Blog

This long, hot summer

Summer is here and schools are out. But it’s different this year. With quarantine and safety rules, schools have been out for quite some time. The reopening of schools is still uncertain and the shift to online learning has become the new normal. We never could have imagined how 2020 would change the way we live. But through this time we’ve seen resilience and kindness throughout our teaching and school community. We have a long list of features that we are working on during the summer. But first, let’s go through our accomplishments in spring.

‘online learning has become the new normal’

Let's Roll-Over

Now it’s the end of the year. Students have graduated. New students are coming in. New teachers. And to prepare for this, we’ve released the Roll-Over feature. This allows the School Admin to prepare for the new academic year. With a simple, 4-step guide, the school will be ready for the first day of school!

To help School Admin through this process, we’ve created a workshop. We show the complete Roll-Over feature in action. And prepare the school’s Springring platform for a new year. School Admin can book a workshop here.

Springring Students

The Student app is here! Our entire Springring platform is now complete with the addition of the Springring Student app. This comes with a long list of features and extra perks for Admin and Teachers. All school and class updates can now involve students as well.

From school events to homework, Teachers can share anything they want with their students. And therefore, centralize all school communications. Students get complete access to all their classes, their Teachers, and all school information. One app to keep them updated on everything that’s happening in school.

The Class Teacher

Part of our mission is to make life easier for Teachers. And so, we introduced the Class Teacher. The school Admin can set the Classes for all the teachers and organize the entire class list. Once the Classes are set, the Admin can assign the Class Teachers to their respective classes. This Teacher automatically becomes the primary contact for Parents. The Class Teacher will have the ability to post on this Class and chat directly with Parents.

Posts get a new look

We’ve listened to our users and decided to take on board their suggestions. We took a step back, simplified, and redesigned our post designs. This change wasn’t just to get a new look, but to make it easier for Teachers and Parents to identify posts, where they have been posted on, and get a time and date stamp. We found it easier to add indicators for a better experience for everyone.

Our summer plans

We have a long summer ahead of us. We are working on features that will mostly help Admin and Teachers. We’ve been chanting ‘Parents don’t have to do anything’ and that’s our main promise for the summer. And so, we’re going to introduce a new look for Springring! Admin and Teachers can expect a more friendly, more fresh, and much faster system. Just in time for the new school year.

We’re definitely looking forward to releasing these at the beginning of Autumn. We encourage our users to share with us ideas that they would like to see in Springring. So, go ahead, let us know what new features you want.

How Businesses can be a #ForceforGood

EdTech Teachers Work Life April 30, 2020

#GivingTuesdayNow

This May 5th, organizations around the world are coming together for #GivingTuesdayNow. A new global day that celebrates generosity and unity in response to COVID-19.

Give your time, voice, and kindness to come together on this day. Businesses can participate in activities such as donating supplies, books, food, clothing, and other materials. Or giving their time by helping teachers, friends, or neighbors navigate video conferencing tools to help them stay connected. They can spread the kindness by hanging a simple ‘thank you’ message on their window. And raise awareness about how the world is coming together, despite social distancing.

‘the world is coming together, despite social distancing’

As a Pledge 1% member, Springring is committed to leveraging our assets to have an impact, and now -more than ever- we are rallying our teams and partners to give back.

#Springring

To help combat school closures, we are offering Springring for free. We’re committed to keeping the communication lines between schools, educators, and parents as efficient as possible. Since Parents are now undertaking the role of Teachers, we want to help. And until the education system is back to normal, Springring remains free.

Inspiring school administrators and teachers, join us and help us build a strong educational community.

‘help us build a strong educational community’

#ForceforGood

We know how powerful it is when we all come together and collaborate. In these trying times, we need to provide children with as much normalcy as possible.

We’d also like to thank our many partners, customers, and team members who have been unwavering in their support during this crisis. We are all #TeamBahrain and together we will get through this.

This pandemic is affecting every person on Earth. Only together, will we heal and recover. We encourage you to join us and other members of the business community in giving whatever you can to help. Together, we are a force for good.

To learn more about Pledge 1% or to access their tools and resources for companies to navigate this pandemic visit https://pledge1percent.org/covid19/

Spring 2020

Updates April 7, 2020

Looking back, our 2019 has been a year of growth. New schools joined the Springring family, the Teacher app was released and new features were developed. But, it’s a new year, with new possibilities, and new challenges to face. The Parliament gathered to discuss new features to develop. But based on our users and their feedback, we decided to listen instead and develop according to their needs.

