Online Communication between Students and Teachers

Although there are still colleagues who refuse to converse with parents via email, most teachers have embraced (or at least come to terms with) digital forms of communication. Unfortunately their students have grown up with Facebook Groups and WhatsApp and only use email to create social media and gaming accounts. Emails by teachers are often not read in time for the test or class trip info - or not read at all. Teacher-student communication via social media such as Facebook involves potential ethical and social pitfalls and is not advisable, in some countries even unlawful. A Learning Management System such as Edmodo, Lernraum Berlin or Scolibri could solve this, but as our school is still in the trial phase, needs more time. So how can teachers and students communicate online? A free app called Remind provides a solution by offering a safe way for teachers to text message students and stay in touch with parents. Apparently one in five teachers in the US uses this app. It is easy enough: Go to www.remind.com/#sign-up-modal and/or download the free app for iOS or Android.  In ‘classes’ add your class, for instance 8ASOCS or 10BEnglish. The app will provide a code for you to share with your class. After the students (or parents) have downloaded the Remind app, all they have to do is find and join the specific class, using the code they received from their teacher. From now on, whenever the teacher has to send out a message (a test or homework reminder, to notify students of a meeting place, or an absence), everyone who has signed into that class will receive an update – a reminder if you like :-)