Comments on: Online Reporting to Parents using Google Docs: A Proposal Update

By: Questions with Google #dodigital | Oliver Quinlans Live Blogs

Questions with Google #dodigital | Oliver Quinlans Live Blogs — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 15:13:17 +0000

[...] this covers us for data protection issues, although data is stored on US servers, the safe harbour (some info here) should cover the legalities of this. One delegate raised the issue that some Local [...]

By: Karen Riding

Karen Riding — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:30:00 +0000

Brill thanks

How is your project coming on? I am considering using Google docs/SIMS and real smart cloud

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:22:00 +0000

Hi Karen – not aware of any change but can find out for you and will let you
know.

By: Karen Riding

Karen Riding — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:12:00 +0000

Hi Tom
I have been told that online reporting is no longer statutory just recommended, do you know whether this is true?

By: tomgbarrett

tomgbarrett — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:12:08 +0000

Good to hear from you Kevin and thanks for the comment – I am still
preparing to roll out the work with parents and will keep you posted with
how things go via posts here. In terms of security it has never been a
problem, with Postini email security enabled for GMail for Apps it is a
pretty tight ship. There is a range of admin options that allow different
controls over communicating in and out of the domain. I have been using it
for 3 years and I am very confident about the security.

By: tomgbarrett

tomgbarrett — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:12:08 +0000

By: kevin mace

kevin mace — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:54:15 +0000

I am the technology Integration Specialist at a school here in America and one thing I have been able to do is get the teachers using Google Apps. We communicate through Gmail and Chat and teachers are making Google Docs left and right. I haven't pushed them to use it with their students yet, but that's the next step. But I wanted to ask you about security? I remember this blog post and was wondering how it is going with parent communication and security. Keep up the good work!

By: tbarrett

tbarrett — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Hi Ray – thanks for taking the time to comment. I can see the distinction you are making between the two types of information relayed to a parent. It wasn’t my intention to make a simple system sound complex. We currently write written reports, this online version is covering our statutory obligation to report to parents, so it is still a report in many people’s eyes. Not necessarily mine though.

If you look at some of the examples I have posted you will see that I fully recognise that making it available online provides a teacher with greater scope to share work – that is why I titled the examples on Google Docs “Portfolio” and not “report”.

I don’t think I have “clouded” this process at all – Google Docs is a tool that is currently in place for all our students as part of Ed Apps, and so is an ideal platform to share a portfolio with parents and pupils. A simple solution for us. Even so, the desire to share children’s successes and progress in learning in a better way was the starting point – not the tool.

By: Ray Tolley

Ray Tolley — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:47:55 +0000

Tom, much against my nature, I held back from responding, assuming that other more-authoritative folk would chip in. I think that your repeated use of the term ‘report’ tends to reinforce the traditional concept of a written report – with all the implications of careful language, grammar, spellings etc along with all the usual hazards of making sure that the teacher really is writing about the correct child etc.

I don’t see ‘on-line reporting’ as anything of this nature. If my car engine were to overheat I am sure that I would get a red light flashing or a simple message to check or drive more carefully. On an F1 race-track a black flag would tell me to pull off into the pit-lane. This is how I see on-line reporting – a flagging device that shows some sort of concern or commendation – without a long detailed explanation.

The practicality of this is relatively simple and need cause teachers no keyboard induced RSI. Teachers are well used to entering marks and even short comments which are stored in real-time on the school’s MIS. These grades can be aggregated and displayed graphically in a simple and easy to understand way. Some assessment tools, like SmatAssess do just this. These on-going results are then displayed whenever the child’s parent/carer accesses this through their Remote Access facility. Any obvious causes for concern are made obvious and indicate that parents should ‘pull over into the pit lane’.

The above simple system is in contrast to another area that you refer to and is best accommodated through an easy to use e-Portfolio system. When displaying artefacts, possibly with the invitation for comment, the e-Portfolio is the best tool to manage the formative feedback and even repeated ‘conversations’ without the need to clutter up the MIS. This is where the progress in, say, handwriting or practical activity can be documented so much more naturally and, even, across different schools.

I fear that your starting point with Google Docs has possibly clouded what, in my mind, can be a very simple solution for teachers and parents alike.

By: Business and education: virtual connections - Hypergrid Business

Business and education: virtual connections - Hypergrid Business — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:32:55 +0000

[...] similar speed. I have also seen several similar instances of effective distributed work models on Tom Barrett’s [...]