TEMPLATE DESIGN © The Collaborative Classroom Website: An Interactive Instructional Tool for the 21 st Century Michelle Stephens Graduate School of Education, Touro University California Introduction An interactive class website constructed jointly with parents and students, could provide teachers with an invaluable instructional tool to propel learning beyond the confines of classroom walls. This underutilized venue has the unique potential to bridge the divide that often exists between home and school by developing a reciprocal relationship between parents, students and teachers. Building a class website together can help create a collaborative classroom culture and provide useful, mutually beneficial content for parents, students and teachers. An interactive class website can act as a launch point for students to develop the skills necessary to be competitive in the digital age and can provide a platform for educators to deliver a pedagogy that addresses the needs of the 21 st century learner. Project Overview Figure 2. Parents requested Web based tools to help their child with spelling, math fact practice, and at home reading. The teacher set up accounts and provided the class with the vocabulary and spelling site SpellingCity.com (Fig. 2a), the math fact practice site Xtra-Math.org (Fig. 2b), and Accellerated Reader, AR Bookfinder and AR Home Connect. websites (Fig. 2c). Material and Methods This study utilized a mixed methodology approach to better understand the dynamic relationship between parent, student and teacher website use. In order to assess parent and student involvement in the development of the website, it was necessary to keep a log of new features added to the website, date added, and the reason for the addition. Teacher observations of student technological capabilities during the course of the study were also recorded. Other qualitative tools used were, parent blog commentary (Fig. 3) and parent forum commentary (Fig. 4), both features included on the class website. Figure 4. Parent Forum feature included on the class website Parent Surveys Another tool used to assess parent involvement was parent website use surveys given at the start, during and at the end of the study (Fig. 5). The information gathered was both qualitative (parent comments) and quantitative (the amount of time each feature was used). A supplemental parent website use survey was also given at the end of the study to ascertain parental feelings of involvement (Fig. 6). Figure 5: Parent Website Usage Survey.Figure 6: Parent Website Perception Survey Website Statistical Data The teacher used weebly.com, a Web 2.0 platform, to build the class website. This platform provided quantitative statistical data showing daily website use and the number of times features were accessed each month. Screenshots of this feature were taken monthly during the course of the study to capture the daily activity of the website (Fig. 7) and identify the top pages statistical data (Fig. 8). Figure 7. Daily use of the website was monitored during the course of the study to determine patterns and growth over time. Figure 8. The page views were monitored monthly to determine parent and student usage. Results In order to effectively track the change of website use over time and compare parent perceptions it was necessary to assign numerical values to the parent survey rating categories. A rating scale of 0-5 was used with 0 being the least value and 5 representing the greatest value. Website efficacy perceptions were high among the majority of parent participants (Fig. 9) with involvement, technology skills and communication getting highest efficacy rating of 4.71 points. Parent Involvement Website Content Preferences Interestingly, participants rated website parent features the lowest, but responded positively that they would use a secure student portal to access information about their child’s academic progress in the future (Fig. 11). This feature was unavailable for inclusion during the implementation of this study. Conclusions Literature Cited For Further Information It is essential for teachers to create websites that build the collaborative classroom culture necessary to boost parent involvement and student achievement to the next level. When combined, Unals’s (2008) view of collaboratively created content (Fig. 12), Aluise’s (2006) model of the feedback loop (Fig. 13) and Jeynes’ (2011) assessment of parental involvement (Fig. 14) provide an effective model of a collaboratively built classroom website. Educators need to recognize the limitations of traditional models of website use, and establish a more interactive purpose (Fig. 15). By embracing this new model, teachers can collaborate with students, parents, and the community to move toward the shared construction of knowledge and better prepare students for the 21 st Century. Aluise, V. (2006). An evaluation of a class web site (cws) tool to increase parental involvement in student academic life (Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertation database. (UMI Microform ) Jeynes, W. H. (2011, Spring). Parental involvement research: Moving to the next level. School Community Journal, 21 (1), Retrieved from ProQuest Education Journals database. ( ) Unal, Z. (2008, June). Going the extra step for parental involvement: Connecting family and school with the power of teacher websites. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 5 (6), For more information Contact Michelle Stephens at This project implemented an interactive class website (Fig. 1), collaboratively created and used by the teacher, parents and students in a second grade classroom in Northern, California. Class websites can be an effective tool to strengthen and enhance the home/school connection. The goal was to engage parents and students in the joint development of an interactive website to encourage parental involvement and student acquisition of 21 st century skills. Individual website features were added based on teacher need and at the suggestion of parents and students. Examples of parent requests were an online spelling program (Fig. 2a), a Web based math fact practice site (Fig. 2b), and Web links to home reading resources (Fig. 2c). OPTIONAL LOGO HERE Figure 1. This is a screenshot of the class website homepage. The homepage was updated weekly to reflect new features added at the suggestion of parents, students or teacher need. (2a) (2b) (2c) Figure 3. Parent Blog feature included on the class website 1. Teacher & Parents build common content as needed 2. Parents find website useful and engaging & praise teacher 3. Teacher percieves active parent use 4. Teacher updates website frequently 5. Parents find updated website compelling & praise teacher Figure 13: Positive Feedback Loop as adapted from Aluise (2006). Collaborative Common Content of Website Teacher InputParent Input Figure 12: Collaborative Website Design as adapted from Unal (2008). Figure 9: Class Website Perceptions Graph illustrates parent perceptions of website efficacy. Figure 11: Class Website Future Preferences Graph illustrated parent preferences for future content items. Parent usage of all website features grew by an average of 128% From January to May. One area of website use which grew the most during this time span was the use of homework features which grew by 343% (Fig. 10). Figure 10: Class Website Homework Use Graph illustrates parent use of the homework features. Overt Aspects of Parental Involvement Subtle Aspects of Parental Involvement Modeling of a good work ethic Open and loving communication High and realistic expectations Volunteering at school Homework Help Figure 14: Overt Aspects of Parental Involvement vs. Subtle Factors Jeynes (2011). Figure 15: Traditional vs. 21 st Century collaborative classroom website model.