Wicked Problem Project- Increasing Parent Involvement Using Moodle to Improve Student Performance

Here is the link to the my presentation

Problem- How can I increase parent involvement?
I have notice that parents are feeling disconnected with their students' education. Yet, there is a desire to be involved. I first noticed the desire to be involved when our grade management program came out with a smart phone app. Parents had always had computer access to their students' grades, but when the app became available I notice a sharp increase in involvement. This showed me that parents want to involved, they just sometimes do not have the time. Others have admitted to me during conferences that they are simply not able to help their students at the high school level because the curriculum has become so much more rigorous since they were in school.

Solution- Making curriculum available to students and parents at home via Moodle.
The class had been using Moodle throughout the year for various assignments and projects. For the end of the year review I decided to make summary videos and practice exercises for each of the major topics that students would see on the exam. I also provided them with a guided review sheet they could follow along with. To involve the parents in my test group, I produced an introduction video for parents on Moodle and the review process. I alerted them through e-mail and student/parent contact. I measured the success of this implementation by analyzing parent contacts and student exam scores.

TP- This use of technology would allow students to review the material at home and thus allow me to utilize class time to help struggling students, show demos related to the topic and help students with their reviews.

TC- The technology allowed the students and their parents to have 24/7 access to the content. This meant that now students to go at their own pace through the review material spending as much or as little time as needed on each topic.

PC- By changing how the class time was spent, I could now provide more individual and small group instruction for students that needed it. In addition, parent could now work with their students at home and monitor their review process.