Major Project: Seesaw App

As a parent of three beautiful little boys I have always wondered what their education was going to look like. Were they going to be in classes in which the digital divide was beginning to close? What types of educational programs would they be using to supplement their learning? What tools would their teachers use to bridge the gap between home and school? These were all questions that floated through my mind when thinking about what education might look like for my boys. We now have one in grade 4 and one in kindergarten and their teachers communicate with us in different ways. Our eldest sons teacher rely’s on a weekly e-mail, I like this a lot, it is to the point, updates us about what is going on in class, which she definitely does not need to do, and rarely contacts us otherwise. As a parent I love this, no news is good news and I also do not want my son to think that we are hovering over him and his educational experience.

Our Malcolm in the Middle child is currently in kindergarten.

Source

They grow up so fast… His teacher is using a program that is becoming mandatory for primary teachers to use in their teaching practice, Seesaw.

What is Seesaw?

Seesaw is a program in which students can continually create work to add to their learning portfolios. The program stores their work and educators can utilize it to keep student assignments in a place where it will not be lost. Creating assignments on it is a benefit to educators, who are also able to attach curricular outcomes to their assignments through the program. My favorite aspect, however, is the ability to share with student families. You are able to receive reminders, school notes, projects and photos of your child in their learning environment.

Terms of Services

Seesaw’s Terms of Services starts off with a great statement that hits some key points within the realm of education. Words and phrases such as “safe place” and “complete control over how that information is shared.” are important in the business of education as we need to be hyper aware about what information we are sharing and who can access that information.

“Seesaw’s mission is to create an environment where students can be their best.  To accomplish this goal, it is essential that Seesaw is safe place for students to document their learning, and that parents and teachers are in complete control over how that information is shared.”

Within the section entitled “our privacy promises” there are a couple things that stuck out right away. Especially since my last analysis with Google Classroom. They state a couple really important things, the first being, “We never sell your data or student data.” this is extremely important to the privacy of students and their families. looking down a couple more bullet points and we are informed that, “We don’t own the content you add to Seesaw.” this is huge!! Everything is owned by the student or the school and Seesaw leaves your content alone.

There is an aspect that could have some implications in terms of consent for media release for students that do not have permission. In the Creating a Parent or family Member Account section it is stated, “As a parent, you will only be able to access journal entries in which your child has been tagged.  Other parents and adults may be able to access your child’s work if your child is tagged in a journal entry with their child, such as when your child collaborates with other students on a group project, and visa versa.” As an educator this is where we will need to be careful with tagging multiple student in a post as multiple parties will be able to see pictures of not only their child, but anyone else that is tagged in that particular post.

The Pro’s 

As a parent, I love getting little updates every once and a while. When I get a picture of my son standing in front of a puzzle he has finished with his buddies in class I feel immediately happy. Or simply a picture of him working at his space reassures me that he is happy, creating good working habits and strong social skills.

I also like how, through pictures, teachers are able to share newsletters or any paper that needs to be sent home. I find that too often that there is an immense amount of paper waste due to notes sent home.

Keeps student work as a portfolio and over time students can learn to create and add on the app.

Great privacy settings for students and their work.

Educators are able to utilize it as a continuous report card for students, with the ability to attach curricular outcomes to different assignments. They are also able to access many different curricular activities that have already been created for the program, cutting down teacher work load.

Constant connection between the classroom and home, which helps maintain a strong line of communication between school and home.

The Con’s

Takes time to post for each student that is in your class, this could take quite a bit of time to accomplish if you have a large class.

Not all families have access to the internet or may not have a device in which they are able to download Seesaw onto. This would defeat the purpose of a program like this, the bridge between school and family would not be in place creating a large gap in communication.

Cannot use the program or access it without internet access.

There are no office hours for Seesaw. A parent could send a message and are able to see if the teacher has read it. This impacts boundaries in which teachers need to drive a hard line with as they have lives of their own and are not 24 hour school operators.

User Reviews

“I love using Seesaw in my Kindergarten classroom for sharing hands-on learning experiences with our families. It is also a great way to promote our learning (what their child is capable of) and hopefully spark ideas for learning at home with families as well! My students love to show work they are proud of and share with their families things they can’t take home (i.e. something they built in the block center and then use voice recording option to talk about their creation).  We often share with our families songs and poems we’ve learned as a class, as well as videos of us learning to read! As a teacher, it is a wonderful tool for home-school communication and you can see which families have read your message. I never leave school on a Friday without my families knowing what’s coming up next week. We’ve had wonderful feedback from our families as well!”                                                                                                                              -Eleisha Yantz-Barton

 

“I use Seesaw daily with my grade 2/3 classroom.  Not only is it an excellent means of communication for my families, but I incorporate Seesaw activities from the library into my math and literacy structures to help reinforce concepts covered in class.  I also use it to share assessments with families – as this lets them know at a glance how their child is doing with a particular concept and gives them an idea of what they have mastered or what they may need a little more support with.  I feel that I am only scratching the surface of ways I could use Seesaw.  The more I use it, the more things I find that I would like to try!”                                                                                                              – Marnie Hubbard

 

“I use Seesaw in my Grade One classroom every day.  This is an excellent digital tool to communicate with parents regarding school and classroom information and daily reminders. Parents and teachers can also communicate through private text which is a quick and efficient way to send messages.  (ie: ——has a dentist appointment today at 2:15 or your child needs to pay for our field trip on Friday.)  It is also an effective way to share their child’s work, projects and assessments.  Each student has a journal that is accessed by only the teacher, parents or guardians and the student it belongs to.  My students love their journals and with practice are able to post their own work for their parents to see.  All posts have to be approved by the teacher.  The journals are a nice way to see improvements over the year and accumulate work throughout the year.  Parents have commented on how much they appreciate seeing these posts.  Parents are also able to comment on their child’s work, which also have to be approved prior to posting.  I also appreciate the activities section in Seesaw.  As a teacher I can post outcome based activities to the students accounts so they can complete the online games and activities in a time such as Daily 5 or Math Explorer +4.  I can then assess the activities and post in their journals.  These are the parts of Seesaw that I use daily in my classroom.  Next year I plan on posting more on-going assessment such as rubrics.   The ideas and teaching tools to use in Seesaw are effective and efficient.  There is nothing I would change in Seesaw and only plan on extending my own learning.”                                      -Sharla Currie

Conclusion

Seesaw is a valuable tech tool with, what I would consider, minimal downsides. Not only is it a great place to compile student works, but it bridges the gap between school and home. Having updates once and a while on how your child is doing, even if it is just a picture, makes a difference. Knowing that content is available on Seesaw and that curriculum based outcomes can be attached to assignments is huge. Could this be a step towards abolishing report cards and replacing them with a program such as Seesaw? I could foresee that happening, especially with primary grades.