June 16, 2022
Let's talk Apps that find their way into school
Remind©
Remind is a communication tool that is widely used by educators, administrators, and even coaches. Remind allows the leader of a class to message a group of people simultaneously. The app was created in 2011 with education in mind. Created by two brothers Brett and David Kopf as a way to help build relationships between educators and students (remind.com). Remind is designed for teachers, students, and parents to be able to send text messages to one another. It is a way for owners of a group to text a large group of people, up to 150, at a time. Worth noting, despite the use of the word “owner” the app is free to use.
Many people may be shocked to hear that a teacher and student will be able to text one another and perhaps many eyebrows may be raised at a teacher texting a parent. However, Remind offers safeguards that will be discussed. One issue that came up in the past few years was regarding text messaging fees. Since Remind is designed to be utilized through text message, part of the terms and conditions is that standard text messaging fees apply. Given that most cell phone users have a text messaging plan included in their overall plan there wasn’t an issue. A few years ago, Verizon wireless had announced they would start charging Remind users an extra fee per text message sent by the app. In January of 2019 though, after those working in education turned to Twitter voicing their displeasure with the decision, Verizon announced they would not be charging the fee (Schwartz 2019).
According to Kowalski et al (2019) policies and programs need to be put in place to limit cyberbullying that are age appropriate and address the implementation of technology in school. To address that, Remind has two main safeguards. First, a disclaimer when a user creates a class is that the owner agrees to only message students 13 or older. Owners can message students younger than 13 though and to do that the student who is younger than 13 has to supply a parent email address so the parent can receive a copy of the conversation. Second, when a class owner sends out an announcement to a group of people, all recipients receive their own copy without any others information. Regular texting limits group texts to 20 recipients. Remind allows a message to be texted out to up to 150. Finally, to safeguard against sharing of personal phone numbers, the text is sent through the app so when a recipient receives a text message, the number is an anonymous number that is different than the sender’s number. Members can also respond to mass messages individually to teachers.
I use Remind both for my classes as I have 57 students this year along with their parents. It is also incredibly helpful coaching football as we have over 100 student-athletes in our program and 10 coaches. We actually have two Remind groups, one for players and one for parents. Messages can be directly from the cell phone as texts, through the app, or on the website Remind.com.
Microsoft Teams
Micosoft Teams is a very deep application that is part of the office 365 package. Microsoft teams is a collaborative tool that works well in classrooms, offices, and sports teams. First, Teams allows you to virtual meet face to face in a meeting room with the help of a computer (with or without a camera) and a link. Members can meet from anywhere. During the Covid-19 pandemic and necessity of virtual learning, Microsoft teams became the go to platform for my and many other districts. Teams became a classroom.
Teams has many smaller features that are integrated into the program with the ability to integrate other applications in as well. Teams can schedule a meeting at any time, even on a repeating basis. Members can be invited through a link or can be directly invited while in the meeting. While in the meeting, presenters can share their screen and give live lessons or notes. Attendees can chime in through the use of their microphone or can type feedback in the chat feature. Presenters can create breakout rooms to work with subgroups while in the main meeting. Teams also gives the ability to post assignments if used in a classroom setting. Whole meetings or parts of meetings can be recorded for later use. This was a great feature from personal use as I was able to record the lesson part of the class and post it back in Teams so students can rewatch. Videos would be saved in another app integrated into office named Stream.
Microsoft Teams can also integrate with other Microsoft Office programs. Presenters can use Forms for feedback that would collect info via Excel. Students can work collaboratively on Power Points or Word documents via Team members. Many other applications can be integrated into Teams such as Youtube, Kahoot, and more.
Teams has a learning curve. I consider myself extremely technology competent, however many others such as students, administrators, and other teachers experienced difficulty. Users not understanding how and when their microphones or cameras are on presented an opportunity of embarrassment for some. Perhaps we all got over it. However, other issues arose such as incidents of cyber bullying. Certain settings allowed for everyone to have control over features such as muting people, closing screens, and even removing other attendees from the meeting. It was difficult for teachers to monitor as they would only be able to use one screen at a time and wouldn’t see who was in or out of the virtual room.
Our IT department, working with Microsoft, was able to change global settings for our organization to limit the control given to students and prevent incidents of cyber bullying. Teachers would be the default presenters and have access to a “mute all” button which would come in handy to limit background noise as well as squash any episodes of negative and unwanted comments during class. A setting was also implemented that only allowed students invited to the meeting be allowed into a meeting and any other additional attendees would wait in a virtual lobby and needed the presenter’s permission to enter.
App #1 TikTok
Description – TikTok is a social media website where students can create, edit, and share videos to one another.
