So, the newest thing on the horizon is this service called REMIND 101: find it here. It's being touted as TWITTER for TEACHERS and if it's as fabulous as it sounds - I'm in business! Rather than having to have access to a computer for email or a social networking site, students AND parents can receive SMS text (you don't even need a SMARTPHONE!) messages from the teacher. The service is only TEACHER to STUDENT/PARENT and there are no exchanges of numbers, but rather just the use of a pre-determined code for each group. Sounds secure to me! In addition, a history of messages is retained by the teacher on a dashboard feature.
I can definitely see myself using this in my classroom to remind students/parents of upcoming quizzes/tests/projects or interesting events. One of the people who commented mentioned that he taught in a lower income district (as do I) and that not every home has a computer, but more and more homes use cellphones and have access to text messages. I don't really see a downside to using this service and if it can improve communication between school and home, I'm all for it! I plan to do a little research, present it to my higher-ups and ask for permission to use it with my students and parents!
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