The Limitations of Teacher Websites, Schoolloop, and Blog Posts

When PowerSchool, Schoolloop, Google Classroom, etc. all came out educators got excited. Finally, tools to communicate live grades AND homework! It is without a doubt that this technology opened up many more opportunities for teaching and learning. And one of the favored advantages by parents and students alike is the increase in feedback from the teacher to the student. 

Truth: These sites are truly incredible for communicating instant feedback on both graded and upcoming assignments. HOWEVER, there are several pitfalls. First, there is the problem with the sites themselves. Typically they are very difficult to navigate and not intuitive for the student to use efficiently. Also, these sites do not break down assignments into manageable tasks. Most of the time, all the student sees is a list of assignment titles (maybe a brief description or, if you're lucky, an attachment), and the due date. This limited information does not tell the student how to actually do the assignment. Therefore, it is an unrealistic expectation for the student to "just go to the website" to know how to do the assignment and break it up well enough to achieve the best possible result.

What I Suggest: There are limitations to all tech tools. We need to help students learn how to plan, break assignments down into manageable pieces, and reflect on their graded work. These are skills students MUST learn to be successful in school and in life. And these sites are not going to do this for your child. But, these sites can be used as platforms to practice their planning skills. So, how do you practice: Step 1: help your child identify the limitations that exist when relying on these sites.  Step 2: help your child write out a plan when looking at the information presented online. Ask them to identify the steps to completing a given assignment, and chunk the workload overtime. By chunking the workload and estimating the time it will take to complete a given chunk, students are also working on their concept of time in addition to planning.

Reply to this post if you would like to see an example conversation you can have with your child to guide them in building a plan from their school's feedback site.