Parent Survey Feedback April 2011

Last year I included parents and students in a survey on media usage modified from Common Sense Media. This year I returned to some of the questions I used in a survey in 2009 as I wanted to be able to see if there were similarities or differences.

The responses to Question 1 were heartening as to parental perception of student attitudes about using technology:

Comments indicated that students look forward to the day that they have access to the Computer Lab with their class and that they carry information home from school. There was also positive feedback about classrooms that have up-to-date web pages with photos and descriptions of learning activities.

As I look at the responses to the second question from two years ago and this year, the responses are very similar with slight increases in access via. email and for teacher web pages.

As part of the Google transition we asked all Yarmouth parents for feedback on our web pages and we will be using those responses as we revise the school websites.

Common Sense Student Surveys

I modified the Common Sense Media Survey for student to be more appropriate for 3rd and 4th graders and as part of a group of Internet Safety lessons all classes took the survey in May for a total of 205 responses.

The student reports of the hours they watch TV/movies on a school day were pretty similar to those of their parents. While we don't usually have homework assignments that require the use of the Internet, over 40% of students said that they spend an average of 1 hour or more using the Internet for homework. When asked if an adult knew when they were online, this was what they said:

Also, when asked a list of possible activities students indicated that they are fully participating in the commerce and social aspects of the Internet:

Fewer than half of the students said that they had had conversations with their parents in the last year about media usage. More than half indicated that they had had conversations with their parents about cyber bullying and being careful about other people when they are online.

The student responses to this survey indicate that students are accessing the Internet on their own and are engaging in many preteen activities that they are hearing about from media, friends, siblings and family members. I use the surveys as part of a conversation about Internet uses with students and I am working with the school counselors and other integrators to develop K12 materials and sessions for parents, teachers and students.

Parent Surveys on Student Uses of Technology

Last year I used a self-designed parent survey that gave me feedback about what parents know about their child’s use of technology at YES and what they themselves use of our electronic resources.

I chose to use the Common Sense Media parent survey this year to find out more about student technology use at home. 

The questions ask about a student’s access to media, the hours they spend using various forms of media and the Internet and the concerns they have about usage. Sixty-nine parents responded and the numbers were evenly divided over the grades and genders of the students. Almost all the households have television with cable or satellite access and DVD players. Most households also have computers, broadband access, video game devices, cameras and music playing devices. Very few students have their own cell phones (6%) and none have phones with Internet access.

Parents reported that 30% of students watch 0 hours of TV during the week, close to half of all students watch 1 hour and 20% regularly watch 2 or more hours. According to the survey over 50% of students read books or magazines for a purpose other than schoolwork while 18% use the Internet for schoolwork and 32% use it for games and/or social interactions. It’s great to see a lot of use of books by choice and due to the young age of the students I would expect more Internet use for games than homework.

I was a little bit surprised that parents reported that ¾ of the students use the Internet for online games. I would imagine that it is some of the same students who are also in the 1/3 of students who explore virtual worlds like Webkinz and Club Penguin. Parents report that about ¼ of the students use the Internet for information and research. Given that our students are 7-10 years old I was a little surprised how many students are playing online games which means they are often playing with others. Since parents are reporting this much use at home it is certainly time to be talking to all students about Internet safety principles. I am using www.netsmartz.com videos with classes and sending home materials for parents.

On the question about common concerns parents may have 53% of parents are concerned about their child being the victim of a cyberbully, but 75.8% of parents are not concerned about their child actually doing the cyberbullying and according to the students only 3.4% of parents have actually talked with their kids about this topic. These responses indicate that giving kids an arena for conversations about cyberbullying is appropriate in the classroom and parents may make use of materials I send home.

We didn’t have a PTO sponsored Parent Education evening this year about Internet Safety, but I have talked to some parents about planning a session for the fall. This session could also address concerns about exposure to inappropriate content, stranger contact and privacy intrusions. Like most parents, Yarmouth parents are interested in learning what their kids are doing with media and technology, and how this impacts them. Most parents report that they are talking to their children about what types of media they can access and the amount of they can spend. They also report that they frequently address the critical analysis of media content and maintaining privacy.

It’s good to see that parents support the use of the Internet for their children to learn about things they are interested in, to learn about different cultures, and to learn about current events. As is appropriate for this age of student most parents don’t see use of the Internet as a social exploration for their children.

My next steps are to ask some similar questions of my students to compare their responses to those of their parents and then share that information with our faculty. Common Sense Media has a set of student questions that I will adapt to use. I am teaching a short series of Internet Safety lessons first so that students will know that I am familiar with their full range of uses of games and learning activities on the computer.

