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Internet can help them stay involved in the learning process.

Benefits:

To access pupils' grades.

Attendance.

Discipline data online.

Easy Communication
Technologies like email, texts, websites, electronic portfolios, online surveys and video chat applications like Skype and Google Hangout have made communication between parents and teachers more timely, efficient, productive, and satisfying for both parties.

Creators of a better learning

When parents and teachers communicate with one another, they are able to support student learning together more effectively. As a team, the two can work to create the best possible environments to foster physical, emotional and intellectual well-being for students.

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In Pearson's Teaching in a Digital Age research study, we seek to find out what factors make educational technology most effective. We have worked with 12 of the League of Innovative Schools districts around the country to find out how teachers are using technology most effectively to improve their teaching and increase student learning. A major focus of the research has been to identify the instructional strategies that teachers use that lead to better learning outcomes. However, another equally important part of the study examines how technology can be used to improve learning indirectly: for example, the ways technology can foster greater communication between home and school.

Parents and teachers are two of the most influential contributors to a student's educational success. We know that good communication between student and teacher is one major key to educational success, but what about communication between teacher and parent? When parents and teachers communicate with one another, they are able to support student learning together more effectively. As a team, the two can work to create the best possible environments to foster physical, emotional and intellectual well-being for students. Luckily, recent technological advances have enabled teachers to communicate with parents on a more regular basis, and in a more efficient manner.

During focus group discussions, teachers have told us they find that communicating with parents is now possible " 24/7-anytime, anywhere." Technologies like email, texts, websites, electronic portfolios, online surveys and video chat applications like Skype and Google Hangout have made communication between parents and teachers more timely, efficient, productive, and satisfying for both parties. Additionally, many teachers use online calendars, which can be accessed at any time, from almost anywhere, so that parents can schedule meetings, conferences or volunteer at school. Teachers also create online homework schedules, homework logs and online grade books. These digital tools allow parents to check on their student's work and to gauge how well their student is doing in school. These tools also provide them with the opportunity to praise their student for positive performance and to intervene early if there is a sign of a problem.

It is important for teachers and parents to have meaningful and regular communication with one another to ensure that the student is doing well both in school and outside of school. If the child is sick or perhaps dealing with the a family issue, then parents can reach out to teachers to let them know that their student might be having an "off" day. Likewise, teachers can report back to parents on student behavior and academic progression in a timely manner. Despite the fact that some teachers struggle to engage parents, today, more than ever, many parents are demanding that schools provide them with timely information about their child's academic progress. Parents really want to hear about their child's academic performance and behavioral expectations, and technology is enabling them to do so in an easy and convenient manner. They expect this information to be communicated to them regularly and early, before reporting periods end, while issues can still be addressed.

Parents and teachers alike would be well served to seek out opportunities to communicate with one another on a regular basis to ensure that all students have their physical, emotional and intellectual needs met. New technologies have made communication between home and school more efficient, and improved in both quantity and quality. When parents and teachers communicate with one another, they are able to work towards their common goal of facilitating the best educational experience possible for students.

Visit our Teaching in a Digital Age webpages to learn more about how technology can be used to enhance communication, improve teaching, foster collaboration, and increase learning.
Liane Wardlow is a Senior Research Scientist at the Pearson Center for eLearning. Pearson is a corporate partner of Digital Promise.

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Using Technology for Effective Parent-Teacher Communication - Digital Promise

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In Pearson's Teaching in a Digital Age research study, we seek to find out what factors make educational technology most effective. We have worked with 12 of the League of Innovative Schools districts around the country to find out how teachers are using technology most effectively to improve their teaching and increase student learning.

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Programs.

Games

Games are designed to create a compelling complex problem space or world, which players come to understand through self-directed exploration.

They are scaffolded to deliver just-in-time learning and to use data to help players understand how they are doing, what they need to work on and where to go next.

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Extra Credits - Tangential Learning - How Games Can Teach Us While We Play

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This week, we talk about one of the ways games can teach us new things (without being boring about it). Come discuss this topic in the forums! http://extra-credits.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8t=1295 Like the outro music? Download it here! http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01527/ New episodes every Wednesday on PATV!

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Libraries online.

Courses can be more flexible.

Easy for students who work.

Easy for students with disabilities.

Teachers can enter grades, class schedule and assignments online.

Reach all  learning styles.

Empower students in their participation.

Help and empower students and teachers.

Teachers increase literacy and understanding any subject.

Technology Prepares Students for the Future:
Education it's about solving complex problems and being to collaborate with others in the workforce. Ed-tech in the classroom prepares students for their future and sets them up for this increasing digital economy.

Improved Retention Rate
Student perceptions in the study believe that technology helps them retain information better.

Technology Helps Students Learn at Their Own Pace
As educators we need to keep up with the times in order to best prepare our students for this ever-changing world that we live in.

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Benefits of Technology in the Classroom - TeachHUB

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Technology has become an everyday part of our lives, and that’s true for schools, too. Learn more about the benefits of technology in the classroom.

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New technology can also be useful for any other subject to join an increasingly global workforce

Why Integrate Technology in other subjects?

Properly used, technology will help students acquire the skills they need to survive in a complex, highly technological knowledge-based economy.

Effective tech integration must happen across the curriculum in ways that research shows deepen and enhance the learning process. In particular, it must support four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts. Effective technology integration is achieved when the use of technology is routine and transparent and when technology supports curricular goals.

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Information technology provides teachers an endless choices of multimedia software, aplication and devices that can help to work with interactive lessons

Improvement tool:
Technology integration in the curriculum improves students' learning processes and outcomes.

