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Michelle Bodden White

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Return to: Working with Parents for Online Teachers | ETAP 623 Fall 2018 - Systematic Design of Instruction |

About Me


Hello, and welcome!

I'm Dr. Michelle Bodden-White. I have worked in the field of education for over thirty years. During my career, I was an elementary school teacher, a teachers’ union officer and the local and national levels, a charter school principal, and an adjunct professor teaching education courses to undergraduate students. I enjoy learning and I’m excited about studying curriculum design. My educational focus is on blended learning and early childhood. I adore reading and writing, and I have written and published four children’s books. I also love sewing and crocheting.

My Topic and Purpose

In the online classroom as in the face-to-face classroom, students benefit when teachers and parents work together. This course explains why online teachers should develop partnerships with parents and provides strategies for doing so. The course also presents strategies online teachers can provide to parents so that parents can better support online learning.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, online teachers will learn to:

  1. Understand the rationale for developing partnerships with parents.
  2. Identify and designate regular weekly time for two-way communication with parents.
  3. Design templates for regular one-way communication to parents.
  4. Offer specific ideas to parents of ways to monitor, mentor and motivate their children in the online learning environment.

Needs Assessment

Although online students may be more self-directed, it is still important to connect with families to create a support system for learning, especially at the elementary school level. Online teachers should “…partner with parents to oversee and support students who are completing their education in an online environment” (Curtis & Werth, 2015, p. 165). Henderson, Mapp, Johnson and Davies (2007) present several core beliefs that should be adopted by educators to guide family-school partnerships:

  1. All parents have dreams for their children and want the best for them.
  2. All parents have the capacity to support their children’s learning.
  3. Parents and school staff should be equal partners.

The first core belief is evidenced by the fact that parents have chosen online schooling as the best option for their children. Teachers can help parents with the second core belief by providing tips and strategies parents can use to support their children’s online learning. Building parental capacity to “monitor, mentor, and motivate” (Curtis & Werth, 2015, p. 179) children can make a huge impact on student success. Online teachers need to be proactive in developing relationships with parents to demonstrate the third core belief. It is important to note that “reaching out to parents is easier for educators than reaching in to teachers and other staff is for parents” (Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, & Davies, 2007, p. 40). Parents want communication, transparency, and individualization, things that online teachers can facilitate. Teachers benefit from partnerships with parents as well. A study of online high school students found that “parental involvement encouraged students to increase self-motivation or self-reliance” (Curtis & Werth, 2015, p. 177). Developing partnerships with parents requires time. The asynchronous nature of online classes enables teachers to use time differently. Borup, Graham, and Davies (2012) noted that “…online teachers who teach asynchronously can use technology to create instructional activities once and make them available to students to access at their own convenience” (p. 161). This frees some time for teachers to do other things. For online teachers using packaged content, even less time is needed for lesson planning. While it is essential for online teachers to spend time on tasks such as communicating with students, monitoring discussions, and grading, communicating with parents is also a part of their professional responsibility (Danielson, 2013).

What is to be Learned:

In this course, you will learn why and how to create regular time for two-way communication with parents. You will also learn strategies for connecting with parents to support student learning. In addition, you will also learn how to provide tips and tools parents can use to help their children learn.

Analysis of the Learner and Context

The Learners

This course is designed for online teachers of the elementary grades. It is also appropriate for online middle and high school teachers.

Context for Learning

This is an online course. Participants must have access to a computer and a stable internet connection to complete the course. Participants will read text, listen to audio, and watch video presentations during this course.

Performance-Based Objectives

  1. Using the framework provided in this mini-course, participants will review their current use of time and create at least 1 regularly scheduled block of time per week for two- way communication with parents.
  2. Given the strategies and tools from this mini-course, participants will design a plan of action for providing one-way communication to parents at least twice a week.
  3. Participants will produce at least three tips to share with parents that are designed to build capacity for supporting their children’s learning.
  4. Participants will create a written or media artifact entitled “Here is How I Support Partnerships with Parents” including at least three points to be posted in their online courses.

Task Analysis

Objective 1: Two-Way Communication with Parents/Guardians

  1. The learner will identify purposes of two-way communication with parents/guardians. (Prerequisite)
  2. The learner will identify methods of two-way communication with parents/guardians.
  3. The learner will examine their current use of time.
  4. The learner will designate a specific block of consistent weekly time (for example Mondays between 2:00 – 4:00 EST) for two- way communication with parents/guardians.
  5. The learner will set guidelines for two-way communication with parents/guardians using several considerations including length, type, and accessibility.

Objective 2: One-Way Communication to Parents/Guardian

  1. The learner will identify purposes of one-way communication to parents/guardians. (Prerequisite)
  2. The learner will identify types of one-way communication to parents/guardians.
  3. The learner will choose what information to communicate.
  4. The learner will create templates to automate the one-way communication process.

Objective 3: Tips to Share with Parents/Guardians

  1. The learner will identify research-based ideas about what parents/guardians should/shouldn’t do to support children learning online.
  2. The learner will produce simple presentations as tips for parents/guardians.
  3. The learner will share the tips with parents/guardians using a one-way communication method.

Objective 4: Here is How I Support Parents/Guardians

  1. The learner will decide what to include in the artifact.
  2. The learner will learn ways to produce an artifact.
  3. The learner will post the artifact in a location they have chosen.


Curriculum Map

References and Resources

Borup, J., Graham, C. R., & Davies, R. S. (2013). The nature of adolescent learner interaction in a virtual high school. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 29(2), 153-167. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2012.00479x

Curtis, H., & Werth, L. (2015). Fostering student success and engagement in a K-12 online school. Journal of Online Learning Research, 1(2), 163-190. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERRICServlet?accno=EJ1148836

Danielson, C. (2013). The framework for effective teaching evaluation instrument (2013 ed.) Princeton, NJ: The Danielson Group

Henderson, A. T., Mapp, K. L., Johnson, V. R., & Davies, D. (2007). Beyond the bake sale: The essential guide to family-school partnerships. New York, NY: The New Press.

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