Three-fourths of the parents surveyed agreed that they thought it was important for media and technology to be used in schools and most of them indicated that having this access has a positive impact on their child. I will be sending out Internet Safety information via. email as I teach student lessons in the coming weeks. I am also adding more parent information to my web pages online at http://yes.yarmouth.k12.me.us/Pages/technology and https://sites.google.com/a/yarmouthschools.org/yestech/home/kids-page/parent-information.

YES Student Surveys

Recently I asked the students in grades 2, 3, & 4 to respond to a survey about learning in the Computer Lab. The survey was designed to give me feedback on my teaching as well as what activities we do in the Computer Lab might be engaging enough for them to continue use at home or away from school.

The survey took the students 5-10 minutes and there have been 213 responses from three classes at each grade. Most of the students responded that they like to use the computer to learn (Yes ~ 69%, Sometimes ~ 30%, No ~ 3%). They listed a number of things they like to do in the lab, most of which were activities we have done in the past few weeks: Google Earth, Timez Attack, Clicker Paint, Math Sites, Arctic Activities, and of course, "playing games". Other short comments included that they like to "learn with the teacher on what we are learning on in class", "study stuff like science and all of the other stuff" and that "you are allowed to use very advanced technology".

The questions about whether I help them learn and whether I help if they need help had positive responses, but there were more "Sometimes" responses than I would have expected (Yes ~ 72%, Sometimes ~ 29%, No ~ 3%). I can tell from the response sheets that a few students selected both Yes and Sometimes. I am curious about the Sometimes responses as combined with the No responses because they are where I would like to improve. I may be able to have conversations with students about these. I also wonder if it would have been a clearer result if the students only had "Yes" or "No" as choices.

In response to the question about what they wished we would do more of in the computer lab the responses mirrored the list of activities they like: Google Earth, Math & Reading, Free Choice, Games, Clicker Paint, Writing, Science, Typing, and "more of what we want".

A few students responded to the open-ended option to tell me anything they wanted. Some of the unedited responses are below:

• I like playing a game on math that is called seed ball.
• Computer lab is fun.I also very much enjoy typing.It is very fun.
• No. I think computer time is good
• i also like multiplication  baseball.
• computer lab is perfect for me and I don't think it could be better. 
• Well  I  like  computers a  little  and that  is it.There  is nothing else really.
• I want to do more fun things in comeputer!
• You are a great teacher
• I wish we could type more in AppleWorks 6
• I love  to  be  in  the  lab. play  on  the  computer  in  the lab.
• I wish we could play more games, and go on AppleWorks 6 and type more things cause i love typeing and writing!!!!!
• i like computer lab
• i have fun doing a lot of games it is so fun.
• i like computer
• I need you to help me more
• You are a spaktakeler  computer teacher and you shall always stay. Thanks for doing all the thinks you do. Thanks again.  
• I wish we could go play more Arctic Games and go on AppleWorks 6 and type more and more and more things because I love writing/typing thanks.
• can we watch videos.
• I think we should play more games because sometimes we only work and computer lab is a special so we  should be able to play games and stuff like that
• your a wonderful teacher
• I just Love computer Lab.
• Your AWSOME.
• dear mrs wolinsky you are the coolest teacher in the YES school.
• you are a Great teacher
• Computer class is fun!!! just maybe we should have more time to explore.
• I like how you work the lab and what we do.
• I think you are a awesome teacher and you teach me a lot.
• Are their more thing that can help us with math?
• I wish we did more storys were we draw then write a story aboutit and the computer reads the story we made.
• Yes, can we do the website on the close ups on the bugs?
• And, can we have some more free time on the school website and on multiplatin?
• I like to play games.
• Can we please do more art
• I just want you 2 know that you are really good at your job and that I love being in your computer class.
• that i like a lot  of stuff that is going on in computer.
• Computer is my favorite subject.
• Computer lab is my second favorite subject in school.
• You are the best computer teacher in the whole world in my mind
• Thank you for being a great computer teacher this year. I also think its very nice you teach us stuff about the computers and how you help us whenever we need your help. Im glad i have you as my computer teacher for these  three years. thank you for all your help.

In all, the survey confirms my impression that most students like learning in the lab and find me available as needed. It's useful to see what students like about what we do and it's not surprising that they would like more free time and free choice. I enjoy their candid responses to the open-ended questions and look forward to more conversations with them during classes.