Page 10 - The Inquiry into the Development and Implementation of a Multimedia Resource to Help Improve Parental Involvement in Their Child’s Reading Literacy During the Primary School Years.

Chapter 1 – Introduction

1.1 Introduction

In this opening chapter of my dissertation, I will introduce my workplace context

and my own professional background. I will briefly describe the eLearning culture
within my school and discuss the rationale for conducting this research and the

creation of a multimedia resource. I will explain the research approach I chose to use

to carry out this investigation and detail the layout of this dissertation.

This research aimed to investigate the process of designing, creating and
implementing an online multimedia resource to promote parental involvement in

their child’s reading literacy at Castle Park Primary School in Dublin. The

multimedia resource, entitled the ‘Parent Learning Zone’, will supplement a
predominantly text-based parent and pupil handbook that is currently available in

PDF on our school website. The resource consists of seven short instructional videos

that aims to support parent involvement in their child’s reading homework. It
provides parents with best practice examples, key information on the main

components of reading as well as suitable reading strategies and techniques they can
practice with their child in the home. Although the resource’s primary purpose is to

enhance parental involvement in their child’s reading homework, it also provides
parents with information on the day-to-day routines of our school through an

interactive and engaging medium. It also includes a feedback section where the

parents can voice their opinions and ideas about the resource and how we as a school
can continue to improve our communication between the home and school for the

benefit of our pupils.

1.2 Background and Context

The organisation, Castle Park Primary School, is a co-educational, inter-
denominational junior school located in the South Dublin area. The school consists

of approximately 400 pupils and 40 full-time and part-time teaching staff, with just

under thirty percent of the student population coming from abroad. I have been

1