It's sad but true that schools are too busy to use an app properly....
aside from teaching the students, observing the required teaching strategies from SLT or OFSTED, dealing with interventions (of all descriptions), completing paperwork, ensuring lessons are prepared ahead of time, keeping up with CPD, being the face of friendly lead learners, monitoring corridor activity of the more energetic pupils etc etc... there's not much time for suggesting and then managing an app.
Call me blunt, but if you just got an app to demonstrate to someone i.e. SLT, Governors, the Head, the parents, the students, your colleagues that the school (or or more acurtely, you) is ambitious and want to appear technologically of the moment...the real stress test is when the app has been commissioned and built and you are left with working out how to use it to best effect.
Yesterday we conducted a training session with a new school customer and found that although the deputy head who had commissioned the app was sitting in the training session, he admitted he was totally unaware of all the things for which he could use the app.
So here is a quick guide to all the useful elements that some schools are using...even if most schools are not exploiting our apps to the fullest extent.
FREE UNLIMITED MESSAGING
Push notifications/alerts messages. Whilst SMS texts can cost over £2,000 for a bundle of texts, our app messaging is free and unlimited... you can message individual parents or students. You can schedule the messages and send PDF attachments. What's more you can see when a recipient has opened a message...you can also enable parents to reply....NO ADDITIONAL COST, included in all our basic apps.
SECURE AREAS
Want to share some information with a specific group only... staff, governors, year 11 pupils, parents of SEN children? With our apps you can secure information so that it can only be seen be selected groups of users. Like messaging, this functionality is included in our basic app cost, so no extra charge.
REGISTRATION
Another unique facet of our apps is that parents or students can register in the app. When they register they acknowledge their device in the app controil panel so you can send them individual messages as above, they allow themselves to be included in secure groups, for example a school trip..or the football team or U12 Hockey club. The possiblities are endless. Again this registration facility is provided at no extra cost to our basic app.
INTEGRATION
Fancy getting a little more technological integration? How about importing information in from your MIS, parents, students, timetables, attendance and absence, student reports.
This could enable both parents or students to view information unique to the individual.