Communicate 3.2.1 The Newsletter Quest

Creating a collaborative online community amongst stakeholders is an essential part of all virtual instruction programs and best practices. Reflect, for a moment, upon the examples provided throughout this quest and the preceding sections in Communicate. Identify three highly effective methods of communicating with stakeholders and create an artifact for each utilizing the resources outlined throughout the module and discuss the topic in your blog.


I feel that Remind 101 is one of the most effective methods of alerting parents and students to important upcoming events because in most cases, parents and students will have a cell phone and will get a text, even with attachments if necessary.  In today's world, the cell phone is a common tool for communication and one of the best ways to share important information.  Below is an example of how it might be used to communicate important information to stakeholders:

Text Message sent to students and parents

Another way that I feel is an effective and simple way to communicate with students and parents is a wiki page.  I often create a separate wiki for each unit review and send the link in an email, remind 101, and post on the class page.  This requires no log on and students and parents can access this any time to see important upcoming events with important links and tutorials for preparation.  They can also post comments and questions right on the wiki.

Example of public wiki for students and parents

Another highly effective way to communicate important information to parents and students is by posting weekly planner on the class page in the form of a newsletter, with links and resources that might be helpful.  Here is an example of the planner, using the application presented in the Tool Quest.