Slack - free, easy to use, communications/collaboration platform - great for teams and schools

Slack is a free platform for instant team communication and collaboration. It allows you to create “channels” according to specific topics, issues, projects or teams, which gives everyone access to all the conversations and information circling around. You can include messages, files, images and videos in the channels. This can replace email, chat and video conferencing. 

It also integrates with Dropbox, Google Drive and Hangouts, and Trello. It also has a very good search feature. It is web based, with iOS and Android apps. 

It is free to use and there is no limit to the number of users. 

This would be great for classrooms, teacher communication, workgroups, PD, and much more. 

Related:

Asana - free teamwork and productivity app

DropTask - Visual Task Management app

kanban2go - free visual task management and organization

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources

Evernote - super organizing, task list, note taking, project management app

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Samepage - app to get more done with contextual collaboration

Samepage is a "contextual engagement platform" that just launched some new features (see press release below). It has a free version with some great features, including context and collaboration, organizational features, and communication. There are more advanced features available for a fee. It has an intuitive, well designed, user interface and it only takes minutes to get started.

Samepage allows users to create content, including text, multimedia, Office Files, PDFs, Dropbox files, attachments, Google Drive, Google Maps and more. Users collaborate in real time and can comment and work together on projects. It can be used by people for personal projects and planning as well as by companies and groups for major projects.



It's very easy to use and setup and can be very useful for managing events, trips, projects, and much more. It is web based and there are mobile apps available for iOS and Android. You can create "Pages" that are private, social on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Group pages, and Public Pages for anyone.

Take a look!

Samepage Debuts Advanced Features, Modern Design and Two New Mobile Apps


Samepage Solidifies Its Position as the Leader in Contextual Engagement and Digital Collaboration


STARTUP GRIND 2015 GLOBAL CONFERENCE ­ REDWOOD CITY, CA ­ FEBRUARY 9, 2015 ­ Samepage, the free online place where people can communicate and share content with context, today announces significant platform upgrades including a fresh modern design, mobile apps for iOS and Android as well as a range of innovative features, further strengthening its consumer and business offerings. Samepage now enables easy inclusion of content from cloud based services such as Google Apps, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Box and includes social page sharing via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.


"Our vision at Samepage is to create an online place where people can easily share ideas, content and context” says Scott Schreiman, chief executive officer of Samepage and Kerio Technologies, the parent company to Samepage. “ We've based the development of Samepage on three fundamental principles, first the need to bring together files with conversation to preserve context and help people get more done. Second, the need to support a 'post-file' world via integration with top cloud services and finally, ease of use to bring these benefits to consumers as well as businesses."


Samepage’s New Features, Benefits and Design
With fast-paced lives and an overwhelming number of ways to connect with one another, communication and collaboration have become increasingly challenging. Samepage’s new features enable people to easily organize ideas and communicate with each other to get more done. Samepage differentiates itself from other collaboration solutions by offering contextualization to all content featured on a page. People are empowered to define, share and preserve context related to specific pieces of content on a page streamlining the collaborative process. No more hunting for old emails or getting lost in a cloud file folder.

Get all your content on Samepage, including:
Any Mac or PC application file (e.g., Word, Excel, PDF, etc.)
Images and YouTube videos
Dropbox, Box, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive
Google Maps
Text and conversations

You choose how to share
Private pages
Social pages for Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn
Group pages for select people (e.g., book club, finance team)
Public pages for anyone on the Internet
Modern design and user interface
Designed for consumers and businesses
New Samepage logo, branding
Customizable ³cover image² photo page headers
Improved navigation experience


Samepage¹s New iOS and Android Apps
Samepage just released its first Android application, available here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kerio.samepage.


There is also an updated iOS app, available here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/samepage/id632534443?mt=8. Both mobile apps are now available globally.


People can now view pages on the go, create new pages, edit content and add images on their smartphones or tablets, making Samepage even more convenient.


Samepage Pricing and Availability
While there are many companies in the collaboration space, Samepage is unique in that it is designed from the ground up to be the easiest to use way to share information and ideas online with others, in both our personal and business lives.


Samepage is a free service that lets anyone create and share an online page in minutes. Sign up at www.samepage.io.


