<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[West Des Moines Community Schools Technology]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://wdmtech.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Brian Abeling]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://wdmtech.wordpress.com/author/wdmtech/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[What our parents think of technology (2013&nbsp;edition)]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>For the past four years, we have conducted a short on-line survey with our parents regarding technology in our district.  Here&#8217;s a quick summary of the results&#8230;</p>
<p><span style="line-height:1.714285714;font-size:1rem;"><a href="https://wdmtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/2013-parent-results.pdf">Download the full copy of the survey results</a> including all comments. (pdf file)</span></p>
<p><a style="font-size:1.285714286rem;line-height:1.6;" href="https://wdmtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/parent-survey-infographic-2013.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="4142" data-permalink="https://wdmtech.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/2013-parent-survey/parent-survey-infographic-2013/" data-orig-file="https://wdmtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/parent-survey-infographic-2013.jpg" data-orig-size="550,717" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="parent survey infographic 2013" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://wdmtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/parent-survey-infographic-2013.jpg?w=230" data-large-file="https://wdmtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/parent-survey-infographic-2013.jpg?w=550" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-4142" alt="parent survey infographic 2013" src="https://wdmtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/parent-survey-infographic-2013.jpg?w=550&#038;h=717" width="550" height="717" srcset="https://wdmtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/parent-survey-infographic-2013.jpg 550w, https://wdmtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/parent-survey-infographic-2013.jpg?w=115&amp;h=150 115w, https://wdmtech.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/parent-survey-infographic-2013.jpg?w=230&amp;h=300 230w" sizes="(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px" /></a></p>
<h2></h2>
<h2>Sample comments regarding things that are going well&#8230;</h2>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">Infinite Campus, daily announcements, and the new district website!</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">Infinite Campus is a great tool. <strong>Being notified of outstanding assignments is very</strong><br />
<strong> beneficial</strong> to keeping us on track at home.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">I <strong>love the daily messenging system</strong> so that we, as parents, hear the same<br />
announcements the kids.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">Love the Campus Portal App!</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:1.285714286rem;line-height:1.6;">Sample comments regarding suggestions for improvement&#8230;</span></strong></p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">I think Infinite Campus is a great tool IF the teachers use it.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">The <strong>number of iPads in their classrooms differs significantly</strong>. My son at FM has 5 iPads in his room and my daughter at HD has only one. That seems a bit discrepant to me.<br />
[Note from Brian: This is correct, there is a different between rooms/schools and this is a goal of our this coming year to start leveling the access to iPads]</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">That we have infinite campus- but teachers <strong>need to update more frequently</strong>.<br />
Shouldn&#8217;t be a week or 2 before grades are entered. I can&#8217;t guide my student<br />
when I don&#8217;t have current info.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">Infinite campus is a great tool for us as long as it is updated in a timely manner<br />
and the due dates are accurate (the latter is usually more of the problem).</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">When the anouncements are sent,<strong> I&#8217;d like to see the main topic in Bold under</strong><br />
<strong> categories.</strong> Example: HELP NEEDED or CHOIR NEWS &#8211; there is so much<br />
information that I would like to scan the page to find the information that is<br />
relevent to us in a word or two.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">As a whole, we don&#8217;t use technology well. <strong>Sometimes we over use it, such as</strong><br />
<strong> with general announcements</strong> and activities announcements.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">Make the announcements readable everyday and not an attachment to open to<br />
view&#8230;.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">I strongly DISLIKE that the emails now are just PDF&#8217;s that need to be opened to read. Takes too long to open them on my phone. [Note from Brian: Although many schools still choose to send announcements as PDFs, many are also now sending a link to webpage where the same announcements are posted.]</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">It would be nice if the <strong>email messages could be further refined or consolidated</strong>. I<br />
average 4-5 messages per day from the schools (I have three children at three<br />
different schools).</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">Many teachers don&#8217;t consistently update Infinite Campus which makes it<br />
frustrating for the student and parents to know exactly how their kids are<br />
performing in each class.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">I would like to see better use of the grade book. <strong>Students should be able to use</strong><br />
<strong> it as a planner</strong> to see what tests and projects are coming up and help them stay<br />
organized.</p>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">It would be really nice if the district could <strong>offer some online courses for students</strong>,<br />
especially specialty ones or high level academic ones that could be completed in<br />
the summer.</p>
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