When a school community chooses to invest in and employ digital technologies, the impact of the choice extends beyond the school walls and the hours of the school day. In fact, proponents of digital technologies highlight the benefit of expanded learning time and space, moving learning beyond the confines of the classroom. What are some intended, incidental, and unintended changes that begin to happen in a school community through this expansion of school time? Let’s look at two examples from our study: parental roles and teacher workload. These two examples and more are examined in-depth in the forthcoming book
Parental Roles
The schools we studied had a long tradition of viewing the training of children as a partnership of church, home, and school. They emphasized their partnership with parents, and parents generally took their roles seriously. As a deeper infusion of digital technologies took place through a one-to-one device program, parents found themselves involved in their children’s learning in new ways. (One-to-one technology programs refer to schools providing each student with a digital device [e.g., tablet or laptop].) Digital technologies increased opportunities to reach parents as an authentic audience for student projects. Elementary teachers, especially, described how students were motivated to share projects with parents and grandparents at school presentations or online via e-mail or the classroom blog. Parents attended high school students’ Shark Tank multimedia presentations, where students pitched their ideas to an external audience. Parents could also visit classroom blogs or websites for instant access to weekly newsletters, photos of classroom activities, and learning resources. Parental oversight of grades also increased as parents had online access to the grade book at any time and could view grades for individual assignments, quizzes, and tests. During parent-teacher conferences parents and teachers could easily review students’ digital projects or language recordings as evidence of student learning and progress. Parents and teachers expressed appreciation for the ease of connecting with students’ work.
These all show how new technologies can provide different opportunities for community connections, but the overall picture was not as simple. Some gaps emerged in these connections as parents talked about receiving e-mails or blog updates at work containing examples of their children’s work in school. While they enjoyed looking at their children’s work at the time, some found that they became less likely to remember to talk about the projects with their children at home. Too much time elapsed between when they viewed the schoolwork and when they saw their children, and without a physical paper or project to prompt the conversation when the child arrived home, the conversation about the work became less likely to happen. In focus groups with parents and teachers it also became evident that, even though the blog was available, its availability did not mean that parents accessed or read it. An unread digital blog may be no better than a weekly paper note home scrunched at the bottom of a student’s backpack, in terms of completing the communication. Digital documents require reading as much as paper documents do, and, at least for some parents, the increased flow of communication enabled by digital channels led them to give up trying to keep up.While teachers shared students’ learning with parents, parents expressed a bit of apprehension about how to help their students learn with their technologies at home and how to set boundaries for device use. The schools’ choice to use digital technologies included the expectation that students would use them at home, bringing new responsibilities for parents. At the beginning of each year, parents notified the school in writing regarding their preferred laptop settings for students’ out-of-class use, including if and when they could access social media, games, and so on. Technology documents from the school highlighted updates to parents about devices and apps, internet safety, how to care for devices, and how to set behavioral expectations with the devices. In addition, the school offered technology sessions for parents, although school personnel reported low attendance.
Many parents, however, also desired guidance in how to navigate home use. Nearly half the parents we surveyed agreed that the school had provided enough training for Christian parenting with regard to technology, but almost a quarter disagreed. Parent focus groups also revealed a mixed response. It seems that when parent-student conversations about technology happened, they revolved around discernment and ethical issues and how technology influences human relationships and communication. Yet the school technology communications focused on devices and the internet and included less practical guidance about broader questions of discernment in technology use. Although the laptops went home for educational purposes, often understood in terms of homework and projects, parents recognized that character formation, communication, and relationships were involved and many felt a need for support in these areas. However, parents also expressed that they might not have the time to attend school-sponsored parent sessions regarding these deeper concerns around technology use.
In focus groups, parents appreciated hearing what other parents were doing in terms of permissions and limitations on where and when school and personal devices could be used at home. In the same way that school laptops offered both learning opportunities and distractions, parent-provided digital devices such as phones, tablets, iPods, and video games added another layer of opportunities, distractions, and social interaction. Although the school provided filters and monitored access, parents were navigating how to monitor and guide their children’s personal device use. Parents had questions that ranged well beyond laptop care: How often should I check the online gradebook? What amount is healthy for my child and for our relationship? How might I help my child begin to make good choices with digital technologies? Is my child getting too much screen time between school and home? These parents sensed the importance of parenting in community, especially in a Christian community of shared values, a community in which members negotiate expectations, discuss commitments, and develop norms. Precise norms for each community will vary, depending on the community’s particular background, geographic location, and context, but in every community it matters that these norms become a matter of open conversation rather than being left to each individual to figure out.
