4.5 Technology assisted school counselor and principal collaboration  (Page 8/16)

Anglea Marsaglia , currently a teacher from Collier County, Florida writes about how she helped her school better communicate:

"At my school in Illinois, I created a site from NING (ning.com) for my administrator because she was unsatisfied with the interaction among teachers at faculty meetings. We decided to try this site (after I had used it with my high school students) with the faculty for several reasons: many were afraid to speak up in meetings, many had very little technology experience, and many had great ideas that never surfaced in meetings. On our NING I created a chat box and several discussion groups and assigned teachers to each discussion group. After even only the first use of NING the administrator loved it, as did the teachers (even the reluctant teachers said it was very cool and kind of fun). All teachers participated in the discussions and offered valuable insight that never before was offered. It was a fabulous experience because it was unintimidating and helped get the more "traditional" teachers to use technology. We liked it so much that everyone logged on every morning and announcements/info could be shared all day long. It was much easier and quicker than email!"

Communication/collaboration

An obvious tool for communicating and collaborating – a staple of business, industry, and education – is electronic mail or e-mail. Whether e-mailing one person or thousands of colleagues, e-mail is still an effective way to query others, share resources, and even provide each other with timely encouragement (Myrick&Sabella, 1995; Sabella, Poynton,&Isaacs, 2010).

Valerie Johnson, School Counselor at Collier Elementary School in Alabama wrote about the advantages of email from her perspective:

"I've found that technology helps me greatly in working with my principal. When she is not available, I simply shoot her an email and she responds when she has a minute. This has saved me hours and hours of time! Also, my principal is very visually oriented. She is always impressed when I create graphs or a PowerPoint presentation to get my point across to her or to faculty members." (personal communication, July 10, 2009).

Similarly, Dean Collins, Director of Guidance at Madison Area Memorial High School in Maine, writes:

"Technology has allowed better presentations to students, parents and staff members. Allowed us to better communicate with parents on certain issues and at the same time keeping our administrators and others concerned in one email, thus not having to reiterate the discussion over and over again. I have found emails most useful in timely communication when people are tied up with other meetings or out of district but they still access emails." (personal communication, August 11, 2009)

However, anyone who uses e-mail on a daily basis can readily tell you about the disadvantages of e-mail communication which include:

• For some, typing can be slow and tedious;
• The absence of nonverbal communication such as gestures, facial expression, or tone of voice can sometimes lead to mistaken interpretations of an e-mail message;
• Although relatively very secure, sending an e-mail over the internet may not be completely private. For instance, if you send an email using your school’s equipment, the email may be subject to review by school personnel and/or may be accessed via a public records request or court subpoena. In some cases, emails that discuss educational progress among students may be protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). However, realize that your email may be accidentally forwarded to other individuals and, for all intents and purposes, “syndicated” among various communication technologies as it is passed on.
• If not careful, educators can receive too many e-mail messages which may lead to time and organizational management challenges. In this sense, counselors must be smart consumers of information and determine how much one reads, digests, discards, and to which messages one should respond.