Optimiser la communication famille-école par l’utilisation du

courriel

1) Category:
• Project

2) Issues Behind the Project:

• Often it proves difficult for teachers to contact parents. Phone contact requires that
the parents and the teacher be available at the same time. Messages sent through the
students may arrive late, in bad condition, or not at all.
• Numbers of major studies on the integration of information and communication
technologies (ICTs) have shown that the main obstacle that teachers encounter is lack
of time (Becker, 1999; Scottish Executive Education Department, 2000).

3) Objectives:
• Make ongoing integration of ICTs standard practice for teachers
• Make parents aware of the importance and diversity of educational practices that can
be implemented within the family setting to contribute to their child’s success in school
• Develop means of communication consistent with the lifestyles of the parents so that
the latter can be actively integrated within school life

4) Environment:
• Primary schools
• Families
• Any other environment from which it is possible to communicate by email

5) Target Group:
• Grade 4 students
• Their parents
• Teachers

6) Key Words:
• Optimiser la communication famille-école par l’utilisation du courriel, cœuréaction,
school-family-community partnership, communication, email, website, Internet, success
in school, information and communication technologies, ICT

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7) Description:
• In 2002, an experiment (Karsenti and coll.) to integrate ICTs was carried out with Grade
4 teachers, their students, and the students’ parents from average or underprivileged
communities. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of how ICTs
can foster greater collaboration between the school and the family.
• In each class, a website was designed to enable teachers, students and the parents of
the students to access a variety of resources such as information about academic
planning, school rules, and homework and assignments. This initiative was also
introduced in order to give greater exposure to students’ work.
• In addition, an email address was created for each student. The parents’ addresses
were also transmitted to the teachers. This component of the project was crucial
because the use of e-communication was what the researchers wished to promote to
optimize collaboration between the parents and the teachers.

8) Steps:
I. Send the parents a letter informing them about the project, inviting them to
participate, and asking for their email address.
II. Create a website and email addresses for the students.
III. Establish a system for teacher monitoring of email messages between the students,
namely, a separate box where there is a clearly identified copy of the messages
received and sent by each student.
IV. Posting the students’ homework on the website and regular contact between the
parents, the teacher and the students.

9) Activities/Actions:
• The advantages of e-communication are many:
o Messages can be sent at any time. The fact of not having to find shared availability
expands school-family communication options.
o All parties can refer back to previous messages.
o Parents can retrieve their messages from practically anywhere provided there is
Internet access.
o Compared with oral communication, e-contact provides the opportunity to think
carefully about the message and to get it across clearly and concisely.
o Individual messages about student successes or problems can be sent expeditiously.
• The creation of a class website also spells numerous advantages:
o Posting of homework increases student motivation and the quality of the work
produced.
o Several kinds of information are at parents’ fingertips, e.g. their child’s work, class
activities and homework instructions.

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10) Resources Required:
• Most classes already have what is needed for a project of this kind, namely computers
with an Internet connection. Furthermore, there are many public platforms available
free of charge for website creation or for email service. A computer technician is
generally available in schools to provide teachers with support.

11) Roles of the Participants:

• The teacher:
o informs the parents about the project and prompts them to participate;
o creates the class website and configures student email access;
o keeps in regular contact with the parents and students and adopts an attitude that
encourages them to do likewise;
o ensures that the website is updated and remains attractive and appealing for the
users.
• The parents:
o provide the teacher with their email address;
o read and use the documents on the website;
o contact the teacher or their child using email.

12) Scientific Basis or Validity:

• The results of the study are available at:
http://www.erudit.org/revue/rse/2002/v28/n2/007359ar.html [in French only]. In
brief, the pilot project seemed to substantially increase communication between the
family and the school, even though the teachers had full control over the quantity and
type of email messages sent to the parents.
o The number of email messages sent to or received from the parents indicates
regular and ongoing school-family communication. Some teachers admitted that
they never thought there would be this much communication with the parents.
Three teachers even said that they were surprised to find themselves contacting the
parents by email several times a day, such as in the morning before class, during
recess and free periods, after school, and at home in the evening.
o The teachers said that the use of email freed them considerably from phone calls
and meetings with the parents, in particular, after school. In general e-
communication was eagerly endorsed by the teachers, who, after a few weeks’ use,
considered email as a tool for keeping in touch with the parents of students and as
an asset in nurturing students’ academic success.
• Note that the project also fostered communication between students and their parents.
According to Karsenti and Garnier (2002), in a society in which, very often, both parents
work outside the home and leave early in the morning and return only in the evening,
this form of communication opens up horizons and opportunities for the family to
become closer and seems to have a positive effect on the children’s motivation and
success in school.

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13) Project Material:
• No specific material resources

14) Additional Information:

• At one point, the researchers feared that the use of email might hinder the parents who
did not have Internet access. Quite the opposite. The teachers were determined to
offer all parents the same level of service, so the time saved by using email freed them
up to contact the parents with no Internet access. Given the improved time
management witnessed, the teachers indicated that the impact had been positive for all
families.
• The information contained in this factsheet was taken in whole or in part from:
o http://www.erudit.org/revue/rse/2002/v28/n2/007359ar.html ;
o http://www.thierrykarsenti.com/pdf/publications/2002/ec42_1.pdf .

15) Contacts:
• Thierry Karsenti, Author and Researcher
Université de Montréal
Faculty of Education, suite C-538
C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville
Montréal (Québec) H3C 3J7
Tel.: 514 343-2457
Email: thierry.karsenti@umontreal.ca

This factsheet was taken from the following website: http://rire.ctreq.qc.ca/. Page 4 of 4