Remind: Sending Notifications to Students by Device (mobile app)

Details

Activity Description

Remind: Safe Classroom Communications (from Remind101) is a safe, easy to use communication tool helping you connect instantly with your students. It is great as a reminder of assignments, tests, or holidays. Students receive the message as a text, e-mail or smartphone notification. You can send messages, photos, files or voice clips directly to their phones. You can see who has viewed the content via the app. The app provides a way to track your communication with the students and allows for both one-way messages and two-way conversations.

Preparation

1. Download the app to your device. (You can also sign up for an account at Remind.com using a computer)
2. Sign up for an account.
3. Create a class name. Make a note of it as you will need to provide this to your students, in addition to the 81010 message number. It will start with the @ sign.
4. Type in a welcome message.
5. Schedule when you want the message to be sent if you want it sent at some point in the future rather than immediately.
6. Check your e-mail (the one you used to sign up) for a handout announcement to give to your students. (You can print this handout, e-mail it to your students, or make a poster of the information to display in class.)

How-To

1. Introduce Remind to the class. Explain what it is and how you intend to use it with them to remind them, or to send them assignments or other information.
2. Have students download the app. It is free.
3. Distribute to your students the handout announcement you created in the Prep section above.
4. Tell students to send a text message to the number (81010) and class code given to access your class. There are alternative instructions available to use e-mail instead of text for those students who do not have a mobile device. (Be sure to explain that if they have text accounts that have limitations regarding the number of messages per month, they may want to use an e-mail account instead.)

Teacher Tips

• Here is a handout on Top 10 Ways to Use Remind (PDF) (You can ignore the ones that have to do with parents)
• Students can also sign-up via the Remind join page on the Web by using the unique class code you created earlier.
• Using the Web interface to send out messages may be easier than using your mobile device, because you have a keyboard to type messages. Just remember to keep messages short.

Program Areas

• ESL: English as a Second Language

Levels

• All Levels

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