Part D - Findings and Implications

For my Wicked Project, I really strived to make information more available to parents and increase communication between the teacher and parent. I took on this project for not only my reading class, but also for our fourth grade team. I began by creating a survey for parents to give me feedback of what they want to change and how I can best communicate information to them. This far this year, we have been relying on their student to give them information and it has not worked. I had to take into account that technology is not a cure all for communication, this perspective was taken into consideration when giving the survey. I sent it home as a paper copy, but asked parents to submit it online. Some were unable to do it online because they do not have internet access. This also made me realize that no matter my efforts, all of my students' parents did not want increased communication because they were not as involved in their students' academics. Along with this, I needed to ask parents if they wanted to receive information/notes home via the agenda or email. Many chose email which supported my desire to increase the use of technology and provide resources this way, but still realizing that this was not the best way for ALL parents.

Due to a lack of some parents support and additional set backs, this was not implemented as flawlessly as I had hoped. However, this is an ongoing project and effort that will not end with this class. I had hoped that technology would greatly increase the convenience to parents, but many of the parents who responded were the ones that are involved in their students' lives. I do feel that this was a better change for a lot of parents. As I mentioned, after parent teacher conferences, many expressed concern that they weren't getting enough information about school and class material. Since then, I have been able to refer parents to my website where all the resources and additional tools have been used for communication. They have been able to use the google calendar, the additional sites for students, the announcements, and more information about homework/course work. Had my plan been implemented fully, I would have up to date grades on the webpage using an online tool. Parents emphasized their urge to be kept more up to date on grades. However, as advised, I considered the advice I was given from my feedback, not to do more than I could handle. It is not helpful to parents for me to include a plethora of technology without implementing it fully. I should not start the grades, if I cannot guarantee to keep up with them. I have committed to offering polls and surveys, google calendar, feedback post, and updating my website much more frequently.

As I continue with this effort beyond the class, I still would like to use jings or screencasts to help parents through material, or create references for them to use in helping their child with homework. I would also like to see grades posted using an online tool or google spreadsheet.

I know that this has been successful so far and this has been proven through statistics and conversations with parents. I have had several conversations with parents about utilizing our class webpage for information and to keep in touch. Email has also increased greatly as a communication tool with parents because of the survey and use of my webpage. Parents feel that they have access to homework and materials that they did not before I began this project. They can print reading contracts and homework if their student does not show it to them or if they lose it. I have also been able to refer parents who come with questions or concerns about sites and assignments to the webpage. It has provided further information about what the students are writing in their agenda and the materials we are researching. I have also seen evidence of success in the stats feature of weebly. I am able to track how many people are visiting my website on a daily basis. However, that data is skewed when I have students use the site in class, but it has even improved student research activity; which was a result that I did not anticipate. The students have made reference that they have gone on the website from home to use the resources, that has been a big positive :)

I think that many problems could be solved through this process. It would be helpful to introduce this as a professional development to encourage other teachers to consider the problems in their classroom and take action using technology and the TPACK model. This process has opened my eyes to other problems in my classroom, such as using technology to improve reading strategies; to take literature from books to technology and encourage students to use technology to spark their interest in books. It is important not to just throw technologies at a problem and hope that they solve the problem, it is necessary to really work through the problem and think about what is working, how the technology is aiding the content, and if the technology is truly solving the problem. That is the major lesson I have learned. Taking the feedback given, I have understood that technology is worthless if you do not implement with fidelity and fully understand the technology and its purposes before using it. I have been able to practice and play with a lot of technology and it is less important to utilize all of it, than it is to use just a few and use them well. That would be my greatest advice. Really focus on something that needs improvement in your classroom and that technology could help, then choose 1 technology at a time to explore and implement well. Just knowing about technologies is not as useful and really understanding how they are best used and what purposes they can serve. Technologies purpose is to make life easier; not more complicated.

I don't know that I would change a lot in doing the project again. I think the reflective part is very important, but I would use a podcast to solve my problem in some way, rather than as a reflection. It might be helpful to introduce different technologies, and have us think about how that technology might be used to help solve the problem we are having. For example, in looking at data visualization, I was thinking about my need to display goals, or how they could contribute to solving this problem. For the project of this class, the wicked project would be a good constant to apply the technologies that we learn about throughout the course. I think it would also be helpful to give sample topics for the project; there may be a problem that I have not considered in my classroom that could be assisted by technology. I did not think about content at all when brainstorming topics, but my group members all had different topics: teaching math, working on the writing process, and improving collaboration and accountability within groups. I would like to challenge myself to continue finding problems in my classroom to solve using technology. This is a process I could see my self doing annually to improve my classroom overall.