02/12/99

Student/Teacher/Parent Email Network

Q: I understand that most schools have a computer system up and running, which creates the opportunity for electronic mail to and from the school. Is it possible to get connected with each of our kids' teachers via an Internet forum or electronic mail of some kind? Are there security or privacy issues to consider?

A: I think it's a great idea for teachers to establish an electronic mail system that students can access for information about homework or clarification of assignments. Homebound or absent students can also turn in homework assignments via email, until they are able to return to school.

I'm not sure what the security or privacy issues are, unless parents are worried about students finding a way to copy answers from each other's email messages. Schools with computer networks also employ technicians who would be able to address such issues, should they arise.

I have received the following comments from teachers and parents who utilize home/school computer networks:

• I have a home computer network and have provided technical support to financial services businesses in my area. Part of any technical support position is to teach the user population what they need to know, so they will increase their use and productivity on that system. When users are unafraid of computing machines, they invent new ways to use them as their knowledge base increases. So too will students and parents who use school/home computer networks.

• Some of the schools in our district have been using a homework hotline. Teachers write assignments down and turn them in to the school secretary who, in turn, calls them in to a main number. This is coordinated by our local newspaper. Each teacher is assigned a phone code number that parents or students call to see what assignments have been given. When they access the code, callers hear the secretary's voice. It is updated each day at 4:00pm. The same system is used for general school information about sporting events, concerts or school cancellation or early dismissal during bad weather. None of our elementary schools participate, because administrators didn't feel it was being accessed enough to justify the time. The junior highs and high schools have found that absent and forgetful students use the service most frequently. Teachers like the system because they say that it is easier to call assignments in every day than to write out assignment sheets for absent students.

• A large school district where I work installed a voice-mail homework assignment system two years ago. Very few parents called in to hear the weekly lesson plan, and teachers grew to dislike it because it took too much time away from other tasks. My opinion is that students need to be held responsible for knowing what their homework assignments are.

• As students start middle school with multiple teachers for the first time, I think an automated homework hot-line or computer network is an invaluable aid. I have my son call it nightly. His teachers spent the first week of school heavily reinforcing its use, so now they no longer have to check to make sure the students are writing assignments down correctly. As a parent, I still check my child's homework "log," so he gets into the habit of writing everything down. Then I can insist he double-check the homework line, if anything about what's expected is unclear. It's a big help to me as a parent, because my kids know that I can always find out whether they have homework or not. At my older son's middle school, the secretary or a volunteer parent recorded homework from teachers' written notes. That didn't work out because teacher handwriting was sometimes illegible. So they switched to teacher recordings of their own messages, which parents could then access by phone or computer. One of my son's teachers also ended each message with one or two letters of a word that was the answer to a riddle posed on Monday. By Friday the students had the complete word. That technique kept students calling daily.

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.