Thursday, January 16, 2014

Let's Talk Technology! Parenting in the Digital Age

We (Instructional Technology Coordinator, Librarian, and Counselors) met our goal of getting at least 40 parents to attend our parent evening event (process data).  I know the SMORE flyer (posted earlier) got their attention and the topic is one on the minds of many parents, even those in kindergarten. We began the evening by showing the short video "Go Figure" that provides facts and figures about online use by children and teens.  We then did a 2 question poll of the audience using "smart" devices (we had a few of the schools ready in case a parent did not bring one of their own).  We just set up a class though www.socrative.com (it's free and simple).  We did a brief presentation using materials from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/educate-families  We also shared the technology use family agreement available on this web site. We planned ahead of time 6 questions to focus the small group discussion.  We divided the parents into grade levels (k-1, 2-3, 4-5) and had 1 or 2 facilitators in each group.  The discussion was very lively and parents wanted to hear what other parents are doing to manage technology so it does not overrun their children's lives.
We had a 3 question evaluation.  Our key perception data was the average score for "did you find the evenings discussion useful" was 4.76 (on 5 point scale).  We will repeat this event again. For parents who are interested and cannot attend, we posted the PowerPoint and handouts online.

1 comment:

  1. Would you be able to share the PPT? Please send to jbouley@fhps.net. Thank you. If it is on the Commonsensemedia.org website I can get it there. I have enjoyed following your blog.

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