Digital Learning

Texting in education

A recent report has found that there was widespread use of the humble text message as a tool for bullying. In particular, a third of secondary school children have been sent messages containing sexual content - called 'sexts'...

Technology is changing the way young people communicate with each other. A recent report released by anti-bullying charity, Beatbullying, found that there was widespread use of the humble text message as a tool for bullying. In particular, a third of secondary school children have been sent messages containing sexual content. These sex texts, or ‘sexts’, often contained images of a sexual nature involving both boys and girls – usually of youngsters exposing themselves.

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      string(5662) "This month’s FeaturesPhil Neal explains how unprecedented developments intechnology are changing the way we communicate and leadingto a not so slow death of the traditional printer.The Printer is DeadMany of us can identify with theexperience of a parent who has hadto fish a letter out of a child’s schoolbag (often covered in somethingunidentified and sticky) – only tofind that the information it containsis already out of date.And if you are a teacher, it is quite likely youhave been at the other end – racing aroundto collect thin strips of paper in various statesof wear that hold important authorisations orother instructions from parents that need tobe actioned.Up until just a few years ago, thiswas how every school in the countrycommunicated with their parents.However, things are changing rapidlyand communications in schools are evolving.Paperless communication methods arereplacing the traditional methods, meaning thehumble printer is being used a little less oftenthese days. And there is good reason for it.The reasons for changeAlmost everyone has a mobile phone thesedays, many of us bank online and some receivetheir bills via email. Parents are increasinglyexpecting schools to use the same methods thatother organisations use to communicate withthem.Schools too have realised what a timeconsuming exercise managing paper copies ofeach communication with parents can be. Andthe not inconsiderable cost of paper and inkalso helps to explain why schools are switching http://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’s Featuresto electronic options for home-schoolcommunications.Image is another factor. Asmore and more schools go it alonewith the academies programme,professional and ongoingcommunications with parents arebecoming a necessity. It shows aschool values parents and the partthey play in their child’s education,as well as assuring them that theirchild is being schooled by a teamthat knows how they wish to becommunicated with.Paper-free communicationsAs a result of these developments,we are moving along a continuumwhere electronic communications– web, texts and email – are quicklyreplacing paper forms.Fast forward 10 years and it islikely schools will only communicatewith parents via electronic means.Paper communications will be seenas too wasteful to be considered.Many schools have alreadytaken the leap and introduced someform of electronic communication,whether that is texting parents toalert them of an absent child or aschool closure, or replacing theschool newsletter with an email orweb version.For June Walter, the schoolbusiness manager at The PrioryPrimary School in Sandwell,the switch has cut the school’sadministration and ensuredparents get the information thatthey need. “We use SIMS InTouchto SMS and email parents. Forattendance issues, it means thatwe do not have to make individualcalls home and then record thereasons for absence on children’srecords as any replies received areautomatically stored on the pupils’records.“For more general messagesrelating to early finishes or cakesales and the like, the time savedin producing letters home for eachchild can really mount up.  It alsosolves the problem of ‘I didn’t geta letter, my child did not bringone home,’ which is a frequentoccurrence in this school.”Hassle free reportingOther schools have extended electroniccommunications further to include morecomplex communications, reportingbeing one of them.Printing paper reports can eatup thousands of sheets of paperand a staggering number of printercartridges in a big school.Some schools have switchedto electronic versions of reportsto avoid this – sending parentsan email with a PDF of the reportattached or publishing the reportvia an online parent portal.  Not asingle sheet of paper is used andpublishing the report securely onlineenables parents and pupils to goback to previous reports and gaugeprogress over time.The Grammar School at Leeds,an independent school, is usingSIMS Learning Gateway in this way,publishing pupil reports and othercommunications like exam resultsonline: “Online reporting is alreadysaving our senior school around£10,000 each year in materialsalone,” says Eric Medway, thedeputy head of systems.This type of communication isalso encouraging many schools tocommunicate with parents morefrequently, which can have animpact on improving the home-school relationship as Viv Northall,the headteacher at Tudor CourtPrimary School explains: “We thinkit is going to have a real impact onour relationships with parents as itis impossible to talk to every parentevery day, but [the technology] willget us as close to that ideal as wecan probably get.”Texting informationSchools can also considermore sophisticated uses of thetechnologies that they are fairlyfamiliar with. Texting, for example,is well established in many schoolsas a method of communicatingwith parents for simple messages.Text has the advantage over emailand web in that it is very difficultto ignore.  The text arrives straightinto the pocket or bag of the personthat you want to speak to and is http://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’s Featuresinvariably opened straight away.However, texting is often used toimpart information that is importantbut is of a one-off nature. Thedelayed return from a school tripor a child who has not turned upto school are the classic examples.While these messages are veryuseful, and in some cases vital,they do not necessarily take fulladvantage of the medium as atool for engaging parents in theirchild’s education and reducingadministration time. Texting could be"
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Digital Learning

