While students use technology in school to learn and complete tasks, sometimes the digital divide begins when they open the door to their homes. Parents who cannot afford compatible technology in the form of computers and smartphones can be stymied by their children’s access to, and knowledge of, how to learn in the digital age.
Now, school districts, businesses, and non-profits are collaborating to bring parents into the digital fold, as Nora Fleming reports in “Schools Are Using Networking to Involve Parents.”
Fleming shows how the largest school districts, and smaller ones, too, are connecting parents to their children’s education via webinars, YouTube, Twitter, text messages and Tumblr.
To address the issue of costly technology, funding partners have been identified. In Houston, five campuses have had “parent super centers” installed by Microsoft Corp. In Boston, two organizations—Technology Goes Home and CFY—partnered to provide computers for parents after they were trained in how to use them.
Keeping parents aligned with their students’ technical know-how, and classwork, is an emerging challenge. How are your schools tackling this issue?