Listening and Learning

Notifications, sounds, and previews were more important than we thought. We assumed that everyone would rather receive notifications only when marked as an Alert. News and notices that required immediate attention. Some users did prefer to be notified only for urgent matters. Others, prefered to be notified for everything. And that’s okay. We gave Teachers and Parents the option to choose. Every user got to set their own preferences. A simple change made a lot of people happier.

We built Springring to automatically organize information. However, Parents preferred to view everything in one place. Any new information, regardless of where it was posted, on one board. And so, we created the ‘All Updates’ board. Both Teachers and Parents get all types of posts in one feed. They can also switch between All Unread posts and their most Recently Viewed. We do admit this has made it easier to see all new posts. We’ve noticed that even when testing our apps.

By mid-January, Springring was growing and schools had signed up. What we didn’t anticipate was the volume of people accessing our apps. When posts started flying out, we realized that we definitely needed to upgrade our framework. For speed, usage, and stability. For Teachers, Parents, and Admin. We knew we had to put our users first. We strengthened our base and constructed a plan. And after weeks of development, our platform received a titanic boost.

Looking Ahead

With great stability and great speed, comes a greater responsibility. Our platform was growing with new updates and features. We introduced ‘What’s New’ screens to let everyone know what we have just released. With a quick rundown of all the new goodies the apps contain.

Lending a Helping Hand

Unfortunately, this spring consisted of a #StayAtHome guideline for us. We closed our offices and got busy working from home.

As the world comes together to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, many students are not attending schools. Educational institutions closed and everyone has been instructed to stay indoors. Communication has never been more important. So we’ve been working towards keeping education and learning going.

We know how powerful it is when we all come together and collaborate. In these trying times, we need to provide children with as much normalcy and continuity as possible. It is part of our social responsibility to our community.

Working from Home

EdTech Work Life March 29, 2020

Teachers, we salute you!

EdTech Teachers January 23, 2020 4 Comments

Education, teaching, and schools globally have undergone massive changes that leave only glimpses of their humble beginnings of the previous decade. Whiteboards were replaced with projectors and interactive boards, whole schools were outfitted with Wifi coverage, and tests were conducted on Google Classroom. These changes are only scratching the surface.

Even in the last three years since I graduated, the teaching profession has changed so drastically. Students and teachers have become constantly connected with social media and instant messaging platforms, Youtube videos and dedicated learning platforms have grown in popularity, and data collection is more complex and in-depth than ever. Suddenly, the humble building of desks and chairs I once learned in has become this complex institute of experiences, discoveries, and opportunities that had only been dreamed of a few short years back. Applications have dominated over notebooks, Virtual Reality has made the unimaginable now a feast to the student’s eyes, coding is becoming a standard in all curriculums, and the innovations just keep expanding.

But…

Coming from a little owl that dreams to be Owl from Winnie the Pooh, and is a big advocate for ed-tech, the teacher will always be the soul and heart of any school.

I understand that schools need to evolve to stay relevant, to nurture the generation and improve the quality of education with these complex apparatuses. Be that as it may, with the beginning of a new decade, we need to remember that schools serve a greater purpose than only training children skills and facts.

On average in the United States, students spend about 1000 of their 6000 waking hours in the year at school. With up to 12 hours for five consecutive days in the week in classes with their teachers, it would be a disservice to say that they don’t have an impact on a student’s personality and character. Technology at the end of the day can spark enthusiasm from students and garner their interest, but it wouldn’t be able to display the ethics and connect on a deep level. It can assist a student in getting to grasp complex concepts in maths, but it cannot substitute the words of encouragement and advice you would get when they feel like they have hit a roadblock.

In this complicated world that our students are subjected to, the need for teachers grows ever so important. The need for a paternalistic figure to aid students in the transition from childhood to young adults plays a crucial role.

As I write this and look back at my time with my teachers, it surprises me how so much of their advice and the experiences they shared stuck with me for so long.

Whether I understood it at the time or something I held on for whatever life had in store, it became a common occurrence for me to contact them and thank them for a specific talk or advice.

There’s a long list of reasons as to why teachers are important and play a vital role in building the foundation of every generation. It’s also vital that students have an older figure that they are comfortable with to help them in understanding their concerns. The human side of learning and growing.

‘The teacher will always be the soul and heart of any school’

Though for certain, it’s not expected for students to find all their teachers inspiring (at least in my case, a good majority of them made me want to skip classes). But, the minute they find that one teacher, it’s as though a completely different person emerges. Suddenly, students become engaged, they look forward to attending classes, and they have the desire to accept new challenges.

So let us begin the new decade with a salute to all teachers, young and old and thank them for all their efforts. May their guiding hands lead us to a brighter tomorrow.