Many teachers have their own websites with information about the day-to-day happenings in the classroom. Teachers often list upcoming field trips, deadlines for projects and daily homework assignments.
Before cell phones, teachers sometimes had trouble getting in touch with parents by phone during the school day. But with cell phones, teachers can reach parents easily no matter where they are. Text messaging makes it especially easy to get a quick message to a parent.
Parents and teachers once communicated with written messages delivered by a student. The problem, of course, was that kids tend to lose things. Email allows parents to communicate with teachers without worrying about whether the note will actually get to the teacher. Teachers can also send one email to all parents, rather than making copies, wasting paper and sending notes home with students.
Many teachers have a Facebook or MySpace page and they can invite parents of students to be their friends on these sites. This enables instant communication through quick status updates, chats, and private messages.
Website cameras allow parent-teacher conferences to happen even when the parent and teacher cannot meet in the same room. A virtual conference can take place any time and any place by combining a web camera with an instant messaging service such as AIM or Windows Live.