Website Technology to Improve Your School Experience
Maintaining your school or district website can sometimes feel like a full-time job itself. Between updating information, solving technical issues and engaging students and parents, you need to be able to add features to your site and make it easier to manage. With school districts and campuses operating on tight budgets it is important to improve the school experience by making the most out of available technology in one easy place. When you build a school website that takes advantage of the latest in technology you are able to easily keep in contact with families and staff members anytime, anywhere. When companies work together, they are able to offer clients the best products at discounted prices.
How Business Partnerships Benefit Your District
Mobile applications, live streaming and centralized CMS systems allow schools and districts to quickly and easily connect with students, parents and employees in a way that is convenient for everyone. Especially when looking at the budget for the upcoming year it can be difficult to find the best way to maximize your capabilities while minimizing costs. When your website is able to simplify everyday processes and give your students and teachers greater resources to thrive everyone succeeds.
These features and site capabilities are attractive on their own, but when packaged together add even more for clients. eSchoolView’s dedication to collaboration puts the focus on districts and schools by giving them access to new products they may not be able to afford individually. While creating new partnerships allows both businesses to attract new customers, it also directly improves the experiences those customers have and the products they can access.
As the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) noted in a 2010 article, partnerships between businesses help “reach a new market, block a competitor (through an exclusive contract) or increase customer loyalty.” Not only does it make sense for companies to band together to develop new products and services, it also benefits school districts that work with organizations that are able to provide the best solutions for their needs.
With minimal setup needs and an easy-to-use interface, enhancing your school’s CMS system with new features makes sense any way you look at it. New business partnerships allow eSchoolView to offer client schools packaged features such as emergency notifications, live video streaming of events and a mobile application in one bundle. School districts benefit by having more ways for families to connect and interact with each campus. At the same time, working with eSchoolView helps simplify the budget because you are able to get all of the website technology you need without having to manage multiple contracts.
Instant Alerts and Notices
Instant Connect is partnering with eSchoolView to bring school districts and other education organizations an affordable solution to stay connected with families and staff. Instant Connect allows these groups to send out emergency alerts, notices to the staff, changes in bus schedules and more. Schools and districts are able to use the program at any level and run necessary reports and metrics that are emailed directly.
If a crisis arises, such as an earthquake, lockdown situation or power outage, administrators are able to instantly alert those that need the information from any smartphone. In addition, automated attendance calls from school offices can be set up for no extra charge, allowing for the streamlining of this task that can take up hours of the day. With SIS integration as well, you are able to get a full-service notification and alert system when you build a school website. This doesn’t just apply to high schools – elementary and middle schools also benefit from these services.
Live Event Streaming
Unfortunately, parents and loved ones are not able to be at every event that happens on campus. By integrating live video streaming for the events in the school district, such as athletic contests, school board meetings, theater productions and more, you are able to keep your most important constituents in the fold and bring more content than ever to these individuals. In order to provide districts and schools with this ability, eSchoolView has teamed up with BoxCast. BoxCast is an easy-to-use video streaming platform that allows groups to live stream high-quality HD video straight through a website to be viewed on any device.
Many schools avoid setting up a streaming service for parents and fans due to startup costs. However, BoxCast makes it easy to get started with its unique, pocket-sized BoxCaster device connected to your camera and the Internet (network cable or through Wi-Fi). Simplicity does not equal low quality, either. The BoxCast platform adjusts to maintain video quality and can support an unlimited number of viewers at once, allowing you to broadcast as many events as you would like and reach friends and families of students and employees around the world through your website. At the same time you make it easy for anyone to watch, either publicly or with an invitation-only password, without having to navigate external sites or wait for streams to buffer.
Mobile Application Support
It’s no surprise that the best way for districts and schools to communicate with employees and students is by going mobile. More and more individuals use smartphones almost exclusively for information while laptops and desktops are falling by the wayside. To ensure that you are able to easily provide access to updates and information it is important to develop a mobile application that packages everything together in one place.
SchoolInfoApp gives school districts the capability to send push notifications for news and alerts, display interactive maps and allow access for detailed calendars that students, parents and staff can download so they have everything they need at their fingertips. Easy to update and maintain, a mobile app brings the district up to speed with the available technology. In addition, SchoolInfoApp has these benefits for districts:
- Apps are created around a district’s brand
- Information is updated through eSchoolView’s cloud-based CMS
- Ability to translate information to 15 languages
- Manage social media posts from one place
- Available for iOS, Android and other web-based devices
Taking all of these programs and features together, eSchoolView allows districts to build a school website that does more than just give directions and semester calendars. In addition to partnering with organizations to bring new features to districts, eSchoolView’s relationships with educational groups, consortiums and service centers allow member districts to purchase a CMS at discounted pricing.
These interactive tools give school districts the power to stay connected with families and staff and keep students engaged while preparing them for the future. By simplifying processes and combining everything into one easy-to-use solution, districts can manage their web and mobile presence from a single system. Learn more about how the latest technology can help improve the school experience by connecting with a representative at eSchoolView today at (888) 932-6460.
Source:
- http://www.nfib.com/article/the-importance-of-strategic-business-partnerships-52254/