Producing Media-INTE 5680: Achievement – Mobile Mayhem
Producing Media
Achievement: Mobile Mayem
A Review of the Remind Mobile App
The task was to download and install a mobile application, spend some time using it then write up a short review that included things like the App Name, Publisher, Platforms (iOS, Android,…) Functionality, Impressions, Ease of use, Application in Education, Comments & Concerns, and whether we would recommend the app to others. Here’s my review of Remind.
After sorting through and playing with a number of apps I settled on one called Remind, by AgileBits Inc. The older I get, the more reminders I need and although reminders would appear to be the focus of this app it really has the ability to be so much more. I was introduced to this app in my TSBOL course last semester but my quick interaction with it was from the learner standpoint, I wanted to see the other side.
The app’s main focus is communication with students and parents via text messages pushed to an iOS or Android cell phone. The instructor creates a classroom for each class, then has options to engage students and/or parents through announcements and conversations initiated with a single person or a group. Videos, voice recordings, photos, files, and Google drive docs can be attached to the communication. One Drive, Survey Monkey, Sign up, Box, and Flipgrid are some other available communication tools. Adjusting settings within each class allows you to designate who can communicate with whom. There are multiple options to provide sign up information to users. Although announcements and conversations can happen strictly through text, if you will be asking participants to view or update documents they will need to have the app installed.
I tested the app using my family’s bi-annual fly-in fishing trip this summer. It’s time to plan and this app could help us keep our travel plans, the packing list for newbies, etc. all in one place, so I asked my family to help me familiarize myself with it by using the app for our planning. I assumed my role as instructor, set up a course, contacted my “learners”, then sent them invites from the app. As the “instructor” I could push notices to the group so everyone was seeing the same information, so I elected to update the settings so participants could see and respond to each other’s posts as well. I figured collaboration would be a good thing while herding a group of adults all to the same destination to catch a hydroplane to the northern reaches of Saskatchewan, Canada.
I wanted my first communication to be a video with photos from our last trip, to kick it off with a bit of fun and create some excitement for the trip. I saw the option to use Flipgrid so I went to my computer to build a slideshow. Sadly when I went back into Remind to link to the Flipgrid slideshow to the announcement I couldn’t get it to work. It acknowledged my account but never moved to a screen where I could link my creation. I ended up downloading the file from Spark, uploading it to my Google Drive, and then adding that link to the Remind announcement.
My next communication was a quick video from the back porch just to say “Hi, it’s time to get planning!”. I tried to use Flipgrid directly from the Remind app to record my message but had the same trouble, so I reverted to pasting a Flipgrid video link into a conversation in Remind.
Next up was the travel agenda, a shared Google doc on my Google drive, then the packing list spreadsheet, also in my Google drive. This gives the experienced attendees the ability to add omissions and suggestions to the packing list, and each person could add their travel plans.
I was surprised to see that recipients received both a text message and a notification from the Remind app each time I sent something out. The text message link works well for the video content however for the Google docs both the text and the app notification would ultimately route you to the Remind app. Therefore the quickest way to see the documents was to open them through the app notification.
My final analysis, yes I would recommend using the app. I think this could be a great collaborative tool as well as a useful for communicating with students and parents., especially when wanting to get the same messages out to various groups year over year since the communication is saved to reuse in the future. All that said they definitely need to work on the Flipgrid integration! It is also important to note that the app requires that you confirm that you will not be texting anyone under the age of thirteen so although its target audience is teachers for communication with their students it is not a good choice for elementary age students.