The site that Russell Street School looks so professional! I really like how it's one-stop shopping for families. Everything is in one place and parents never have to question where they can find information on a particular class or even a form that they need. Everything they need is located in one handy place. This is very customer friendly and I'm sure their families appreciate this very much!
Do they have a way to push their information out to parents? Do they have an option for users to get an email/text notification each time the site is updated? I had a website for my classroom but have stopped using it in the past few years. I now use Remind101 for sharing information with my classroom families. I can send the information instantly or schedule it to be sent at a later time. I know other teacher's that use DoJo for this purpose. This is very nice because I found with my website I was relying on parents to go and check the site. Everyone is so busy this just simply does not happen very often and my families were not getting the information. With Remind101 I just send the reminder to their phone as a text (or they can choose the email option) and they get the information immediately. It also allows users to send photos and attachments if a document needs to be sent.
Do you find that parents prefer texts to email notifications regarding classroom reminders?
ReplyDeleteHi Keith,
DeleteAt the beginning of each school year I have parents fill out a questionnaire about their communication preferences. Surprisingly, I always get a mix of parents who want emails, those who want texts, those who want physical papers, and those who want updates on Bloomz (an app). It seems like it is really about knowing your community and being flexible to reach the most amount of families.
Keith, In my experience most of my families like a text. There are always a few who need physical papers and that's ok too. I'm happy to accommodate but love the instant delivery of texts.
DeleteHi Tanneil,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the service the school is using is an app, so I could only imagine that it would send notifications to the devices that have it downloaded. However, I do wonder if you can send more updates through it to an email or text like you mentioned.
Danielle, That would be great if that's how it works or an option for families to select how is best to receive the information. I imagine if it's an app that is a feature. :)
DeleteThe school uses two different apps and I would think you can set it up to get different types of notifications. I think the way they have their online presence setup is a parents dream to staying well informed because there is multiple options on how to get information. I wish my son’s school had this online layout as it is not always easy to stay up to date on school functions or other events. I also wonder if they use an email or text notification system for updates. Those are the types of systems I am use to seeing in schools.
ReplyDeleteRemind seems like a good idea! It also looks like it has a lot of positive reviews, but I'll have to compare it with other tools to see the one that's the best option.
ReplyDelete