Hello all,
As a teacher (fellow at Teach for India), I have many last minute announcements to make. With 42 students and their parents, it is a nightmare for me to call each one of them. What do I do? I get inspired by therodinhoods.wpengine.com community.
As I read stories on how problems lead to solutions, I got completely inspired and developed an app called ClassTalk.It is an Android based app that is strictly group based.
Parent’s view: They are not given any ‘Create Group’ option. Things are kept simple for them.
Teacher’s view. They get a ‘Create Group’ option.
Only teacher can see the group members. Again, keeping the app simple for parents.
Key Features:
1) Strictly group based: This eliminates one on one communication (USP. This forces parents with personal concerns to call or meet the teacher one on one (builds parents relationship).
2) Simple registration process: no training session required for parents on teacher’s part.
3) Closed groups: Teacher is the admin for the respective group. Teacher adds (once parents register)/delete members.
The vision I have with this app in mind is two-fold: Financial and Digital Literacy. Since this app uses minimum data, a parent can purchase a minimal data pack (introducing the digital world in a cheaper way). Second, the communities we work in, have a lot of bad habits such as eating processed food such as chips or tobacco chewing. Just by saving on these small items, a parent can buy a smartphone in a month or two.
Here is the link to the app in Play Store.
If you are a parent, please ask your child’s teacher to download this app and use it. I am looking for feedback so the iteration can be done based on feedback rather than top-down approach.
One particular feedback I am looking apart from user stories on how it is helpful or not is whether ClassTalk can be named more generic and used in the corporate or other fields as well and build a revenue stream.
Thank you for your time!
-Ajay Shah
Twitter: @ajaygshah