Entry 1: Technology to Support Communication

Introduction
Technology is an integral part of the education process for teachers, students, and parents.
Communication is key when teachers and parents are working together towards the success of
the student involved. Technology also plays a part in the classroom to keep the student
continually informed concerning their classroom responsibilities. This connection to the
classroom allows the teachers, students, and parents to not feel frustrated with the education
system. This new way of learning has opened up doors to the virtual world, so that students can
communicate with cultures from far away. Teachers can use specialized communication tools to
stay connected to parents, manage classroom activities, and provide a means for students to
explore the global community around them.
Technology to Enhance Communication
Remind:
A communication tool that has been extremely helpful for teachers to keep parents and
students informed by one-way messaging is Remind. It is a way for a teacher to send messages
or announcements to the class and their parents. This tool is completely safe and prevents
anyone from knowing anyone elses phone number. It helps to keep older students focused on
their studies and parents of younger students abreast of what assignments are due. Younger
students can forget to write down homework or dates of upcoming tests and this provides a way
for parents to help their child stay focused on their schoolwork. The teacher can also send extra
information on a subject that aids the student in understanding what is being taught, such as
documents, photos, presentations, and more. The teacher can get creative by not only sending

homework updates, but can send inspirational quotes, trivia questions, school information, and
quick information to study for a test (Bobbitt, Inman, & Bertrand, 2013). The Remind tool is not
meant to send lengthy messages, but is restricted to keeping them brief. Some extra benefits for
the teacher are that they can send voice messages and schedule messages for the future. Creating
a link that assists parents and teachers using devices they are comfortable with will help to have
an open conversation between the two (Bobbitt, Inman, & Bertrand, 2013). This type of
communication tool allows parents and students to stay apprised of upcoming academic events
without much effort on their part and teachers can expand on what is being discussed in the
classroom.
Haiku Learning:
One of the newer forms of education is the use of digital learning management systems
(LMS) that parents and students can access easily. This learning platform is customizable for all
grades. The teacher creates classroom pages about lessons and publishes them on their personal
Haiku Learning website. The teacher can incorporate outside sources such as YouTube, Google
Docs, Maps, Skype, and many others in their layout. The parents and students are added to the
roster and receive an invitation to view what the teacher posts. One justification for promoting
this type of learning is that students are using this form of technology in their everyday lives and
they should be able to insert it into their education, as well (Edmunds & Hartnett, 2014). This
LMS gets the students acquainted with many different forms of educational technology and how
to use them in their own work. This form of teaching helps the teacher tremendously with
keeping track of assignments and grades, so they can spend more time creating interactive
lessons for the students to access. The students can write comments about the assignment or
answer polls as to how they perceived the homework or test. Digital technologies, such as an

LMS, have potential toothe potential to bring parents into the learning process, to hear student
voice, and to harness new ways of learning. (Edmunds & Hartnett, 2014, p. 25). The parents
can see everything the student does, they just cannot make comments. Everything is saved to the
cloud for the teacher and they have a support team for any problems they may run into. They
can even collaborate with other teachers who use this site and adopt what they learn from them
into their lessons. Overall, this site is a great way to teach outside of the classroom and make
recording grades effortless.
Edu Hangouts:
This form of a communication tool in the classroom is video conferencing at a much
higher level. It is like Skype, but with a few differences. It can record the video and be
broadcast to a YouTube channel or Google+ account. Skype does not allow this feature. One
way to use this is for students who are out sick, but still want to be a part of the school day. They
can see the teacher and stay on track with their studies. The most useful way is to go to the
eduhangout.org website, where they can get a plethora of ideas on how to incorporate this type
of video conferencing into their curriculum. They can connect with other classes by having
academic contests with them or compare what projects they are working on. They could
virtually visit a zoo or learn about another state from a classroom in a different part of the United
States. They even have the ability to communicate with students from another country. A study
was conducted with 5th and 6th grade American and Korean students who were in virtual
communication with each other for 9 weeks. In the beginning, the students were indifferent on
learning about other cultures, but part way through the year they had a desire to visit other parts
of the world (ONeill, 2007). If students are afforded the opportunity to engage and learn about
other cultures they will find there is much to be discovered they never knew about. Students

