Improved Communication

Advanced telecommunications offer unprecedented improvements in communication. Teachers often use electronic mail, or email, to help facilitate communication with other teachers, parents, and former students. Between teachers, email can cost-effectively and efficiently transfer information about such things as meeting times and training schedules. For example, Ferdi Serim, a teacher in the Princeton Regional School District in New Jersey, regularly uses email to schedule class times for his school's multimedia lab. As many homes and workplaces are connected to the Internet, email also enhances communication between parents and teacher. Email does not replace personal conferences, but it assists with the task of setting up times for these meetings. Kay Sude, a teacher at Lower Merion High School in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, is thankful that email has reduced the number of times she participates in "endless phone tag" with parents.[1] In addition, email can help support continued contact between teachers and former students. The proliferation of networks also facilitates communication between school districts. Each year about 20% of the students in the U.S. transfer schools[2], and advanced communications help make the transfer of records between schools faster and cheaper. Finally, through the World Wide Web (WWW) and other technologies, the local community can more easily learn about the schools in their area.

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[1] Joyce Kasman Valenza, "For Teachers, Email Can Make the Grade," Philadelphia Inquirer, November 28, 1996.

[2] Al Zeisler, Integrated Technology Education Group (ITEG), "The Technology Rich School: Systems & Cost" as part of "K-12 Networking: School Networking on the Emerging Information Superhighway," sponsored by the Consortium for School Networking(CoSN), March 18, 1997.

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