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By Ruby Wong
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May. 22, 2009 |
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The school district is working to initiate a new online service by the next school year that will coordinate communication between parents, teachers and students.
The new service, called School Loop (www.schoolloop.com) is an Internet portal provided by San Francisco Unified School District that allows teachers to create a Web page for their classes. Teachers will be able to use their page to post course syllabi, record student grades and attendance, post Web site links, keep a calendar, post class assignments and assign homework.
Currently, School Loop is being introduced to district teachers as part of a pilot program to test out the effectiveness of the program, according to assistant principal of administration Michael Yi. “The first phase of the pilot program was to teach teachers how to use School Loop,” Yi said. “We are a bit late on our phases. Hopefully, we will train everyone by next year.”
By August 2009, the district will be providing School Loop to all schools in the district. The district budgeted the $2.1 million cost of running the program for all schools until 2013, according to Yi. “If School Loop turns out successfully, we hope the district will continue funding this project,” he said. “It’s too far into the future to determine what will officially happen next.”
Depending on how frequently a teacher updates his or her page, School Loop would ideally increase communication between teachers, students and parents, according to Yi. “Students can gain access to assignments, grades and report cards,” he said. “Parents can now have similar access by entering into their own account to check what the teacher posts.”
Some teachers had individually used similar services to the service provided by the school district. Chemistry teacher Katrina Rotter currently uses her own Web page, (www.enjoyscience.org), to post her assignment calendar, grades and general class information. She believes that School Loop will be useful as more people will connect online. “Getting parents to have higher access will make it a lot easier on us, as teachers, to contact them,” she said. “It seems like a good way to increase and standardize contact with parents.”
Parents have the option of creating an account and are encouraged to “friend” their child’s teachers. “As long as teachers keep updating their pages online, this service is beyond convenient,” Yi said.
Rotter emphasized the potential for easier home/school access from School Loop. “Right now, teachers are not required to provide quick contact information to students,” she explained. “Calling parents can be difficult because when we call during school hours, they are often at work. There’s e-mailing, but that’s not easy either.”
Teachers who are interested will be provided with an account that they can personalize, according to Yi. “Many teachers are already interested in creating a School Loop page,” Yi said. “At this point, we do not expect 100 percent of the teachers to participate altogether. We hope those who choose not to (make a School Loop page) right now will see the benefits and follow the other teachers. It’s a gradual process. Hopefully, School Loop will catch on.”
However, some students are not as enthused about the idea of their parents gaining access to their grades and contact with their teachers. “I don’t feel comfortable with my parents talking to my teachers,” sophomore Ian Miller said. “I don’t want my parents to have that kind of relationship with them. I know that my parents would actually use School Loop and be involved. That’s what report cards are for.”
Some teachers said they believe School Loop may meet a need among parents. “I think it will catch on among parents more than with teachers,” Rotter said. “Teachers are more used to doing their own thing. However, if there were a requirement from administrators, there would be a much higher turn-out. We need some training and encouragement.”
Despite the potential benefits, some teachers said they are hesitant to use School Loop. “School Loop has that communication benefit, but I like my own Web site,” Rotter explained. “I use a site called Lunar Hosting, which is free for teachers. (Some other teachers) have a page on Lunar Hosting too. The reason why I would rather keep my own Web site is that in the off chance that I have to work at another school, I would be able to keep all my stuff. If I switch schools, I wouldn’t have to start a whole new page. I have much more control over it.”
At this time, teachers starting to use School Loop are required to read and sign Technology Acceptable Use and Security Policy forms. These forms pertain not only to School Loop use but also to all other school technology use and have been reviewed at technology in-services, according to Yi.
The school will wait until fall ’09 before initiating School Loop, according to Yi. In the meantime, interested faculty members will attend training sessions held by staff from the district’s information technology department to teach them how to use the portal. “Hopefully there will be one more training session by the end of this year and one on the first day of the next school year,” Yi said. “There are many teachers signed up for the next session already.”
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