Parents Want Online Access to Children’s Schoolwork, Study Says
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By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 9/16/2008 2:00:00 PM
Most parents want more involvement in their children’s schoolwork by having online access to their assignments and coursework, but less than half actually have permission to do so, says a new survey.
In fact, a whopping 92 percent of parents say they’d like access to the same online content and curricula distributed to their kids, but only 49 percent report that schools provide such access, says a survey by Studywiz Spark, a company that supplies an online learning environment for students.
Sixty-five percent of parents who have online access to their kids’ schoolwork look at it at least once a week and only nine percent do so daily. And of those who don’t have online access to their children’s class work, only 23 percent think they would log on to view it every day if they could. “This indicates minimal need for concern about hovering or “helicoptering” parents,” the survey says.
What are the main reasons for wanting access to their children’s schoolwork? Those surveyed say the ability to email teachers, see assignments and grades, and being able to access missed work due to absences. Mobile devices seem to be the preferred method, with 59 percent of parents saying this format would be beneficial.
“This indicates that, through technology, schools should have little trouble meeting federal and state mandates to improve parental involvement,” says Bob Longo, executive vice president, Studywiz Spark. “In fact, parents are demanding new online tools that allow them to review student work in progress and proactively interact with students and teachers.”
More than two-thirds (78 percent) of parents also report dissatisfaction with the use of technology in their schools, saying more computers are needed or that teachers should do more with the technology they have, says the survey, a blind sample conducted in July 2008 of 325 parents who have at least one child in grades K to12.
Some 75 percent of those questioned say they’re comfortable with YouTube, audioclips, and Web links being used in the classroom, a number that significantly jumps to 95 percent when these multimedia tools are integrated into lesson plans in a teacher-monitored, safe environment.
In short, parents want their kids exposed to technological innovations but they need to be introduced in safe and secure environments like school. “A controlled environment allows teachers to present the best in multimedia to students, without sending them out into an uncontrolled, unsupervised Internet,” says Katia Petersen, author of Safe and Caring Schools, (Petersen Argo, 2004).
Surprisingly, gaming doesn’t seem to be a problem, with 96 percent of those surveyed saying they support their use in the classroom, provided they’re educational. In fact, 53 percent say they’re highly enthusiastic to have games as part of schoolwork or that students learn more from games than regular schoolwork.
The Internet survey, sponsored by Studywiz Spark and independently managed by Zoomerang, has a margin of error of 5 percent.
