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Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Today we're going to be looking at ways in which you can communicate the move to competency-based education to the parents of your students.
And for today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Buddha, which states, "whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or for ill." And any time we make big changes within education, you'll want to make sure that you get those parents on board. And communication there is key.
By the end of the lesson today, you will be able to identify the important points about competency-based education that should be communicated to parents. You'll also be able to understand the significance of using a Learning Management System, or LMS, as a communication tool.
Now, when we look at communicating with parents, there are some things that you want to make sure that you communicate with those parents as you are making the move to a competency-based education system. First and foremost, you're going to want to communicate what competency-based education is. Within this, you're going to want to make sure that you explain to those parents what competency-based education is and how it really differs from traditional education.
When doing this, it's really important not to necessarily look at the intricacies of the vocabulary that we as teachers use within competency-based education, but to pull out the major elements that are applicable to their children, making sure that you are emphasizing the way in which this is going to change your role as a teacher in the classroom, the way in which it's going to change the students' role as we look at it, and how that will differ from traditional education. But lead that conversation right into why we are using competency-based education and why we're making that shift.
When you focus in on the why, which really is what most parents, at the heart of it, are going to want to know, you want to make sure that you discuss the way in which that it can be flexible for students, really focusing in on that flexibility and how it provides students the ability to master the knowledge and skills that they are going to need in order to be successful in college or within their career, and how really focusing in on that personalized approach addressing every students' needs is going to help their child further their education based on their strengths, as well as taking into account their areas of need.
You're also going to want to make sure that you look at what will change with competency-based education, addressing this as you move from traditional education to CBE. You're going to want to make sure that you focus in on explaining how the design of that instruction is going to change, as well as how assessments for their students are not going to change-- so telling them about how technology is going to be now infused into the instruction and really casting this in a positive light as the technology is helping to increase that individualized support for their students, how a lot of the learning activities are going to be more open-ended learning activities, really encouraging students to grapple with those bigger questions, and that students will be working much more in individual or small-group learning as opposed to one massive class.
You're also going to want to focus in on those assessments, emphasizing that the major element of the grade is going to be on the summative assessment. But there will be many, many, many different formative assessments, helping to ensure that no child is getting lost, as well as it's a very good idea to make sure that they understand the policies regarding zeros.
And for many parents, this will truly be a plus-- the idea that the zero will not be given cannot tank their child's grade based on the child not completing the work. But rather, an incomplete or some other measure will be given in order to encourage students to really see it not as, zero. It's done. I should never go back, but as, this is incomplete. I need to go back and take care of this before I can move on.
Also, it's really important that you know yourself and then can communicate to parents how those Learning Management Systems, or LMSes, can be used if they're going to be used. Make sure that they understand that the LMS can really help enable both the student, the parent, and the teacher.
Students within an LMS can have access to that learning at any time. Whenever they have the opportunity to get online access, they have the opportunity to get access to the material. It allows the students to get that immediate feedback from the system so that they can see, where am I in my learning? How am I able to advance as I move forward this learning?
And some LMSes provide apps or programs that can even further advance that online learning where students can interact with various elements online, as well as even submit completed assignments or connect with their teachers. Additionally, LMSes help enable parents communicate with teachers quickly and effectively so that there is a better means then, I emailed you a week ago, or, I tried calling, but I can't get through to you.
Also, parents have the opportunity to view how a student is doing in the class so that they can really help monitor their individual child's progress in real time rather than waiting for the midterm or the end of the trimester report. And really, there isn't a whole lot more that the parent can do at that moment to provide those interventions for their children.
Now that we've reached the end of the lesson, you've been able to focus in on identifying those important points about CBE that you want to communicate to parents, as well as looking at the significance of using LMSes as a communication tool for both you as the teacher, for the parents, as well as for the students in your classroom.
Now I want you to take just a moment to reflect on perhaps the most difficult part of communicating this move to the parents that you work with. Now it's your turn to apply what you learned in this video.
The Additional Resources section will be super helpful. This section is designed to help you discover useful ways to apply what you've learned here. Each link includes a brief description so that you can easily target the resources that you want. That's all we have for right now. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
(00:00-00:34) Intro
(00:35-00:53) Objectives
(00:54-04:25) Important Elements of CBE
(04:26-05:55) Significance of LMS
(05:56-06:47) Review & Reflection
Assessment & Reporting: Frequently Asked Questions
The Calgary Board of Education provides a site dedicated to the explanation of grading and assessment and expected outcomes. This site has useful language for communicating with parents.
http://www.cbe.ab.ca/programs/curriculum/assessment-and-reporting/Pages/Frequently-Asked-Questions.aspx
Characteristics of a CBE System
This is a helpful graphic from P21 that outlines the characteristics of CBE. This is a useful tool when designing parent communication strategies.
http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/summit/2015_Breakout_presentations/Iowa-Characteristics_of_CBE_System.pdf