How can technology help teachers and parents communicate more effectively?

Technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing communication between teachers and parents. Platforms like school ERP systems and school management system, parent portal apps, along with collaboration tools like Teams, enable real-time updates on various aspects such as students' progress, attendance, incident and behavior tracking, leave requests, school circulars, and upcoming events. These features, coupled with messaging and notification functionalities, streamline communication, fostering a transparent and efficient exchange of information between educators and parents. Moreover, integrating the WhatsApp Business API into the parent app further enhances communication by utilizing the widely popular messaging platform.

Technology is very?useful? for improving the quality and frequency of communication between educators and parents. It helps??make communication more? convenient through various platforms,and LMs Systems such as Classera, Seesaw, PowerSchool, Teams ,? Blackboard., and MLG. I was blessed to work in a variety of international?schools and learned how to use all of the above platforms and LMS systems.

One notable advantage is the removal of barriers such as location and language. In an international school, we have families with diverse backgrounds and various native languages. Technology allows us to bridge this linguistic gap effortlessly. With the use of parent-school applications, any posts or messages can be instantly translated into parents' mother tongue with just a click of a button. This not only ensures that all families can access and understand important information promptly but also fosters a more inclusive and supportive school community. The convenience and efficiency brought by technology have truly transformed the way we engage with parents, making communication more accessible and inclusive for everyone involved.

@Munnasir TK. Dear colleague. I would like to say that Whatsapp Business is allowed here within the Spanish educational system. We cannot afford using this tool. However, we have official permissions from the regional governments to use specific tools, such as Microsoft Teams which belongs to Office 365 in order to communicate with either parents or with students, in case the students are adults.

When we use technology for school-parent communication, the warmth of in-person talks is missing. This can make discussing tricky or important topics less personal. Without seeing each other's expressions or hearing the tone, it's easy to misunderstand messages. This lack of personal touch might lead to confusion and unnecessary worries, impacting the quality of our communication.

Nowadays, there are lots tools and platforms designed for effective parent-teacher communication. To ensure successful implementation, schools should prioritize user-friendly platforms, making it easy for parents to engage. Consideration for language abilities is crucial — selecting platforms that offer translation features into different languages fosters inclusivity among diverse parent communities. Also, providing training sessions for parents on how to navigate and utilize these platforms ensures that everyone can take full advantage of the communication tools available.

In my experience, integrating social media into communication really creates a strong culture of community. It is a fantastic way of showing a a community all the learning and events that take place and how it supports the overall ethos of a school. Micro updates are a convenient way for parents to see this and if a school has a social media lead, it is a great way of streamlining communication. Other parts of a school may use other tools such as Tapestry which keep parents up to date as well.