February 2016

"Books will soon be obsolete in the public schools…our school system will be completely changed inside of ten years."- Thomas Edison

Technology has revolutionized education for the better. Apps are now everywhere! Introduction of school apps has greatly made the life of students and teachers easier. School apps now play an important part in managing, organizing and monitoring activities in the classroom. They are particularly useful for early year foundation stage (EYFS)

But are school apps vital for modern education? Here are some benefits of using school apps:

Teachers are able to Share their Ideas and Resources Online

Teachers are able to connect with people all around the world within minutes, find shortcomings, correct it and thus improve students’ quality. If they want to share learning materials, they can use school apps’ sharing features. By using parent apps, teachers can communicate with parents regarding students’ academic improvement and other activities.

Read Also: 6 Ways School Apps are Important for Parents

Students are able to Cultivate Research Skills at a Young Age

Apps allow students to explore freely. Their innate curiosity is thus encouraged. By exploring using school apps, students become capable of finding solutions and clear their doubts themselves. This skill can be helpful for in future.

Create a Good Rapport between Parents and Teachers

School apps help create a good rapport between parents and teachers as they will be provided with up-to-date information regarding school policies, extracurricular activities, school happenings etc Apps can provide extra information such as bus routes, maps etc.

School apps can also integrate student information systems such as teacher comments, grades and school attendance. They are especially useful for distance and online education as it would be easy for them to submit assignments via mobile.

Easy Access of Information

With the evolution of innovative apps on smartphones, people are now able to connect to the internet universe without a personal computer or laptop. Hence, information can be easily accessed on-the-go

More Scope for Communication

With the help of school apps, parents are able to get notification regarding school activities. They will get information regarding urgent announcements, school events and thus keep track of important dates. Alerts can also be sent via apps. Teachers are able to answer the queries of students instantly.

Read Also: How School Apps are used to Engage Parents & Students

Forms a Stepping Stone to Self-Education

Students are able to form a creative and productive approach towards learning with the help of school apps. This later helps them in the process of self-education in future. They will be self-motivated to improve their performance through the usage of school apps.

School apps are inexpensive, easy to use, and improve student learning capacity. They have completely revolutionized today's educational sector. In fact, in this fast paced world, school apps are vital for students to keep up the changes happening around them.

We all have seen that over the last decade, apps have been gradually changing the way we live our lives. They have massively influenced how we perform our day to day activities. There are apps for entertainment, communication, management, business, and much more.

It is unjust to totally neglect using this when the scope of incorporating technology into education is huge and the benefits are tremendous. Many schools are already promoting a number of apps that acts as an additional supplement to the main teaching material. In future, apps can become the primary course material in imparting education in schools.

Read Also: 6 Ways School Apps are Important for Parents

Apps are found to be more engaging for parents and students alike

parents and students to engage in educational activities. Using these apps, any updates can be intimated to parents and students in real-time.

How school apps are engaging to parents

Parents can check student’s progress reports, read teacher’s comments, ask queries, get informed on any upcoming meetings or events, know about fee dues, track the school bus, etc.

How school apps are engaging to students

Students can get instant updates on notifications and announcements, exam results, course details, time schedules, etc. They will no more miss to do their assignments or homework, as an alert or reminder can be set to student’s who fail to submit their assignment before a certain time. They can also check their individual performance over the terms, ask queries, or share concerns. This is especially beneficial to students who are overly shy to talk.

Student attendance can be monitored with smart cards and smart apps so that the record is accurate and safe. With the advent of educational apps, a new trend has developed in distance education viz. online learning, where a student can attend a lecture or meeting without having the need for his/her physical presence at the venue.

Better Distribution of Information

School apps win again when it comes to the reach it has in providing information compared to any other method. Though it is possible to provide the same information via the school’s website, using mobile devices have advantage due to its portability. Mobile devices are very popular and are owned by of parents and even most of the students. So apps are far better options with respect to a school’s website for access.

Another advantage of using apps is that additional information in the form of documents, images, video, podcasts, etc can be given as supplement study material to the students.

You May Also Like: How Can School Apps Promote Creativity in Students?

Reliable and Fast Communication

In the current world scenario, most of the working parents are under a lot of pressure from managing their professional and family life. There is never enough time to do all the things. As a result, adequately monitoring their children’s academic development is very difficult.

Now, with the help of proper school apps, parents will never again need to do a compromise in this matter. They can keep themselves updated with the latest happenings in school via push notifications and get real-time student progress card reports.

Apps can be used to communicate with the teacher and get suggestions and directions. It is also possible to get reminders and alerts on due dates and school events.

Improved Social Involvement

Apps can help in making the whole process a bit more social and convenient. It will keep the communication live 24/7, and not just during the school hours. Manuscripts can be shared to all and at once. There can be discussions held for organizing activities and taking decisions.School apps are a great way to promote social interaction between students, parents and teachers.