Making the most of Educa

Educa is one of the most effective platforms available to us to coordinate communication with parents and whānau, and share learning and information. There was quite a bit of discussion at our marketing ZOOM 'Cuppa and a Chat' about Educa, and how to make the most of it.

Like everything in life, it's not just the tools themselves but how we use them. Cashmere's Kylie Burrell gave us permission to share an email she sent in about how she and her team get the best out of Educa:

I'm not the biggest fan of Educa, but it is what it is, and it's what we have to work with. We have been able to successfully use it as part of our engagement strategy during this time. I guess I just want to share that it can be useful in engaging families if they want to be engaged.

I know Cashmere isn't always reflective of the wider network, but I think the numbers tell an interesting story. As a team, we have intentionally and regularly shared messages in a variety of ways and have had a variety of views, but I think it shows that it is possible to have good engagement. We have 62 children on Educa, and two not on Educa, whom we email messages etc. 

During this time, we have uploaded the following to our message board, and received the following views. 

4/5/20     Mels story video - 29

29/4/20     Making cloud dough video - 13

26/4/20     Kindy remains closed - 37

24/4/20     Garden walk 2 - 16

24/4/20     Garden walk 3 - 11

24/4/20     Garden walk 1 - 24

21/4/20     Level 3 letter to parents - 43

21/4/20     Making slime video - 14

14/4/20     A video from the teachers - 36

10/4/20     Hello to you all, sharing ideas - 46

1/4/20     Hello from our bubbles - teachers video - 40

30/3/20    Some activities to share at home - 36

30/3/20    Information clarifying... - 29

24/3/20    Update - we are now closed - 51

Keeping in mind, we have also offered individual zoom chats to every family and this week have started group chats of ten children with all five teachers.  Out of 64 children, 12 have not had a video call.   Of those 12, four belong to the same family and they just can't manage triplets and another child on one device.  Of the final 8, three have been scheduled and missed for some reason, and five just haven't been worried, but I can see that all of those families have viewed at least one of our posts on Educa. The two children not on Educa have been phoned twice, and I've text them twice too.  So as part of a varied approach, we have engaged 100% of our families.  I think that's the key. Use what we have, and offer what we can. We are very proud of the way we have connected with our families, and Educa certainly hasn't been a barrier to that. 

We're currently reviewing our online platform, looking to optimise our connections this way. Kylie's email shows that good connections can happen through any platform, but making the effort of getting parents on board is the key!