Warning – TikTok is extremely unregulated. No age restrictions exist and while the platform encourages individuality, the public trends that originate on TikTok have dire consequences. One such challenge was known as the “benadryl challenge,” where users posted videos of the aftereffects of ingesting large amounts of diphenhydramine, which is found in benadryl. This challenge led to the death of at least one 15-year-old girl (Minhaj & Leonard 2021). Other challenges have been known to find there way across the platform that includes vandalism, profanity, and nudity.
Safeguards – TikTok should not be used in an educational setting. However, many schools, business, and groups still use the platform to promote their goings on as well as use it as a way to relate to their audience or students. Parents need to monitor what apps their children are using and perhaps limit time spent on them.
Links
www.tiktok.com
App #2 Photomath
Description – Photomath is a free app that users can utilize to simply take a picture of a math problem and the app will solve it while even showing step by step instructions.
Warning – Math teachers must be warned of this existence. It is not overly harmful but does present a challenge in the classroom. While Kartigeyan et al (2020) have shown research that photomath can help boost mathscores, it must also be understood that students can utilize this app to cheat even if the teacher asks for students to show work.
Safeguards – Best advice that can be given to teachers about this app is to know that it exists, and for them to download and use it themselves. When asking students to show work, understanding the structure the app utilizes to present work and the verbiage it supplies can give teachers an edge in knowing who is utilizing the app for non-mastery purposes.
App #3 Uber
Description – Uber is a ridesharing app. It is just like calling a cap but through an app and the driver is a random person in their personal car.
Warning – With transportation at the fingertips and very much affordable, parents are finding another way of transporting their kids even while they’re at work. This presents an issue as parents can now summon a driver and now that driver would be transporting an unattended minor.
Safeguard - Uber’s policy is that anyone under the age of 18 needs to be accompanied by someone 18 or older. Driver’s do have the right to refuse service to an unaccompanied minor, but as Helling (2022) points out, the language in the policy states that drivers can ask for ID and not that they must ask for ID. This can lead to some issues afterwards. I remember hearing an anecdotal tale about an administrator telling parents that the Uber driver is not on the approved list to release your child to.
App #4 MeetMe
Description – MeetMe is a dating app that allows people to connect based on proximity. Users can message one another at first but then can video chat when both agree (gale.com).
Warning – The word proximity can be a red flag.
Safeguard – The app is designated for users who are 17+ and markets themselves as a dating app for transparency. However, 17+ could still have a reach into users who are still in high school.
App #5 HideU: Calculator Lock
Description – An app for the phone that looks like a calculator app but in actuality is a way of storing videos, photos, and other files.
Warning – Data from the app is shared with 3rd party services as well as not being encrypted (play.google.com). While users can use the app to secure priority files, it is possible to use it for nefarious objectives.
Safeguard – Information can be requested to be deleted.
References
Google. (n.d.). Calculator hide app hide apps - apps on google play. Google. Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=calculator.hide.app.calculator.vault.calculatorhideapp.calculatorvault&gl=US
Helling, B. (2022, February 23). Uber and Lyft's Unaccompanied Minors Rules. Ridester.com. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://www.ridester.com/lyft-uber-minor-policy/
Kowalski, R. M., Limber, S. P., & McCord, A. (2019). A developmental approach to cyberbullying: Prevalence and protective factors. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 45, 20–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2018.02.009
MeetMe Introduces One-on-One Video Chat. (2019, July 27). Entertainment Close-up. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A594648897/BIC?u=vic_liberty&sid=summon&xid=3a5d0684
Microsoft teams. Video Conferencing, Meetings, Calling. (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-teams
Minhaj, F. S., P.H.A.R.M.D., & Leonard, J., P.H.A.R.M.D. (2021). Dangers of the TikTok Benadryl challenge. Contemporary Pediatrics, 38(1), 20-21. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Fdangers-tiktok-benadryl-challenge%2Fdocview%2F2480008983%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D12085
Remind is the best education communication platform. A solution built for educators, administrators, students & parents in mind. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2022, from https://www.remind.com/
Saundarajan, K., Osman, S., Jeya, A. K., Mohd, F. D., Mohd, S. A., & Pairan, M. R. (2020). Learning Algebra using Augmented Reality: A Preliminary Investigation on the Application of Photomath for Lower Secondary Education. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (Online), 15(16), 123-133. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.3991/ijet.v15i16.10540
Schwartz, S. (2019, January 25). Messaging app remind and Verizon resolve dispute over fee, free texting service to continue. Market Brief. Retrieved June 3, 2022, from https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/remind-app-verizon-dispute-resolved/