In a digital world where it is now second nature to send emails, ping people via instant message, text etc. what will happen to the School Almanac. The unthinkable is about to happen, schools are already contemplating whether the Almanac or the ubiquitous diary has outlived its utility.
Things that had to be communicated across the school were sent as a circular and even more pressing information was sent out using SMS. Schools are discovering the utility of communication and sharing platforms like Flinnt to achieve all of this and more.
Parents are on the smartphone
Dhyandeep Vidyalay, Pune realised that the ease and convenience of doing everything from your mobile is making checking the diary everyday an inconvenient chore. They opted for Flinnt as updates are instant on a smartphone, they are never missed and it is very convenient to the parents. The difficulty of reaching the parent through a web based ERP or the printed circular is the reason no. 1 for schools to switch to an app based communication and sharing service.
Communication costs are rising
For schools like the H.B.Kapadia school in Ahmedabad with 4000 students, SMS’s are an expensive proposition, they are like a luxury item to used only from time to time. There is a time and cost attached to circulars, human resource is limited and getting work done is becoming increasingly difficult. They adopted Flinnt as there are no per message charges and no limit to the quantum of information being shared, at just INR 15000/- per annum for the whole institution, in Flinnt they found a cost effective medium of communication.
Device agnostic technologies are required
For Anandniketan Group of Schools in Gujarat the shift to Flinnt happened because the biggest problem was that new devices come up everyday, earlier it was only the PC, now information needs to be delivered across multiple devices; PC’s, tablets, smartphones. Also parents, guardians as well as the student are on different devices, information has to reach all the stakeholders simultaneously.
Privacy and control is a big concern
Parents and students form their own groups, there is no way to edit or delete somebody’s response or comment, there is no way to prevent any individual in throwing the muck on some other individual. These insecurities were keeping New Era School Vadodara from using technologies but in Flinnt they found a platform that address all these issues.
Class time is limited and exposure required is unlimited
For J.G. International School, Ahmedabad the real issue was that each topic had to be dealt in depth, it needed to be connected with practical real life applications. The teachers had also discovered that there were a number of teaching learning resources available for free online, it was only a matter of connecting the resource to the topic being taught and ensuring that the classroom discussions continued from home as well. The ability to organize and structure learning resources in a manner that could be retrieved and reused brought them to Flinnt.
Thus whatever be the need of K-12 schools, versatile communication and sharing platforms are going to rule the roost for a long time to time, the adoption has just started and the next academic year should see this growing into an avalanche.
