Berner Middle School parents headed back to the classroom for Parent Tech University to learn how to navigate the digital t
ools teachers and students use to enhance academic instruction.
The class centered on the district’s learning management system called Haiku and Google Apps for Education. It was the first of a series that aims to boost parents’ comfort levels so they can be actively involved in their children’s education.
“For students to get the most out of their education, it is important for them to be powerful users of the digital tools that are available to them and that our parents are involved and have a good understanding of how to navigate these tools as well so we can all work together toward success,” said Berner Middle School principal Jason Esposito upon welcoming parents to the class.
Technology Learning Coach Danielle Mammolito conducted a day and evening session where dozens of parents first learned about the different ways they can get information from the district, including visiting the website and signing up for Enews, which can be done on the website, using mobile apps such as Remind@berner info and through Twitter @Berner Chiefs and @MassapequaPS or clicking on the Twitter feed on the Berner webpage. Then, using a Smartboard, she instructed them on Haiku, and Google Apps for Education.
Haiku, a web-based program that students can access anytime, anywhere with a mobile device, provides a digital platform for teachers to organize their class and the resources they need to teach it. Students can access their teachers’ pages and get class calendars, class handouts and notes, get or submit homework, access learning tools, such as YouTube videos or other digital media or resources for research assignments. Each teacher organizes their page in a way that makes sense to them, so parents may see information in a different order from page to page, but discussion about having one consistent spot to find homework assignments on each teacher’s page was feedback offered during the class that Esposito was happy to consider. While not every teacher has a Haiku page, teacher usage is high and increasing.
“When we are in sync, we have a better chance of moving forward more consistently and efficiently,” said Esposito. “As we explore this new technology we want to hear your concerns and suggestions so that we can streamline it and make it as easy as possible to use. Parents are our most important partners; we are in this together.”
A new feature to Haiku this year is the parent login. This helps if parents have more than one student in school. They can view all their students in one portal this way, rather than logging into each student’s individual account. Parents can set up a login by clicking on the “parents” tab on the district website for more information.
Using Google Apps for Education, which are also web-based and can be accessed anytime, anywhere from any mobile device, parents learned how to create a document using Google Docs and were informed about why it is such an important tool in education today.
With Google Docs, students can collaborate on assignments and projects in school or at home because the work is automatically saved in the cloud. Students share work with teachers who can give immediate feedback and individualized attention, which puts students on a better path to success.
“A lot of the work begins in the classroom and continues at home,” said Esposito. “The ability to collaborate in this way is very powerful. We don’t know what the career of the future will be, but we know they will be using collaboration as a 21st century skill.”
Parents agreed that they felt more comfortable with the technology and would find other workshops on topics such as mobile apps, helpful in the future. Subsequent workshops on the Parent Portal and the online Gradebook were held at the end of March. More workshops are being planned as needed.
—Submitted by Massapequa Public Schools
