and not a hard line? Easy, if you cannot afford to pay the bill for the hard line then you are disconnected. Now you have to get reconnected. Where is the money coming from? Do you buy groceries or pay for reconnection of your telephone? The cell phone, the family can purchase minutes and when they are used up, they can purchase more. No reconnection fee. Problem solved. This is a realism not a fantasy at school. Many of our students are faced with this problem in their daily lives. How do we overcome the Great Divide when the students do not have access to a basic communication tool: telephone, which we all take for granted is a given.
Check out the grade book site:
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That is a difficult question to answer. The whole electronic education can work really well if you have access to it, but like you have said the problem arises for those who do not have access to it. Those students are at a definite disadvantage, we are not able to give them the same education or opportunity for education that other students may have access to. I have no solutions at this time….I guess if I did I would be making millions.
You have described an issue that is a critical concern. Many parts of the world are in the same position, they don’t have access to high speed Internet or landlines. Some how cellular technology seems to be ubiquitous. Educators have developed strategies that are loosely described as mLearning or mobile learning. They have developed education resources that work with SMS or text messaging systems. mLearning is being used extensively in Asia, Africa and many underdeveloped parts of the world. The One Laptop Per Child initiative has also been developed to promote the use of technology to help underdeveloped nations. mLearning might be part of the solution for some of our communities that don’t have access to high speed Internet.
I agree… but at least tools like skype and yugma are available in free basic versions. so at least access to this technology is not a financial issue. The student still needs a computer and some form of broadband access to make it all work….
This may be far fetched, but let’s give it a stretch: Why not have all the money confiscated or clawed back from that of the drug dealers go towards that of purchasing computers for schools? I mean enough of the profit is made off our students, why shouldn’t we be entitled to some of the spoils to the positive. Before we can even begin to focus on that of computers in the home, how about computers in the school: stable, functioning connections to each and every well supplied classroom throughout the building.
I hear say that Swan River High School is very well equipped, one of the best, if not the best in the province and this didn’t come about by accident: it was an integral part of the school plan…
Like that of educating a child: How can I afford to? becomes how can I afford not to? Where there is the will can be found the way…
One solution is the Public Library in communities large enough to have such a service. I believe that all public libraries provide free access to computers, although I think some libraries require you to show a membership card. Of course the other part of this solution is that if your family is struggling financially you may not be able to get to the library even if there is one in your community and of course if you’re home sick you won’t be making a field trip to the library. Does your school division have a social work on staff who makes home visits and could take the homework with them? I’ve known teachers who have made home visits or given students rides home but this can be a sensitive area if the student is embarrassed to have you go to their home or to meet their family. What about a buddy system where a friend or sibling of the student drops off the homework or communication?
I have just glanced at the mygradebook.com site. I have read your blog and have had experience with some of the home – school communication problems that you mentioned. I read the comments that you’ve received so far and have found some of sunnytechgirl’s latter comments re: home visits and buddy systems to have been useful. It’s like you have to ‘mix it up’ a little … it’s, basically, another ,extended, take on differentiating instruction. You do the best you can with what you have to work with. The internet connected kids get the online communication and they act as buddies to their ‘ill’ classmates who haven’t this advantage or other unconnected ‘well’ buddies and home-school staff deliver hard copies to share with the ‘ill’ students. This continues until we implement a 1 student : 1 computer ‘plus’ campaign in our own back yard. With one chronically absent student I found myself visiting the home and encouraging the child and mom. There was some improvement in attendance. Albeit, illness is another thing.
Just one comment about mLearning. The mobile devices are not quite there yet when it comes to some services. Both Palm and Blackberry run their own browsers and so some web pages are inaccessible through these devices. It’s been a huge source of frustration to me in the last few weeks since I want to access a site which uses javascript and neither of these devices can do it. After conversations with the companies it doesn’t seem likely to happen soon enough for me either. On the other hand there is an amazing amount of mobile software available. I had no idea!
It is a huge issue. I usually opt in favor of inclusion. Do you make a child that is not well off feel worse by having all kinds of high tech activity going on around them. I think you have to work on supporting the child as much as possible, usually involving social services from school, the community, etc. I think once you get to the point where students are learning then you can start thinking about elearning, mlearning or whatever.