New app keeps students updated on school work and teacher feedback
In order to help students be better prepared for learning and improve teacher-student communication, itslearning has created a mobile app for iPhones and Android phones.
Available for free download from the Apple App Store and Google Play, the itslearning app gives students a quick and easy overview of their upcoming tasks and events and also lets them send and receive messages.
“Previously, students had to log on to the itslearning platform in order to see their homework assignments, events and other school related tasks. Some of them would procrastinate or simply forget,” said Arne Bergby, CEO of itslearning.
“Now they no longer have to actively log on to see what they have to do because they’ll be getting instant updates on the device they look at the most – their smartphones. It’s generally accepted that well-prepared students tend to learn better and are more engaged, and this app keeps them connected to their individual assignments, deadlines and whatever else their teachers want to communicate to them.”
(Next page: How the app works after installation)
Once the app is installed on their smartphones, students automatically receive notifications of upcoming events and tasks, such as homework and tests, as soon as their teacher posts the information within the itslearning platform. If teachers make a change to tasks posted within the platform, the app once again alerts students, and it also sends them reminders when a task is due. Additionally, users can sync their itslearning account calendar with their phone calendar so that school or class events are displayed on their phones.
The app automatically notifies students when teachers post grades, assessments, comments or other feedback in the itslearning platform. The immediacy gives students more time to make any suggested changes for an assignment or simply allows them to absorb feedback while the relevant task is still fresh in their minds.
Users can customize their notification alerts, selecting whether they will get a sound alert, push notification on their lock screen or just a badge notification icon. To see the full task, event or feedback, the student simply clicks the notification’s link, activating their phone’s web browser.
Additionally, the itslearning app alerts students when teachers or schoolmates send them messages and enables them to read the messages on their smartphones. Users can also send messages to teachers, individual students or groups via the app instead of logging on to the platform. This makes communication more reliable and immediate, particularly when users need to send a quick and relatively urgent message, such as letting others know of a classroom change.
Teachers benefit from the enhanced communication without having to change anything about how they teach or how they use the highly regarded itslearning platform. The app allows them to send messages to students’ phones without making their own phone numbers known, and they don’t even have to download the app themselves to send messages.
To further enhance its user-friendliness, the app gives users quick and simple access to the full itslearning interface through their smartphone while ensuring their privacy. The app’s login screen has been designed to be extremely easy to use, and each user has to choose a four-digit PIN for login so no one else can access that user’s account and see confidential information.
“This app ties in with our expanding mobile strategy, which is centered on giving users the best possible experience on any screen size or device,” Bergby said. “Our vision has always been to be a learning platform for all teachers and students, regardless of the hardware or software they use.”
Material from a press release was used in this report.
- AI’s transformative role in accessibility - October 3, 2024
- Is your state one of WalletHub’s best states for teachers? - September 30, 2024
- Why is Technology Important in Teaching and Learning? - September 26, 2024