Samepage for Business is a paid service that businesses can rely on to improve productivity while reducing email volume. For more details, go towww.samepage.io/business.


About Samepage
Samepage is changing the way people share ideas and content. Anyone can create a free online page in minutes and collaborate with friends, family, co-workers or the world. We built Samepage so our company could work together more effectively. Then we discovered Samepage is also awesome for organizing social, group, and school activities. Now lots of people are using Samepage to plan epic vacations, organize school fundraisers, keep sports teams on track, run their businesses and get more done. How will you use Samepage? For more information and to create a personalized Samepage page, visit www.samepage.io.

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The Importance of Communication in Education

Communication is paramount in education. Whether it is teacher to student, student to student, teacher to teacher, teacher to parent, teacher to admin or admin to parent, or vice versa, communication is needed to make sure our students are successful.

Communication is something that doesn't always happen. Sometimes is a lack of time, a lack of resources, a lack of knowing how to get the point across or a language barrier.

Technology can help improve communication in education:

Email - connect with staff, teachers, students and parents through email.

Websites - post relevant information and resources on district, school, and classroom websites. Include a parent section.

Google Classroom, Edmodo, etc - use these systems to share assignments and announcements with students and parents.

Phone blasts - there are a lot of automated systems that will robo-call phone numbers with information.

Social Media - use social media at all levels to connect and communicate with teachers, parents, students and the community.

Translation tools - Google Translate and other translation tools can help ELL parents and students access the communication that you share with them. This exists for websites, email, social media and even the phone blast systems. This is huge in our district where there is a large ELL student population and even larger ESL parent population.

Variety of media - technology allows you to provide communications in a variety of formats - written, images, audio, and even video to help everyone access and understand the communications.

Reaching students who are absent - online resources, video recordings of classes, video conferencing, and more can make home or hospital bound students part of the class and keep them engaged. In addition, these resources can help connect parents and schools.

Technology can also help educators research topics, find resources, and connect with other educators to learn and share from each other.


Related:

Helping Educators Get Started with Educational Technology

The How's, Why's and Value of Educational Technology

Parental Involvement is major factor in student success - how do we increase it?


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Kloosion - soon to launch private sharing & communication service

Kloosion is a soon-to-be-launched beta service that promises "a secure and private way to share and communicate". There isn't much more than that available yet, but you can sign up to be notified when the beta is available at their site.

The site is supposedly going to allow you to work, study, and communicate with others with a simple, secure tool.

It sounds like it might be a mini-social network or the like with more security and privacy than most of the current ones.

As soon as it launches, I'll try it out and share more information.

ClassParrot - easy, safte text messaging for educators

ClassParrot is a relatively new service that provides a safe and secure method for teachers to easily send text messages to their students. Teachers can use it to send text messages to remind students of upcoming tests, events, and homework updates. Parents can also sign up and stay up-to-date on what their child is doing in class.

One of the nice things about ClassParrot is that the phone numbers are not revealed to anyone, providing more privacy.

It is very easy to use. The teacher adds their class to ClassParrot which then generates a unique code and phone number. The students and parents then send a text message to this phone number to sign up for the notifications for that class.

The service is free based on your usage. The first 500 messages (credits) are free. After that, there's another 200 free credits added every month. If you keep below this limit, you don't pay anything. You can also earn credits by inviting colleagues to use it. Fee plans: $9/month or $90/year for unlimited plan for teachers. Schools and groups of teachers can also bundle plans - $100/month ($1000/year) for unlimited use for 20 teachers or $200/month ($2000/yr) for unlimited use and unlimited teachers. I would think most teachers would be able to keep it under the free limit.

Of course, the one downside is if the students have to pay for the text messages that they receive. Most students these days seem to have unlimited texting and teachers can always limit how many they send out.

Any text enabled phone will work and teachers use a computer to send out messages. Students and parents can even reply and have text conversations. There is also an app being worked on.

Teachers can have as many classes as they want. It is only available in the US and Canada for now.

The fact that ClassParrot hides the phone numbers is a great security and privacy feature.

If you are interested, sign up here and receive 1000 free credits.