Online communication between school and home

During 2019 the world was put into a state of crisis due to the Coronavirus pandemic, often referred to as COVID-19. This forced a majority of cities across the world to move work and school online. A large majority of schools ranging from elementary schools to universities were forced to move their schooling online. "It is estimated that 1.5 billion students worldwide have been impacted by Covid-19 (Teräs et al. 2020) with much face-to-face teaching rapidly moving to the online environment". Many students and faculty were not prepared for this sudden change to the online format and there were a-lot of challenges that came with this. Julie Apker states in her research article "students at first were largely unprepared for the rapid shift to online-only learning and struggled to adjust, while at the same time they encountered a lack of coping resources (e.g., reduced access to instructors and classmates, lack of counseling and social networks) (Kaufmann, Vallade, & Frisby, 2021; Wang et al., 2020). As COVID-19 evolves, students still encounter stress related to pandemic-impacted learning environments" this change made it hard for students to get appropriate coping resources as many students felt added stress due to the change of online learning and the pandemic in general as many were forced to stay in their homes longer than they are used to. This meant that people were getting cabin fever of sorts and not getting the face to face interaction that many humans need. The move also lead to problems with international students not being able to break the communication barrier online and some of these students felt as though this change drastically effected their ability to communicate questions with professors and get the help that is needed when learning. It is common for there to be language barriers between international students or anyone that is learning in a language that is not their first but when classes were in person it allowed them to have non verbal cues which helped bridge some of these gaps. When students were sent online it made it hard for there to be any other form of communication besides verbal and if you are unfamiliar with certain words learning can be a struggle. This is not even taking into account that people talk differently and it is harder to hear people when they are talking on a video camera vs in person. It also made it hard for people to interrupt class and ask questions. Covid also affected the communication between students who were trying to get help from tutors, between some students having a language barrier and others trying to figure out how to learn via and online platform it made bridging the gap extremely difficult for students.

Creating modes for online communication can increase parent participation in their children's education, which in turn increases students’ interest in their learning. Online communication increases parents’ understanding of classroom procedures, philosophies and policies. Parents then feel more involved in their child's school and more connected to the teacher. In general, online communication improves parents’ attitudes toward conferencing with teachers and administrators.[10][11][12][13]

This style of communication allows for more asynchronous communication and greater flexibility. With online communication, parents can initiate conversations and express concerns to teachers and school officials easily. In addition, informal communication through online chatting or forums can reduce parents’ anxiety of meeting face-to-face with teachers and/or school officials. When possible, online communication can also offer comfort through anonymity.[10][11][12][13]

Though most of the time, teachers and parents want to establish communication, there are some challenges that teacher and parents need to face together. The most common challenges involve parent's ability to use the software, their access to consistent internet access and language barriers. There may be financial costs incurred by the school, if they provide training or translation to parents in order to make online communication more inclusive.[10][11][13][14] Some teachers have noted a "huge volume" of aggressive emails or messages from parents due to the accessibility of online communication apps. Teachers have also felt the need to respond during the evenings and weekends with expectations of daily communication from parents.[15]

Online communication between teachers and students facilitates the exchange of ideas and e-learning. Online communication allows students to access learning materials beyond school hours and develop relationships with peers and teachers.[16][17]

The creation of Web 2.0 and social networks means that knowledge is now collective and readily available online for students to access and contribute to.[16] Promoting online communication between teachers and students creates opportunities for students to receive feedback and assistance from teachers and peers outside the regular school day and classroom. Student can e-mail or post questions, add their opinions to peer-discussions, and check official websites for pertinent information.

Through online learning communities of teachers and peers, students can build relationships with other users and establish a sense of both connectedness and belonging. Some students, who are less likely to participate in face-to discussions, are more likely to participate in online discussions and activities. This online communication enhances the strength of the relationships between students and both their peers and teachers.

Student can demonstrate antipathy towards online communication or peer interdependency in internet forums. In order to be productive, online communication between students and teachers requires trust, interactivity, common expectations and shared goals. Some students expect teachers to be on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, placing unreasonable expectations upon teachers.[18] In addition, most students spend participate in online communication from home, which means that parent's help is often required, but may not be available. Finally, students may lack the technical skills or access to the technology necessary to involve themselves in online communication.

Teachers have great responsibility in the establishment of online communication and communities with students, because of their leadership position. Several of their in-class characteristics must extend into the online environment, such as their ability to guide student behavior and learning. With online communication, teachers must model and demonstrate appropriate Netiquette throughout their persistent involvement. Teachers should also encourage their classes to evolve into learning communities in which group processes have the power to influence the behavior of individuals.[16] These online environments should foster a sense of openness, friendliness, and trust, so that problem solving becomes a group function.[16][19]

Teachers and students can e-mail questions and answers to each other about course content and assignments. Schools and teachers can maintain official websites with important information about events, assignments, and resources that students can utilize outside class.[20][21][22]

Both students and teachers can post messages in online forums as a part of homework assignments. In this way they can present different points of view that they don't have any chance to present in the classroom.

Online study groups allow students to maintain relationships with their peers from a distance. These study groups can be created within a classroom's social networking site, allowing users to connect with each other directly, beyond typical chat rooms and forums.

Teachers can develop virtual tours, virtual education, and virtual learning environment for their students in multi-user virtual environments (MUVE).

Various course management systems are designed specifically for facilitating online communication in education. Effective course management software tends to include more information, widgets, functions, and customization options than teacher-created websites.

Most course management systems include:

• class information: calendar, syllabus, details of prerequisites, assessment information, and a FAQ
• a notice board with up-to-date course information
• learning materials: course content, copies of visual aids, reading materials and links to community resources
• assessment opportunities: self-assessment, peer-assessment, and formal assessment
• communication support: e-mail, threaded discussions, and a chat room
• differentiated access rights for teachers, administrators, and students
• document authoring tools
• administrative tools: student tracking capabilities, statistics, and reports