Second - the service itself: it's a great angle. Kids love SMS messages and this embraces the use of technology/cell phones in a positive way. It creates a more personal connection between teachers and kids without breaching privacy. We had something similar, though far more basic, when we were working on an LMS and that was a highlight we often overlooked but got the most vibrant response.
Great work so far!
One of the things we've been exploring is ways to integrate over existing LMS software, and it's been pretty disappointing to hear how no one has any sort of plugin system or API for apps.
*Question: On your business model, are you hedging that paid classes ($9.99 / month) will just stay under 1,000 texts (Based on twilio .01/per rate) in aggregate and thus leave a little profit for you, or is there more to it?
If there is not more to it, it seems like the 'unlimited' could be risky (unless your unlimited is really like AT&T's 'unlimited' data plan :-) ).
A class of 25 students might encompass 35-40 devices (including parents). @ 40 devices 1 broadcast per school day is $8.20 cost to you. This does not include for responses, multiple sends per day, etc..
I know you've thought through all this, and probably have great answers, I'm just always interested to hear how others think about their price models. Thanks for sharing.
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<!--[if lt IE 9]> css <![endif]-->Also, great name. I've seen others in this space with names that aren't quite as clear as yours, which is important for the demographics you're targeting – teachers and parents.
I really appreciate you forwarding it to them. If they have any questions at all, or just need a walkthrough, they're welcome to email me: m [at] classpager.com.
There may need to be some customization of the analytics to handle their larger classes, which we're open to -- we've basically just been building features based on the requests from our teachers.
Feel free to pass on my email -- m [at] classpager.com -- if the teachers/professors have any questions.
It was quite a hassle really because teachers wanted to do more but were restricted by school policy. I hope schools start to utilize technology in the classroom.
But, as you're getting at, it's also obvious that technology should be -- and will be -- an integral part of the classroom in the future. So we're hoping that, by making it as easy as possible to get on board, and by making the tech usable both inside and outside the classroom, we'll help teachers and classrooms move towards this future.
My friend does the same thing http://www.tophatmonocle.com/
I see a definite familiarity with http://remind101.com/ though, with which I have some moderate experience.
EDIT: On a closer look, both even use the same @CLASS subscription method. That's honestly a little sketchy.
To be clear, the technique of messaging in a special code to a number to "subscribe" to a service has been around for many, many years before edtech companies started using it recently. But it's a good approach.
And there's one big difference: services like Remind101 offer broadcasting, but they don't allow the students to reply.
We're out to open up and optimize the communication between teachers and students. Over time, each side will get the tools that serve them best. That's why the UX is web-based for teachers and SMS-based for students.
I'd love to talk to them, if you think they'd be interested in a conversation. We're headed in a bit of a different direction (message analytics and eventually generating questions), though I agree it looks pretty similar right now.
This looks so much nicer than jacking around with all the various carrier email addresses manually.
I'll have her pass this along to her district. Best of luck!
If she or other teachers have any questions, they're welcome to email me: m [at] classpager.com.
I think the school/district-wide system is going to be your best bet. As I'm sure you're aware, teachers don't exactly bring home the bank. So personally dropping $10/mo for something like this isn't likely going to happen for most teachers (most provide quite a bit of in-classroom supplies out of pocket as well).
Something to consider in promoting to schools/districts: lack of parent involvement is one of the biggest reasons kids aren't doing well in school. By keeping parents informed on a regular basis about what their kids should be doing, there's a better chance homework will get done, studying for tests will happen, and those damn standardized test scores will improve. Well, that's the hope at least.
The SMS connection lies in that every mobile number has an email address associated with it. So you can send an email to that address and it will be delivered to the device as a text message.
Are you marketing this to teachers or the schools?
We've started talking to schools, too, but I think it will be some time before we really target the marketing there.
Depends on how passionate the teacher is often.
Hopefully this can replace a lot of those awful RF-based polling systems that come packaged a lot of college level textbooks. Physics II in college was really painful because of our 'clickers'.
I really appreciate you forwarding it to your teacher friends. If they have any questions at all, or just need a walkthrough, they're welcome to email me: m [at] classpager.com.
Just curious. Why did you choose to use Twilo as your SMS provider?
1. Great idea, especially considering the attention span of a student can be somewhat diluted with so much modern technology - incorporating that same technology is a great hook.
2. Color scheme is good, and so is simplicity, but while erring on the side of simplicity is better than erring on the side of a very busy screen, it's still erring. While your concept is clear and concise on the home page, I personally feel as though there is too much white space (again, this is not a color scheme issue, but an issue of not enough going on).
3. What is the stated problem that you are trying to solve with this technology? In other words, what is the hook you can use to relate to your audience and persuade them to use the product?
For #2, do you have any suggestions of other things that would work well on the home page?
And for #3, I went into detail on use cases/specific problems that we solve here: https://www.classpager.com/more -- Are you suggesting some of that be moved to the front page, or are you saying that the hook there is still unclear/not compelling?
I've been using remind101.com. Looks like the same thing except with mine I can have as many classes as I want for free. I can't do the questioning thing, but the kids aren't allowed to have their phones out so I can't use it anyways.
Do her students never reply to the text messages she sends out? That's the core of the value-add -- whether inside or outside of class, students can reply to ClassPager and we show it to the teacher on the web site.
If she doesn't want students to be able to reply at all (i.e. she wants it to be totally 1-way communication) then I'm actually inclined to agree -- Remind101 is definitely the best and most cost-effective choice there.