Skills to develop:
Personal and social responsibility

·         Planning, critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity

·         Strong communication skills, both for interpersonal and presentation needs

·         Cross-cultural understanding

·         Visualizing and decision making

·         Knowing how and when to use technology and choosing the most appropriate tool for the task .

Components of learning

Active engagement, participation in groups

Frequent interaction and feedback

Connection to real-world experts

Student/teacher role: Students take responsibility for their learning outcomes, while teachers become guides and facilitators.

Students new role: They become creators and critics instead of just consumers.

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Technology is a ubiquitous part of children's lives. It is transparent. Most homes have connected computers or Internet-enabled devices. As prices of technology drop, computers and digital devices may replace television as we know it. When pioneering educational technology advocate Jan Hawkins wrote an essay for Edutopia in 1997, " The World at Your Fingertips: Education Technology Opens Doors," about how technology brings the tools of empowerment into the hands and minds of those who use them, she couldn't have known her words would be even more relevant today.

Now, walk into a classroom. Are there computers and if so, how are they being used? Are they being used at all? Technology has revolutionized the way we think, work, and play. Technology, when integrated into the curriculum, revolutionizes the learning process. More and more studies show that technology integration in the curriculum improves students' learning processes and outcomes. Teachers who recognize computers as problem-solving tools change the way they teach. They move from a behavioral approach to a more constructivist approach. Technology and interactive multimedia are more conducive to project-based learning. Students are engaged in their learning using these powerful tools, and can become creators and critics instead of just consumers.

Another reason for technology integration is the necessity of today's students to have 21st century skills.

These 21st century skills include

personal and social responsibility

planning, critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity

strong communication skills, both for interpersonal and presentation needs

cross-cultural understanding

visualizing and decision making

knowing how and when to use technology and choosing the most appropriate tool for the task

A great starting point for more information about 21st century skills is the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website.

The Edutopia article "Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many" offers this summary: "Integrating technology into classroom instruction means more than teaching basic computer skills and software programs in a separate computer class. Effective tech integration must happen across the curriculum in ways that research shows deepen and enhance the learning process. In particular, it must support four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts."

Technology helps change the student/teacher roles and relationships: students take responsibility for their learning outcomes, while teachers become guides and facilitators. Technology lends itself as the multidimensional tool that assists that process. For economically disadvantaged students, the school may be the only place where they will have the opportunity to use a computer and integrate technology into their learning (for more about equity, access, and digital inclusion, check out our Digital Divide Resource Roundup.)

There is a growing body of evidence that technology integration positively affects student achievement and academic performance. The Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology (CARET) found that, when used in collaborative learning methods and leadership that is aimed at improving the school through technology planning, technology impacts achievement in content area learning, promotes higher-order thinking and problem solving skills, and prepares students for the workforce. Look at the research findings on student learning in CARET's Questions & Answers for the question: "How can technology influence student academic performance?"

You will find more links to research and resources in the Resources for Tech Integration section of this guide.

Continue to the next section of the guide, What Is Tech Integration?

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Why Do We Need Technology Integration? | Edutopia

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Technology is a ubiquitous part of children's lives. It is transparent. Most homes have connected computers or Internet-enabled devices. As prices of technology drop, computers and digital devices may replace television as we know it.

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Communicational devices play an increasingly and important role in education, developing an understanding of information technology.

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Information Technology helps the students and teacher learn a language fast and easily However, In the past, To learn a language was a long and low process.

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Grammar Translation(its inability to create communicative competence in students) ,Direct Method(it just uses the target language), Audio/ lingual Method(it uses audio tapes. The language learner could actually hear and mimic native speakers on reel to reel audio tapes often used with earphones in a language lab setting. Lessons often began with a sample dialogue to be recited and memorized and other methods not mentioned in this article.

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Reading, listening native English and communicating with  English speaking people will enable you to communicate with people around the world.

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The most important function of a language is for communication. Under different situations, different kinds of languages are being used. Chatting with friends is different from doing the presentation. To master a language is not an esay task.

English is not the fisrt language for me. To master English is more difficult for me than the ones who use English as their first language. However, as the communication between different countries has been enhanced in the recent years. The use of English becomes more and more important. In addition, since I am now studying in a country whose first language is English.

Studying in an university, academic writing and reading is the basic requirment for students. However, it is more difficult for students like me. Therefore, learning and practicing is needed.

In the daily life, there are many reading materials which are in academic language. In addition, for the project, we need to write academically. If we can really master English, to some extent, it helps us understand better.

For the future, when we are to work, there are still lots of presentations we need to do. Concise and academic language is needed for the explaining part.

To conclude, English language competence will help a lot not only for the study but also for future work.

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English-a necessary tool of communication

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The most important function of a language is for communication. Under different situations, different kinds of languages are being used. Chatting with friends is different from doing the presentation. To master a language is not an esay task. English is not the fisrt language for me.

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English is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for the purpose of worldwide communication.

Why we learn English?
- It is the most common foreign language,  in order to get in touch on an international level.
- It is the dominant language in the sciences (most of the research and studies you find in any given scientific field will be written in it as well)
-  It's the primary language of the press: more newspapers and books are written in English than in any other language

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Foreign languages are needed as the main and most efficient means of information exchange of  people.

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The importance of languages | LearnEnglish Teens - British Council

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Our Magazine is written by young people from the UK. Each year we select a new group of bloggers, from the British Council's language assistants, who share their experiences of learning languages and living abroad. The views and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the LearnEnglish Teens team.