Post date: Nov 2, 2015 3:47:15 AM
After my most recent weekly classroom post, I received an email asking the following: "Can I assume that the classroom updates posted on Twitter, your website, ParentVUE, and emails are all identical, or is there an expectation for parents to be monitoring all four communication platforms?" I hadn't thought the possibility that folks might make the second assumption that they'd have to keep up with everything, so here's a breakdown of how it all works.
All the platforms are pretty much same in regards to communication (Synergy/ParentVUE does have the additional benefit of allowing students and parents/guardians to view grades as well). They are all just extra ways to keep up with everything, so you can pick your preferred method. The emails are sent via the ParentVUE site, so when you login there, the messages you see would be the most recent emails sent. They are an exact copy of what gets posted on the classroom site with extra information posted to other pages within the site. You should have noticed links to subpages within the emails, so if you needed additional information on something I include, you can follow the link directly there (ex. when I've mentioned my reward point systems, you can check that page out to learn how points are rewarded and what kids can do with the points). The site also acts as an archive since everything will stay posted there in case you need to look for previously posted information, while ParentVUE will only show the recent posts and emails will likely be deleted by most folks eventually.
Twitter will likely be a little different with small updates throughout the week, but I'm thinking the classroom related ones will be added into the weekly email updates. Things like retweets of others' posts and other education/edtech tweets not directly related to my students and classroom probably will not be posted in the other spots, however I do have the feed embedded on the site for folks who might not have Twitter but would still like to check out the tweets.