Most kids love tech tools. Desktops, laptops, smart phones, smart boards, iPods, iPads, online games, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, texting, IM, SMS, MMS, RSS... you name it and they probably know more about it than I do. But there is one tool that is conspicuously absent from that list; email.
One of the teachers at my school shared this article that could have major implications for our virtual school:
The one tech tool they aren’t into …
Turns out Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg was right when he predicted that teenagers are just not that into email. Personally, I love email. It's just after 4pm and so far today, I have received or sent 66 emails at work (by contrast, I have received or made only about a dozen phone calls). I expect I will hit 100 emails by the end of the day once I check my personal and school accounts this evening. That's a pretty typical day for me. But what about the students at my school?
Being a virtual school, email is the primary vehicle for communication. Want to let the students know about an upcoming schedule change? Send them an email. Want to inform parents about re-enrollment for next year? Send an email. Want to ask your teacher a question? Email them. And so it goes. Now virtual school students may be atypical in their opinions about email, but if email use is truly on the decline among teenagers, as the article suggests, then perhaps we should reexamine our communication strategy.
I can see it now: "iQ Academy proposes equipping teachers with smartphones so they can text, video chat or Tweet answers to student questions."
I wonder what the school board would say...
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