Why School Apps are here to stay?

The main purpose of a School App is obviously its practicality. A School App is the perfect place to store and display useful information, such as schedules, meetings, extracurricular activities timetables, etc. Plus, it can be updated easily. 

What’s more, the app doesn’t have to be oriented towards school > students or school > parents communication only. A school could very well use its app in order to manage and interact with its school staff. With a login feature this section could be accessible to faculty only so that the app has two purposes: external and internal communication.

Last but not least, in terms of added value, we can’t help but think of the eco-friendly factor. Think of all the amounts of paper that can be saved if everything isn’t automatically printed out anymore. And because schools are a place for learning, why not teach that very important lesson? 

In keeping with practicality, a School App is probably one of the most effective ways to keep in touch with school attendees, parents and employees. If you have information to share, an app is a great medium. 

Say you organize a field trip and want the students’ parents to know your schedule and location. With the many features of an app it becomes more interactive. You could set up a map, customize it, set up an emergency contact list easily accessible for the staff. You name it! 

Once again, this section doesn’t have to be available to the public, with User Advanced Features such as the ones provided by GoodBarber, you can create User Groups and grant access to a given section to a group of your choice.

Push notifications can be another valuable asset when it comes to reaching out. Have a school Event taking place? Send a push notification as a reminder and make sure you have a great turnout. In case of an emergency, say the school is closed because of a snowstorm, you can keep parents updated about the situation and let them know when the school will re-open.

Quite logically, a School App is also beneficial when it comes to engaging students, parents and teachers, and creating a sense of community . For a positive learning environment this is quite essential. 

More and more schools have already taken to social media to engage students and their families. An app is a great addition to that strategy, especially if the app supports social features, such as with our GoodBarber app builder. A School App is the ideal platform to gather all your communication efforts  in one place.

Also, why not encourage your faculty and students to use your app as a way to showcase the school’s achievements? With User generated content features, you can very well imagine parents sharing pictures of the week-end’s soccer game. The bookclub could share a monthly list of the books that would be included and maybe attract  new members...

The possibilities are numerous and definitely worth the investment, considering the improvement in terms of student experience, but also for your team of professors, the school staff in general and last but not least, for parents. One thing’s for sure, School Apps are one effective way to show that mobile can have a place in the classroom, and a good one!

Below, we’ve listed three School Apps built with GoodBarber which are making great use of our features.