Posts in Updates

Summer 2020

Updates

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.

Spring 2020

Updates

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. 

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.

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.