Report cards meet social media
Posted February 10, 2015 8:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Sorry kids. No more “accidentally” losing report cards on the way home from school.
Mom and Dad can now get your grades and a whole lot more online, as an increasing number of BC schools adopt new “social” marking technology.
More teachers are using software like FreshGrade, which lets students upload video presentations and other work. It also allows teachers to grade it and add comments, and then sends it to an online portfolio which can be turned into a report card and sent home via email.
Without endorsing any particular program, one high profile education expert likes the idea of more interactive communication between students, teachers, and parents, especially if it means parents become more involved.
“The most important thing a parent can do in terms of parental engagement is express interest in the work their kids are doing in school and express support for what the school is trying to do for their youngster,” says UBC Professor Emeritus Charles Ungerleider, a former dean of the Faculty of Education and Deputy Minister of Education for BC.
“Anything that improves the access to information on the part of parents about their children’s progress in school is a good thing so long as it doesn’t overburden teachers with yet another demand for communication. There has to be a balance,” he tells News1130.
FreshGrade is a Kelowna-based company which has said its software is being used to some degree in every school district in the BC, as well as by teachers in some other provinces, US states, and in Australia.
