New Trends in School Messaging

Today's school districts are using electronic communications tools more than ever to help convey messages from schools and teachers to parents and students. Posting information about events and activities where everyone has access to it saves educators time and offers parents and students a level of convenience otherwise unavailable. Schools that sign up to use the IQity Learning Management Suite, can quickly and easily post information in a format that helps students track their assignments and manage their time.

Advantages of School Messaging Systems

School messaging systems help educators reach all their students at the same time with the same messages. This saves time by preventing them from having to repeat information over and over. It also ensures consistency since everyone gets the exact same message, and increases accountability, because a student cannot claim he did not get an assignment or test schedule.

The IQity Learning Management Suite goes beyond a typical school messaging system with a feature that helps students manage their time. Announcements in a global calendar are noted by color, so that when parents or students are accessing the system, they can see instantly that school events are listed in red, class events are in yellow and personal student events and activities are in green. In this way, a student who sees a new yellow announcement knows to check for a message or assignment from her teacher. A student who wants to set aside time to study for a test or collaborate with a classmate on a group project will see it on his schedule in green.

Traditional vs. Online Education

For a bricks-and-mortar school, a school messaging system may be as simple as a school web page where announcements can be posted. These may range from the weekly lunch menu to field trip reminders. For students enrolled in online classes, school messaging systems are indispensible conduits for information that keeps them on track in their studies and connected with their instructors. For these students, school messaging systems need to be much more personalized. Each student should have access to messages specific to his or her class schedule.

School messaging systems are also an incredible information source for todayÕs busy parents, who can easily check school information at their convenience from a work or home computer. This is a benefit to parents whose children are enrolled in a traditional school, as it helps to avoid last minute announcements that "the Science Fair is tomorrow." For parents whose children take online classes, the school messaging system is vital, enabling them to see assignments, deadlines and grades on an ongoing basis.

School Messaging Systems Don't Have to be Costly

School messaging systems are not just for school districts with big dollars to spend on fancy new computer systems. Posting information should not be costly, and you should not need an expensive new system to host a complex software program. IQity is fully hosted, so there is nothing for a school system to install, which saves school districts on IT maintenance and installment costs.

How to Take the First Step

To see how IQity can help your school get started with school messaging, ask for an online demonstration led by an elearning expert.