need to experience what it is like in other areas of the world, so as not to be blinded by only what
they see in their small part of the United States. Intercultural competence involves being aware
of a diversity of cultures, positively adjusting toward the different culture, and communicating
with each other with an open mind (ONeill, 2007, p. 208). This is an instrumental tool in
connecting the student with other children in their school, other states, and the world as a whole.
ePals:
In a society with worldwide awareness, people who are knowledgeable of other cultures
can better implement this knowledge in finding solutions and use it to be leaders in the world
(ONeill, 2007). This is one of the many reasons why educators are trying to present students
with the opportunities to discover other cultures and learn valuable lessons from them. One
organization that supports this way of thinking is ePals. It is a global learning community that
connects 13 million students from 200 countries to interact and correspond with each other. One
of their main goals was to provide a way for teachers to easily collaborate with similar people, so
they could just concentrate on making it a constructive experience for the students. ePals also
makes it simple for educators to search by grade level, country, language, class size, and many
other parameters. The website supplies projects for the teacher in adding substance to what the
students are learning about. They provide ideas such as; learning and playing games from that
country, sharing stories of tradition, and making individualized flags. The teacher may change
any of the activities and projects and share those with others on the website. All of the educators
go through background checks to ensure the safety of everyone involved. Every educator can
look into someones profile before reaching out to them. There many other organizations that
have been instrumental in getting students engaged in the global community. Online research
networks such as Global School Net and Schools Online have conducted international classroom

exchange projects through the Internet to provide students with international or intercultural
learning environments using Information and Communication Technology (ONeill, 2007,
p.208). Giving students the possibility to see into the world around them has opened the doors to
a multi-cultural society that cares for one another.
Communication Internet Security and Safety
Having access to the internet and turning in homework by electronic means are a required
form of education in todays schools. Internet security is an important topic for educators due
to curriculums now incorporating tools such as the Internet, Google docs, e-portfolios and course
management systems (DeFranco, 2011, p. 52). Even though this is the case, educators have a
responsibility to their students to make sure they are keeping them safe in the vast digital world.
Netsmartz.org is a website adults and kids can go to inform them, by use of activities and videos,
of the importance of not meeting with or providing personal information to someone on the
internet (DeFranco, 2011). This is a website that would be a great aid for teachers and parents to
show their students and children. The use of the internet in schools is so common now that it is
important for teachers to talk with parents and students at the back to school meeting about
internet safety inside and outside of the school. There are always new ways for cyber criminals
to use personal information in an innovative way. The school staff needs to have quarterly
meetings about how to keep the students safe. Creating an internet ambassador that stays current
with the FBI on this important issue, and can lead the quarterly meetings, would be a great asset
in every school. Teachers need to not only instruct their students at the beginning of the school
year, but insert conversation into lessons throughout each week. Most students will drown out
the teacher when they have long lectures about anything. There needs to be a dialogue that
includes input from students to keep them engaged on this crucial issue. Placing much

importance on this issue will allow parents and students to be constantly aware of how to keep
themselves knowledgeable and safe while using the internet.
Concluding Paragraph
Using technological communication tools in the classroom is an invaluable resource
available to teachers. It is a vital supplement to the lesson plans that provides depth and interest
in what is being taught. While incorporating these tools, the teacher will also instruct the
students on how to stay safe when using the internet to enhance their learning journey.
Educators apply these communication tools to their teaching practices to keep parents apprised
of assignments, create ways to teach effectively outside of the classroom, and present
experiences with other cultures to the students. Students will learn how to be responsible,
productive, and objective members of society. Communication tools are becoming essential and
fundamental practices in the American classroom.

References
Bobbitt, R., Inman, R., & Bertrand, E. (2013). Using Remind 101 as a Classroom:
Communication Tool. NACTA Journal, 57(4), 77-78.
DeFranco, J. F. (2011). Teaching Internet Security, Safety in Our Classrooms. Techniques:
Connecting Education & Careers, 86(5), 52-55.
Edmunds, B., & Hartnett, M. (2014). Using a Learning Management System to Personalise
Learning for Primary School Students. Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning,
18(1), 11-29.
ONeill, E. J. (2007). Implementing International Virtual Elementary Classroom Activities for
Public School Students in the U.S. and Korea. Electronic Journal of E-Learning, 5(3),
207-218.