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.
