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Volume one, Issue two

July 2011

Using Google Sites to Communicate with Parents: A Case Study YEU-HAN (HENRY) LIOU Darunsikkhalai School of Innovative Learning, Thailand Bio Data: Yeu-Han (Henry) Liou is currently pursuing his Master's degree in education with State University of New York at Buffalo (USA) and has been a secondary school mathematics teacher at Darunsikkhalai School of Innovative Learning (DSIL) in Thailand for the past four years. Abstract The paper summarizes a case study that took place in a Thai private alternative school – the Darunsikkhalai School for Innovative Learning (DSIL). More specifically, this paper focuses on the usefulness of a class website created by Google Sites in one of the mathematics classes in the school. Questionnaires are distributed to students, parents, and teachers in DSIL to discuss their attitudes, opinions, and experiences towards using class web pages as a medium of communication. Introduction Research indicates that there is a direct connection between parent involvement and student success. Harold Hester (as cited in Freedman & Montgomery, 1994) pointed out it is beneficial to students when parents participate actively in the process of learning. Improved on student behaviors and attitudes, and increased student motivations are all examples of the benefits for students from parent involvement. There are several definitions for parent involvement; the general definition of parent involvement is the interaction that takes place between parents and the school. This could involve parent/teacher communication, parent involvement in school activities, and active parent participation in the student’s studying. For the 68 | P a g e    

Language Testing in Asia  

Volume one, Issue two

July 2011

purpose of this study, the definition of parent involvement is the communication that occurs between parents and classes. Specifically, this study examines the usefulness of a class website created by Google Sites as a medium to communicate with parents. This case study also focuses on the attitudes, opinions, and experiences of the users of the class web pages. Description of School This study was carried out in a secondary mathematics class of a private Thai school in Bangkok. In order to better understand the setting of the study, a description of the school is provided in this section, and a description of the math class is provided in the following section. The Ministry of Education (MOE) in Thailand recently opened a new track to the educational system the alternative track. Schools on this track “have the freedom to creatively organize the instructional contents” (Choeybal, 2008) to cover the national curriculum designed by the Thai MOE. This case study was carried out in one of the schools in this alternative track – the Darunsikkhalai School for Innovative Learning (DSIL). The school is ten years old, and has almost one hundred students and about forty teachers. Being an alternative school, one of the end goals of DSIL is helping create students who are life-long learne