it is also private – you can password protect…

you can upload files, leave voice mail messages… it has a free conference call feature…

you can set it up in about 20 seconds (literally)

teacher/parent can always set up an additional drop.io for private communication

no hosting required – again saving another $5 to $30 per month…
and oh yeah, maybe they could pay the teach for the extra classroom hours…

cheers,

I have also been thinking of starting a non-profit that will be focused around funding for more teachers and bring technology into the schools. Part of that would be educating the teachers and parents.

It’s probably a little of both. It was likely installed by some IT manager and then put on the back burner due to workload, etc. Plus, each teacher would need to be trained and then their coursework would need to be uploaded and maintained. Remember, many of these teachers are not computer people. My ‘Linux Administration’ Professor says that he spends about 5 hours a week uploading and modifying content for his coursework, in addition to his already full school schedule.

What might work, though. Is if you were to take the lead and reach out to a teacher, maybe two or three. You would need to sell it to them and hold their hands. You would then be able to go to the district as show them what works. maybe even spin it as a ‘green’ thing.

On a slightly different issue, Gov. Schwarzenegger did introduce a plan to scrap old text books for ebook (ref: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hrfd1bDx5KzX8zUwsiSghWE6l6-g). I don’t know where it is, but if that goes through, could you imagine the long term benefits? No need for all those books in the backpack. No need to update books every 5 years.

After doing more research today I discovered our district is actually offering Moodle to all of the schools. It is there and available for all of our districts schools and teachers. Browsing around the district site, I was able to see which schools and how many teachers in each school are using it. Guess how many elementary schools are using it in our district? A whole whopping 1 and only a handful of teachers in that 1 school are using it.

Just imagine the administrative, postage and printing costs the schools would save by putting reports cards online rather than mailing them out? So now I am even more frustrated because the tools are there for our schools. Our school district has provided the ability but none of the elementary schools are using what is there. I don’t know if it’s a communication issue or if most of the teachers/schools don’t even know that it’s there or what it is.

My next step is to get in touch with our main school district and inquire on “why” the teachers are not using it. If it’s a matter of education or informing the teachers about the system, then I can help with that.

While I REALLY think this is a good idea in theory, here are some of the issues I foresee. They are not show stoppers, but they need to be addressed, none the less.

1) Every student and household would need to have and pay for a computer, printer, paper, and internet connection. You have to assume that 1 or more students would not have access to these resources. If they don’t, who would provide it for them? Playing my own devil’s advocate, the teacher could make printing the material as an option only. Maybe even create a “live” USB version of the course, which would eliminate the need for an internet connection.

2) The current bureaucracy of the state educational system is a mess. We the people would help them reduce costs, but they would continue to make cut backs to education when times get tough, or worse, defer the money elsewhere… like a cash for clunkers type of program. The thing that pisses me off here is that our state government makes cut backs on education and at the same time increases social programs, such as welfare. It should be the reverse. I think CA has 18 months of unemployment now… what the heck… 18 months. Get a damn job… okay, sorry… got a little carried away there. Playing my own devil’s advocate… we could fire all of our elected officials.

3) Taking a stab at it, I would guess that about 40% of the teachers out there would not want to adapt to this process. You know that the bleeding hearts/unions would spin this as a way of reducing the workforce.

Again, I am not trying to be negative here.

Regarding Moodle. I’ve been using it (as a college student) for about 2 years now. It is pretty powerful and has a lot of good features, as well as bad. But, it is a full scale education portal. If you would like to have access to my colleges Moodle program, call me and I’ll give you my id/password to browse around in a real world environment.

A thinking American is a great American!

I love your idea of “I would instead use this as an opportunity to offer donated computers to those families in need of one and either the school offering basic computer skills instruction or encourage them to attend their local Adult Higher Education Center”

In our town, 83% of the households have a computer with high speed internet access. The school has a listserv to relay information to the parents. The students also pay for their lunches/milk electronically and I can logon to monitor my son’s account at any time to add funds or see what he is buying at lunch.

The school is now trying to raise funds to place an interactive white board and projector in each classroom. The cost to meet this goal will be $15,000. We are fortunate, this goal is very attainable. I am sure other public school districts are not so fortunate.

I think your ideas are fantastic. I respectfully disagree however, with the opt-out option for parents with regard to electronic communication. Is it because the parents don’t have a computer and/or know how to use a computer? I would instead use this as an opportunity to offer donated computers to those families in need of one and either the school offering basic computer skills instruction or encourage them to attend their local Adult Higher Education Center. If the parents remain computer illiterate, they will just have more and more problems communicating with their children as they get older which will, in turn, drain the already struggling school systems.

So with these considerations in mind, I still think you are on to something. You are right, teachers DON’T get paid ENOUGH.

All good ideas…I have been thinking about this a lot lately as well- the paper waste trail and streamlining. One top consideration is if the families in your school district all have easy access to a computer and a reliable internet connection. I know I take that for granted as I work from a home office.

It is funny also, when we had that convo on Facebook wall, I was thinking how Classified Flyer Ads has the basis for a reliable platform for schools to use Flyers.

One other consideration….the platform would need to be bilingual. All of the school papers I receive now are bilingual and their are separate back to school nights with translators. I am going to make an assumption based on California’s diversity that the web portals you develop would need to be bilingual as well.

So