Brightspace Spotlight: Using the Parent & Guardian Environment
By Darren Towers, Teacher Specialist, Office of Instructional Technology
As an educator and a parent I have experienced parent involvement from both perspectives. As an elementary classroom teacher in the early 2000s, I worked to keep parents involved through newsletters, direct communication, and sharing student work samples. It was sometimes difficult to consistently maintain this effort and know if my efforts were appreciated or making an impact. In 2016, when I became the parent of a school-age child, I received the same types of communication I sent as an educator from some of my child’s teachers. I appreciated all I could get in order to stay involved and informed.
When we are all forced into our homes and virtual schooling by a global pandemic, parent involvement took on a whole new meaning. Many parents were all of a sudden in our “classroom'' every day. They knew exactly what was taught and how the students were responding to our instruction. When we returned to our physical classrooms, parents were not in the classrooms with us but there was a new expectation of involvement that had never existed before. New tools were going to be needed to meet this demand from our customers.
Brightspace for Parents & Guardians is that tool!
This tool includes four components meant to streamline the ways we communicate and involve parents in their child’s education. The four components parents can interact with in Brightspace Parent & Guardian are the course Activity Feed, Grades, Work to Do, and Portfolio. The information parents see in these components is dependent upon how they are used by the teacher. The Work to Do widget allows families to stay on top of upcoming assignments and see when there is something missing. When grades are attached to course work, these can be easily communicated. Sharing work that communicates student growth can be uploaded to the Portfolio tool and shared directly with parents. Finally, important class happenings and info can be sent through the course activity feed. Parents will begin accessing the Parent & Guardian environment via the aacps.org website during the second semester of the 2021-22 school year. Using all or some of these components is key to creating a strong home-school connection.
Below is a brief summary and links to more information on each component.
Work To Do:
The Work To Do widget provides students and parents a summary of overdue and upcoming assigned learning activities. This is a list of action items for students and will not show completed work. The widget can be added to course homepages to show due and overdue learning activities from the course. The widget deployed on school homepages will show work for all enrolled courses.
The following learning activities are displayed for the student and parent:
The Grades tool displays grades for all assignments and quizzes that are assigned as a grade item by the teacher. At this time the grades tool is not connected to the PowerSchool grade book.
Portfolio:
Artifacts and evidence of learning that are uploaded by teachers or students and shared with parents. Parents can view and even download the artifacts.
Activity Feed:
This is an announcements board present in the Brightspace course. Content posted to the Activity Feed can be viewed by families that have a student in the course. This is a great way to share important info with families. Brightspace courses also include an Announcements tool. This is a virtual bulletin board for your and your students. Parents will not see items posted in the Announcements tool.
As an educator and a parent I have experienced parent involvement from both perspectives. As an elementary classroom teacher in the early 2000s, I worked to keep parents involved through newsletters, direct communication, and sharing student work samples. It was sometimes difficult to consistently maintain this effort and know if my efforts were appreciated or making an impact. In 2016, when I became the parent of a school-age child, I received the same types of communication I sent as an educator from some of my child’s teachers. I appreciated all I could get in order to stay involved and informed.
When we are all forced into our homes and virtual schooling by a global pandemic, parent involvement took on a whole new meaning. Many parents were all of a sudden in our “classroom'' every day. They knew exactly what was taught and how the students were responding to our instruction. When we returned to our physical classrooms, parents were not in the classrooms with us but there was a new expectation of involvement that had never existed before. New tools were going to be needed to meet this demand from our customers.
Brightspace for Parents & Guardians is that tool!
This tool includes four components meant to streamline the ways we communicate and involve parents in their child’s education. The four components parents can interact with in Brightspace Parent & Guardian are the course Activity Feed, Grades, Work to Do, and Portfolio. The information parents see in these components is dependent upon how they are used by the teacher. The Work to Do widget allows families to stay on top of upcoming assignments and see when there is something missing. When grades are attached to course work, these can be easily communicated. Sharing work that communicates student growth can be uploaded to the Portfolio tool and shared directly with parents. Finally, important class happenings and info can be sent through the course activity feed. Parents will begin accessing the Parent & Guardian environment via the aacps.org website during the second semester of the 2021-22 school year. Using all or some of these components is key to creating a strong home-school connection.
Below is a brief summary and links to more information on each component.
Work To Do:
The Work To Do widget provides students and parents a summary of overdue and upcoming assigned learning activities. This is a list of action items for students and will not show completed work. The widget can be added to course homepages to show due and overdue learning activities from the course. The widget deployed on school homepages will show work for all enrolled courses.
The following learning activities are displayed for the student and parent:
- Assignments
- Checklists
- Discussions
- Courses
- Content (dates added)
- Surveys
- Quizzes
The Grades tool displays grades for all assignments and quizzes that are assigned as a grade item by the teacher. At this time the grades tool is not connected to the PowerSchool grade book.
Portfolio:
Artifacts and evidence of learning that are uploaded by teachers or students and shared with parents. Parents can view and even download the artifacts.
Activity Feed:
This is an announcements board present in the Brightspace course. Content posted to the Activity Feed can be viewed by families that have a student in the course. This is a great way to share important info with families. Brightspace courses also include an Announcements tool. This is a virtual bulletin board for your and your students. Parents will not see items posted in the Announcements tool.
More info on the Activity Feed and Announcements tool.
For more information for teachers on Brightspace Parent and Guardian, visit Teacher Intro to Digital Tools on Classlink, and select Brightspace Parent & Guardian from the Brightspace menu. Parents can be directed to the Brightspace Parent & Guardian page on the AACPS Website or Student Intro to Digital Tools.
