Abstract
A dominant theme of the 21st century has been the rapid changes in technology and the move towards online communication. The impact of these changes has influenced how schools interact and communicate with parents/caregivers. Effective partnerships between school and home have the potential to positively impact on student outcomes. The importance of parent engagement and involvement cannot be underestimated, yet in related research to date, the parent voice is rarely considered. The purpose of this study is to help rectify this gap by evaluating parent and caregiver perceptions of online communication and how this involves them in their child's schooling. Through intermediate school-based research conducted in New Zealand, the study will identify how parents engage with online communication and examine the conditions that influence this involvement. Analysis of the data collected revealed three major themes. These broad themes were the shared responsibility of the parent and teacher to support the child's learning, parent capability and understanding of the technology, and the expectations held by the parents towards the use of online communication by the school. From, the online survey and parent interviews it became clear that the parents wanted to be actively involved in their child's learning. By identifying the conditions that influence parents/caregivers to engage in online communication, this study made it possible to develop guidelines for schools to enhance and encourage school-home partnerships.
Author Information
John Hope, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Paper Information
Conference: ACTC2013
Stream: Technology in the Classroom
This paper is part of the ACTC2013 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Hope J. (2013) An Evaluation of Parent and Caregiver Perceptions of Online Communication in Intermediate Schooling in New Zealand: Involvement and Effectiveness ISSN: 2186-4705 – The Asian Conference on Technology in the Classroom 2013 – Official Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.22492/2186-4705.20130452
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/2186-4705.20130452
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