It is important to keep the lines of communication open between teachers and families. To support this, Lacey Merrifield, chief technology officer at Bosqueville ISD in Texas, created a communications app to bring transparency to the community. Here we talk about how the app came about, what it accomplishes, and how it helps mitigate over-communication.
Staying in constant contact with your child's teacher can keep you up to date with what's happening in your child's class, help you better understand the teacher's way of teaching, and provide you with feedback when you need it most. However, for many schools, staying connected to what's happening at a school has been left to companies like facebook. Lacey Merrifield thought of a better way to keep families connected to teachers without forcing them to be exposed to social media.
“We're a really small district,” Merrifield says of his school community of 750 students. “The main way they communicated and disseminated information was facebook. At the end of each year we do a parent survey, a staff survey, a student survey, and one of the most important things in the parent survey was that they had to access social media when many of them avoid it. I already wanted to redesign the school website and add communication to it. “Our website was very outdated…and adding the app came about because parents wanted to be able to avoid using social media (to stay connected).”
The Bosqueville ISD app acts as an extension of the updated website, which can also help keep parents connected if they find themselves without their phones or tablets.
For this effort and other work, Merrifield was recently honored with a tech & Learning Award Innovative Leader Award for Innovative Director of technology during a recent tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summit.
Make safety a priority
Today, parents have higher levels of access to teachers through email and text messages. Driving that communication through a single platform can help organize the messages a teacher may receive regularly and allows for communication without sacrificing privacy and security.
“We don't want our teachers to text,” Merrifield says. “This is in the application. That way our teachers don't give out their numbers. They don't need to get a Google number. They can still use their phone, but their privacy is protected. “We continue to communicate, but without invading personal boundaries.”
What if a teacher doesn't want the app on their personal device?
“The nice thing about this is that if a teacher doesn't want to install the app on their phone, they don't have to,” he says. “It's also a web-based application so they can do it all from their school computer.”
This can help separate the work world from the personal life for teachers who feel the two can mix too often. Keeping school-related apps and tools strictly on school devices (or on separate devices if not provided by the school) can create peace of mind for a teacher while allowing them to fully concentrate when sending information to families or responding to a consultation from a parent. .
6 steps to build a communication application
With the idea and execution of the communication service running smoothly, it might seem like making the Bosqueville ISD app was a walk in the park. However, it took strong collaboration with programmers and designers, as well as vocal input from the community itself, to help this innovative moment take off.
“The first thing was to get a needs assessment through surveys of our staff, students and parents,” Merrifield says. “Then we collaborated with Edlio, telling them what we wanted (from the service). We had to do tests and there were some failures. Our Google login didn't work like it should, things like that. Then we had the launch and training. “I think putting them in the right order (is important), because if you start it and it doesn't work, no one will want to use it again.”
Merrifield shares the step-by-step process that ensured the app hit the right goals and met the needs of its school community effectively.
Needs assessment: “We began by gathering input from stakeholders, including teachers, parents, and students, to identify their communication needs and preferences,” Merrifield says. “This feedback guided our overall vision for the app.”
Collaboration with Edlio: “After defining our goals, we collaborated closely with the Edlio development team. They provided us with information on the features and functionalities that could be incorporated, ensuring that the application would align with our communication strategy.”
Design and Development: “Together with Edlio, we worked on the design of the app, focusing on easy-to-use navigation and an attractive interface. The Edlio team helped customize the app to reflect our school’s brand and unique needs.”
Tests and comments: “Prior to launch, we conducted extensive testing of the app with a small group of staff who were also parent users to gather feedback on functionality and usability. This step was crucial to identifying any issues and making the necessary adjustments.”
Launch and Training: “Once the app was finalized, we launched it first to staff and then to the rest of the community. “We also provided training sessions for staff and parents to ensure they were comfortable using the app effectively.”
Ongoing support and updates: “After launch, we established a system of ongoing support and regular updates, ensuring the app continues to meet the changing needs of our community.”
The Hidden Ways a Communication App Helps a School
The main goal of the communication app is to keep teachers and families connected, but having that service can also have other benefits that are less common but just as important.
“There are so many applications,” Merrifield says. “When I started here, we had a different company for gate access, a different company for cameras, a different company for guest services. We are also in the process of changing that. That was my thing when I arrived. I have modified some things. Our guest services, cameras and gate access will now go to one company.”
Combining multiple services in one convenient place can save time, effort and money. Doing so with the Bosqueville ISD app had a profound effect on other aspects of school life, not only influencing community communication, but also consolidating multiple school tools and functions into better managed situations.