The Printer is Dead

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Leadership Briefing 9.11(107)"
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Leadership

Examining The Effects Of Texting, Twitter, And Message Content On Student Learning

11 Jun 2015

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      string(5433) "over the humble text and email within, not only the education sector, but business communications as a whole.The benefit of a notification system means that parents can open the message and be taken directly to the related information in the app itself before taking any action required, without having to find it online for themselves. This will save parents time and lead to better, faster reactions from messages. Apps also allow users to sync any key dates to the calendar on their phone, which can later be set as reminders. As well as notifying parents of any action they may be required to take, notifications can be sent to serve as simple reminders or prompts. When compared with the limitations and expense of traditional texts, notifications make for a more efficient way for schools to communicate with their parents and other audiences. Apps can encapsulate all the information found on a school’s website, update users on latest news from around the school and communicate information just as a text message would, but in a more streamlined fashion.Making children safer?In the past, it was commonplace for schools to implement a ‘pyramid’ telephone system of communication in case of emergency. This involved certain parents being assigned with a group of people to call and the message being passed on through word of mouth. This is an easy and relatively cheap solution; however, it could potentially be unreliable in comparison to other methods of communication. One parent might miss the call, for example, and, therefore, can’t pass the message on. Another risk is that, like a game of Chinese whispers, messages might get altered, resulting in inaccurate information being relayed to people and causing unnecessary panic. Also, without the ability to track the progress of communication, there is no record as to whether certain parents have been reached or not. Many schools have now progressed onto electronic methods of communication, preferring to send blanket texts out at once, knowing that everyone will be reached simultaneously with the same message. Text and email communication channels work well because parents are quickly sent information in a way that is easy for them to receive.According to recent research undertaken by Nokia, Smartphone users check their phones an average of 150 times during a waking day of 16 hours. People are simply glued to their phones in the modern age. There is a certain unspoken expectation that people are continually contactable, and, for parents, being able to be reached in an emergency only accentuates this need. One of the additional benefits of web-based communication systems is that more than one parent or guardian can register, so both will receive school messages via their computer or Smartphone. This increases the chances of acknowledgement and/or a reaction, as both contacts will be alerted.Keeping parents in touchThis of course does not mean schools should scrap their current text/email message system altogether; these may sometimes be the more appropriate means of communication. However, schools do need to look at the benefit of apps and notifications for communication that is taking place on a day-to-day basis, as, fundamentally, it is communication that acts as the foundation for parental engagement within their child’s school education.However a school chooses to approach communications, one thing has emerged as a very clear trend over recent years: the quicker and more instant that communication can be, the better. Internet-based communications brought about a huge leap in schools’ ability to communicate more easily and frequently, meaning that, in an instant, a school can communicate photos, news bulletins and updates to thousands of those in their audience, outstripping anything the simple text message can achieve. Of course, it is possible to argue that, in many instances, an email could do just as well. However, emails are usually long, and require time for them to be written, proofed and adapted to specific individuals. Then, once they are sent, you are relying on parents to check their email frequently enough to get the message, and, with many parents juggling multiple email accounts, emails from schools can often be drowned out. This is especially true if schools are only sending generic messages. Notifications through apps cut all of this out. Communication doesn’t have to be one way; there are apps available whereby parents can book appointments, request meetings and provide feedback, all within the capacity of the application. Parents will feel more connected to the school and be given the opportunity for far more active involvement in their child’s education.  Throughout time, the one thing that has remained constant is that both parents and schools are partners in the education of children. Technology is developing constantly and at a rapid rate, with the potential to be of great benefit to schools and parents alike. It is important, therefore, for home-school communication to reflect the changing times and give parents the best possible opportunity to get involved with their children’s school life.   Geoff Jones is Marketing Director at ParentMail, the UK’s leading school-to-home communications service used by more than 6,000 schools. For more information, visit www.parentmail.co.uk. "
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Leadership

Is it time to review your parent communications strategy?

