Blog Entry:  Mod 2
Course Management Systems

Prior to my acceptance into Rivier's doctoral program, I had no exposure to course management systems such as Canvas.  I have to say that these systems are extremely helpful to someone like me, who struggles with organization.   I almost always have access to Canvas or Blackboard through my desktop, laptop, or even phone, so accessing the information I need to plan out assignments, receive announcements from instructors, or check my grades is easy.  This provides me with a feeling of security- I don't have to go hunting for the syllabus buried somewhere in my desk or bag (or lost) to tell me this blog entry is due tomorrow.  With a few clicks I can see the whole course plan laid out.

I would love to see more teachers use these platforms for their courses, starting as early as middle school.  This would facilitate communication with students and families.  It would end any confusion around when something was due, and help parents teach their children independence around keeping up with homework, projects, papers, and exams.  Students and families could get real time feedback around grades, and we may be able to do away with needless paperwork during progress report time.  The only problem with this idea is that there are some parents who don't have consistent access to the internet, so some allowance needs to be made to keep other lines of communication open.  However, the idea of a parent clicking on their child's Canvas courses is exciting to me.

Another positive possible outcome is that colleagues could access each other's Canvas sites and coordinate lessons, assignments, and schedules.  As a special educator, this would be an incredibly helpful tool.  I could easily access my students' progress in their mainstream classes, check to see if assignments were completed, and give my students timely feedback on their performance and a plan to improve.  Sometimes special educators are left in the dark, unintentionally, regarding their students day to day performance.  With the easy availability of course management systems, this seems completely avoidable.

The challenge to incorporating a CMS in a public school would be getting teachers to buy into them and update them regularly.  The capability of providing timely feedback is useless if teachers do not regularly attend to updating the CMS.  We have this issue now with a program called Edline, which simply displays students' grades as teachers enter them, and parents can access this one "window" with the grades listed.   It has been a challenge for two years to get all teachers updating them once a week, and we still haven't met that goal.

The first study I considered was a dissertation done in Texas on the relationship between schools and families. One of the most important recommendations the author writes about is that schools need to change their methods of reaching out to families to fit the needs of the community.  While Mr. Garza was probably speaking more about race and ethnicity, I took this to apply to technology as well.  If over 90% of our families have internet access and use it regularly, why are we still relying on outdated methods of communication (paper, occasional phone calls).

School and family relationships: Bridging the gaphttp://0-search.proquest.com.lib.rivier.edu/docview/304910108/fulltextPDF/embedded/8J2CRBGQHL9HCK9G?source=fedsrch

Ms. Becker-Klein, in this interesting study, found that school level variables were predictive over and above family level variables when predicting parental involvement in their children's education.  This may mean that instituting communication systems such as CMS could be valuable to all families, regardless of previous levels of involvement, socioeconomic status, etceteras.

Family and School Level Barriers to Family Involvement.http://0-ehis.ebscohost.com.lib.rivier.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=43e5fee2-b521-4f8e-9b98-77127cd4b28f%40sessionmgr10&hid=5&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=eric&AN=ED436291

The last study, by Farrel and Collier, looked at the preparation of teachers to engage in family-school communication, as well as its importance.  The authors found that teachers were not prepared for engaging in effective parent communication.  This made me think about the struggle in my own school to get teachers to communicate regularly, or update their edline accounts.  If you are not taught the importance of this aspect of the job, or how to do it effectively, I think communication falls down the ladder of priorities and becomes something "extra" teachers do if they have time.  Since teachers have very little extra time, those accounts become neglected and communication fails to happen regularly.

School Personnel's Perceptions of Family-School Communication: A Qualitative Studyhttp://0-ehis.ebscohost.com.lib.rivier.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=43e5fee2-b521-4f8e-9b98-77127cd4b28f%40sessionmgr10&hid=5&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=eric&AN=EJ880939