Page 29 - 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.

about activities that can enhance parent involvement and how they can best support

their child’s learning. Lewin & Luckin (2010) summarised the complex needs and
demands of parents that need to be taken into consideration:

• Meticulously designed, parent focussed involvement.

• Listen to and understand the needs of the parents in order to help them get
involved.

• Understanding that some learning activities designed for school are not

necessarily transferable to the home environment.
• Promoting the use of technology at home for both the student and parent, and

ensuring its use is purposeful.

• Integrating the use of technology in a way that develops alongside growing
family engagement and expertise.

• Recognising that the use of technology for parental involvement is an on-
going venture that needs to be cultivated in order for it to be sustainable.

• Ensuring continuity by making sure learning at school is relevant to learning

in the home.

As part of this growing use of technology in education, schools around the world are

now being encouraged to develop and maintain school ‘learning platforms’ to enable
all families and members of the school community to access learning resources,

communicate and collaborate with each other, as well as monitor, assess, and report
on student progress (Selwyn, 2011). In this instance, a school’s learning platform can

be defined as the digital resources and applications it uses and integrates. The
learning platform should allow for a continuous and effortless inclusion of parents

into all aspects of their children’s schooling via the integrated use of these

technologies. As Lyndsay Grant concludes, political efforts to increase the use of
these technologies in schools are not merely technical or logistical in nature, but

‘part of a wider strategy to inspire parents to support conversations with their

children about their learning’ (Grant 2009, p. 3).

As the research has demonstrated, a ‘one fits all’ technology platform does not exist.
It is vital that the educators and schools use a variety of technology based

communication channels to accommodate the preferences and needs of parents and
families. Schools and teachers are recommended to listen to the needs and

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