Page 2 - 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.

Abstract

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.

It is now widely accepted that parental involvement in primary school education has
many benefits for the child’s academic progress, their social and emotional well-

being and their attitude towards learning. This inspired me to carry out my research
in the hope of improving parental involvement within my school. I investigated the

creation an online multimedia resource that aims to assist parents with their child’s

reading homework. The resource, known as the ‘Parent Learning Zone’, is a series of
interactive videos that demonstrate how to read with a child as part of their daily

reading routine. It provides key information on the main components of reading as
well as best practice examples of how to use the various reading strategies. The

resource is available to access at https://www.cpparents.com/using the password
‘qwerty’.

I used the Educational Entrepreneurial Approach (EEA) to Action Research (Crotty,
2014) to carry out this study. This methodology promotes the use of technology in

order to create an innovative resource to help improve my school community. I
employed the four stages of this method as the framework for my study: Explore,

Understand, Create and Transform. Although, it’s still in the early stage of

implementation, the ‘Parent Learning Zone’ has enhanced parent involvement and is
a useful resource for reading homework. Data gathered via questionnaires and emails

suggest that all parents found the videos useful, with some parents commenting that
it has motivated them to read more with their child while others saying it has

informed them how to read more effectively as opposed to just listening. The parents

have also requested similar demonstration style videos in other subject areas such as
Mathematics and ICT/Internet Safety. This is an area of growth for the ‘Parent

Learning Zone’ I would like to develop in the near future.

Keywords: Parental Involvement, ‘Parent Learning Zone’, Reading, Literacy,
Instructional Videos, Instructional Design, Interactive Learning, School Community.

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