Teacher Workload
While parents wrestled with how to shape their students’ character and practices at home, teachers wrestled with their own outside-of-school time. A teacher related this story of a student who was sitting in front of his laptop, just staring at it:
The student’s mom comes in and says, “Well, what are you doing?” He says, “Well, I emailed Mr. Smith and I’m waiting for the answer.” He’s just sitting there. In the meantime, I’m coaching, I’m nowhere near the computer. The reality is . . . when you’re simply not by your computer, you’re not answering their e-mails. And when you are by your computer if it’s urgent, you are answering their emails. . . . I think a bigger chunk of my day is spent in communication with students and parents than it used to be.
Communication with parents, whether through blogs, e-mail, or phone calls, plus communication with students through Moodle, e-mail, or text, expands teachers’ workload and expands their hours on the job.
Whereas teachers previously taught and communicated primarily during the school day and saved after-school hours for grading or planning, now teachers feel “always on,” struggling with how to draw boundaries when e-mail is available twenty-four hours a day for communicating with students and parents. While teachers expressed appreciation for the ways in which connectivity with students outside school could be used to help learning, they also recognized that it was now easier for students to contact a teacher instead of looking through notes or checking with peers. This created stresses in terms of increased workload. Some addressed this by referring students to video-recorded instructions and online resources, aiming to continue to build students’ confidence in trying new things and problem-solving using teacher-provided assists that required less direct evening contact.
Some teachers talked about intentionally setting boundaries for their time. “For myself I usually try to stop around ten, or nine even, so that my brain isn’t going about the e-mails,” one shared. “I think the boundary is simply closing your computer and it’s hard, . . . but you have to do that.” Not all teachers felt comfortable setting such a boundary. Their hesitancy pointed to the need for community discussion and agreement so that all teachers, parents, and students clearly understood shared expectations and what is at stake for the community. Where these boundaries were not negotiated clearly in community, individual teachers felt pressure to move toward the most heroic degrees of availability and engagement and were unsure where it was appropriate to draw the line. An administrator voiced concerns for the amount of work teachers logged:
We are inherently valuable . . . as spouses, as children, as parents, as siblings, but also as children of God. . . . You are not just a teacher. Do not believe that lie. Do not be here all the time—go home! . . . It’s busy here, and I do not want to create a culture where my staff believes they’re only what they do, and the lesson plans they create or don’t create, and the experiences they give. [We need] a larger picture of what life is—not only in Christ, but giving to their families, and their friends, and their communities. And so, do not just be the teacher who’s here twelve, thirteen, fifteen, sixteen hours a day. . . . That’s not good for anyone.
The administrator’s comment draws attention to another kind of pressure on teacher boundaries. Concern for how long teachers are “here” raises the question “Where is ‘here?’” With digital devices, a teacher does not need to be at school to be working or engaged with students. Does being “here” just mean face-to-face interactions? Or does it include being “here” for e-mail interactions and conversations? Now that students can access teachers from home, the school has a digital presence in the home, and parents can directly message teachers during classroom instruction. How can the community begin to address the new pressures created? Communication patterns are needed (and the self-discipline required to sustain them) that reflect an understanding of the effects of our digital communication choices on other community members. This matters not only for teacher stress levels but also for student learning as they observe and possibly reflect their teachers’ work habits and availability patterns.
Questions about parent roles and teacher workload turn out to be connected in the realm of digital communication. For both sets of questions, the importance of the community comes to the fore. The temptations and possibilities of digital devices are not matters that just affect students; the whole community’s behaviors are implicated. Neither are they matters that can be effectively navigated by leaving every individual to patch together their own coping strategies. Together, community members can navigate changing possibilities and expectations with an eye toward maintaining the health and contributions of the whole community. Might Christian schools, with their commitment to living as the body of Christ, have the resources to lead the way here? How is your school community handling the changing roles and workload?
Marjorie Terpstra is an associate professor at Calvin University and, along with teaching in the undergraduate education program, serves as the chair of the education department. Her research has focused on faith and technology, on developing teacher knowledge and skills for teaching with technology, and on Zambian instructional practices.