Thanks! Yes, I've been talking with some college professors, and it looks like the software would work well there too.
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.
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?
Actually, you could solve #2 and #3 very easily by moving some of that material onto the homepage. Personally, I'd go with a simple, clean cut demo video. "Meet Martha...Martha is a high school teacher. But..." etc. and then later on in the video describe everything you put into pictures in more detail. Keep the graphic and diagrams though, in case users like those more than the video. And between those two, you'd get rid of a lot of white space hanging around. As for explaining it, the hook is very compelling and clear if you put one or both of those onto the homepage. Because the homepage as it stands now gives a basic idea of what the tech can do, but no examples of why what it does is useful. Having a teacher say, "Remember class is in room 142 today!" via text broadcast is more compelling for teachers than the comparatively less descriptive graphic you have on the homepage right now.
Sounds good. She sent a beta inquiry about getting her school on board with it.
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.
We've been piloting with teachers, so we're starting by marketing to teachers directly. The goal is to have a product that's both useful at the free level and affordable at the premium level, given teachers' budgets.
We've started talking to schools, too, but I think it will be some time before we really target the marketing there.
I'd be interested to hear your success with teachers directly. My wife's a high school teacher, so I know that teachers pay out of pocket for almost everything.
Yes, that's very true. It's going to take a while to convince schools to change all these entrenched behaviors and policies.
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.
Yeah, I totally agree with the idea. I think it's amazing. And the way teachers still do tests and things by hand in Word is pretty crazy too. There's a huge market with schools.
Thanks! We spent a fair amount of time polishing little UI details.
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.
