janetn's blog

I read the article “The Validation of One Parental Involvement Measurement in Virtual Schooling”, by Feng Liu, Erik Black, James Algina, Cathy Cavanaugh, and Kara Dawson. This article focuses on parental involvement in a child’s education whether the child is in a physical classroom or a virtual one. I couldn’t agree more that parental involvement could not be more important for a child’s (especially in the younger years) education. From kindergarten through high school , I have gone to extremely small Catholic schools, one school k-8 and one 9-12. No matter my age or grade level, my parents were highly involved and my schools encouraged parent involvement as well. The majority of users participating in virtual education are most likely very motivated and do not necessarily need parental involvement. However, students that may not be mature or motivated may need an extra push from a parent.

Four main points for involvement from the article include parental encouragement, parental modeling, parental reinforcement, and parental instruction. All of these aspects will definately help shape the learner and their learning experience. If the parent shows bad habits, the student is more likely to pick up those habits. No matter what students say, one of the number one things they care about is pleasing their parents. If a parent is encouraging, the student will work harder and harder to show the parent something to be proud of and encourage. I feel like it really doesn’t matter if it is a physical classroom or a virtual classroom, parental involvement will always be important to the learner.