26 Sep 2017

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      string(5633) "Vol 4.4 n www.teachingtimes.comDevelopments and newsEvery Child Journal�Anew study has found that the use of ‘textspeak’ including shortened words andabbreviations can actually improve children’sspelling because they sound out words andphrases.Scientists claim the research dispels myths that textmessaging damages children’s grasp of the Englishlanguage and found that when younger children useshortened words and abbreviations in messages, itcould actually improve their spelling.They claim using abbreviations like ‘gr8’ and ‘1daful’require children to sound out spellings which canactually help them when they come to learning andwriting words.Leaving out punctuationand capitals were also linkedto the positive developmentof children’s spelling andgrammar skills, accordingto the study by CoventryUniversity and the University ofTasmania.Four in ten childrenbetween the ages of fiveand ten now own a mobilephone, and three in ten owna smartphone, with the useof ‘text speak’ widespreadin messages and on socialmedia.Data from the NationalLiterary Trust also shows thatchildren are now more likely toread on digital devices whichhave become a ‘pervasive’aspect of their lives.The study, publishedin the British Journal ofDevelopmental Psychology,analysed the text messagessent by primary, secondaryand university students andtheir performance in grammarand spelling tests. This wasrepeated a year later with the234 participants.Texting improves children’sspelling and grammarResearchers found no connection betweengrammatical errors or omissions made in text messagessuch as ‘wanna’ and ‘gr8’, and children’s understandingof grammar and spelling. Use of errors among primaryschool age pupils – such as ‘they is’ rather than ‘theyare’ – also led to positive improvements in grammaticalability 12 months letter.The only group that showed a negative impact in thetests were young adults, but researchers said this couldbe due to intellectual ability.They found young people continue to useabbreviations in text messages to convey emotion andbecause of constraints on their time.www.teachingtimes.com n Vol 4.4Developments & News Every Child Journal�Developments& NewsThe extent to which robotics can enhanceteaching and learning for people with intellectualdisabilities is being investigated by researchers.An EU-funded project, led by NottinghamTrent University, aims to better understand the potentialfor robotics-based education in motivating and engagingthose with a wide range of disabilities.It follows a pilot project involving the university lastyear, which showed how using a humanoid robot asan educational tool significantly boosted engagementof pupils with learning disabilities compared with astandard classroom setting.A team of experts will programme existing roboticplatforms – including the autonomous NAO humanoidrobot – to interact with pupils of all ages across Europeover various educational tasks.As well as academic subjects such as maths andscience, tasks will aim to challenge pupils with objectivesset around communication improvement, sequencing,understanding cause and effect, and other social anddigital competencies.Interactions will be analysed by experts to measurelevels of engagement, goal achievement and the amountof assistance required by teaching staff.It is hoped that the two-and-half-year project willprovide evidence of the effectiveness of robotics-based teaching and learning for people with intellectualdisabilities such as cerebral palsy and autism.“The future of education for pupils with intellectualdisabilities is robotics,” said David Brown, Professor inInteractive Systems for Social Inclusion at NottinghamTrent University.He added: “Educating young people with intellectualdisabilities presents different challenges due to cognitiveimpairments and communicational difficulties. The useof robotics in special education should be exploredas these technologies are starting to become morewidespread, affordable and highly engaging.”Findings from the study will be shared with specialeducation schools, teachers and parents, policy makersand people with disabilities.Study to examine how robotscan boost learning of  pupils withintellectual disabilitiesCareer guidance is failing pupilsAnew report calls for comprehensive reform tostop school career guidance failing generationafter generation of young people. It is the firstever major study to set out how to fix the careerguidance system in England.The report, conducted by Sir John Holman,Emeritus Professor at the University of York and formerheadteacher, explains how government, schools, andemployers can work together to build a new model ofcareer guidance, placing it at the heart of school life.�Vol 4.4 n www.teachingtimes.comDevelopments & NewsEvery Child JournalPupils in poor mental healthunfairly labelledToo many young people withunmet mental health needsare unfairly labelled astroublemakers, according toEducation Minister, Elizabeth Truss.As a result, the Department forEducation has launched guidance tohelp schools in England spot mentalhealth issues and show teachers whatto do and when to act to help a childwith problems. The guidance will alsohelp teachers be more confident inidentifying children who are simplybehaving badly.The advice clarifies schools’responsibilities and outlines what theycan do to support children or youngpeople whose behaviour – whetherit is disruptive, withdrawn, anxious,depressed or otherwise – may berelated to an unmet mental health need.According to the"
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Special Needs

ECJ 4.4 Developments and news

10 Jun 2014