The conversation usually goes, “I have been trying to organize my schoolwork since forever!” and the typical answer goes, “You know there is an app for that!”. Mobile applications have become a major method for solving everyday problems, if you sit back and think about how many things we do in our everyday life through our smartphones, you will come to the realization that you do most things through your smartphone!
Now ask yourself, why should education be any different? The simple answer, it’s not. With the movement of complex learning management systems toward simpler, easy-to-use mobile applications, students are better off than ever before.
Educational institutions around the world are adapting their operations to a digital format, and to do so they are adopting Learning Management Systems, Student Information Systems and School Management Systems. This is not a random occurrence; this behavior is part of the ongoing digital transformation effort bolstered by the pandemic and the need for social distancing.
Learning and Student Management Systems in turn are looking for a more effective and efficient way to offer their features and functionality to the end-users of clients, namely Students, Teachers, Parents etc. What is the best way to reach these users and to simplify their relation to online educational systems such as LMS, SIS and SMS systems you will ask? But Mobile apps of course!
Students, Parents, and Teachers all have smartphones that they carry around and use as part of their daily routines. By offering a mobile app for education, educational institutions can enable their stakeholders to stay in touch with the educational process remotely and at their own convenience. Saying all this, creates a simple question, what exactly are we looking for in a Mobile app for Education purposes?
Mobile App Features for Education
- Messaging: Educational users are the same as any other user of digital/mobile technology, they require the need to communicate with friends, peers, and other people in general. Offering messaging capabilities through a mobile app for Students, Teachers and Parents is extremely important. These users need to communicate to enrich and enable them to properly function in an educational environment. Students and Parents need to reach Teachers often for questions regarding academic performance and other such issues, Teachers in turn need to contact Students and Parents to notify them about new homework, projects, or even behavioral issues. Last let us not forget the social aspect of school because Students have the need to communicate with classmates and peers. It’s an added bonus if the messaging capabilities of an app can also allow for the exchange of files between users!
- Academic Performance: Students need to be able to follow their progress at any given point in time and keep track of assignments, homework, and assessments in general for all their subjects. Parents need to be able to monitor their children’s performance and stay up to date on all assignments, assessments and homework that are required of their children, just so they can monitor their progress and nudge them needed. Teachers also need to monitor all their student’s performance in every subject, assignment, or assessment.
- Attendance: This is an important factor in every educational institution, for all three user types, Students, Parents and Teachers. Students need to keep track of absences or delays they have in every subject, never forget that to many absences or delays may have severe consequences for students who wish to graduate. Parents need to know that their children are indeed attending school on time and regularly. Teachers need to monitor attendance as it is an indicator of the student’s academic performance as well as a safety issue. Teachers need to be able to enter attendances for each subject even if they are not at school or in the office.
- Academic Calendar: All education mobile apps should be able to offer a calendar/schedule for students, parents, and teachers, to help them remember their everyday school activities events and sessions. For educational institutions that offer online courses via telecommunication platforms such as Zoom, WebEx and MS Teams it would be a bonus for users to be able to join online meetings, classes directly from the calendar in the mobile app.
- Safety and Roles Management: For educational institutions, its important that they have control over the content shared and the features available to each user. It is therefore important for each school or university using an educational mobile app to have control over the rights and privileges users have in the app.
Wrap Up
Mobile apps are available alone or combined with Learning Management Systems or SIS, SMS systems. It is a highly recommended addition to your educational institution and would be met with the approval and appreciation of your institution’s stakeholders. Remember mobile apps are here and they are the future.
Classter All in One Learning and Student Management System
Classter is an end-to-end SaaS system, which is cloud-based and modular. Classter combines the functions and features of an LMS & SMS & SIS system, providing educational institutions of all levels the absolute platform for a complete digital transformation. Classter offers a Mobile app to complete the user experience with all the latest capabilities for Messaging, Viewing Academic Progress, Monitoring Attendance and keeping up with one’s schedule through an Academic Calendar.
FAQ’s
Mobile apps provide accessibility and convenience for students, parents, teachers, and administrators to stay connected with educational processes. They offer features like messaging, academic performance tracking, attendance monitoring, and academic calendar access on-the-go.
Key features to consider include messaging capabilities, academic performance tracking, attendance monitoring, academic calendar access, and safety and roles management functionalities.
Classter’s mobile app provides users with convenient access to features such as messaging, academic progress tracking, attendance monitoring, and academic calendar management, enhancing communication and efficiency.
