ClassParrot Free Text Messaging between Teachers and Students

ClassParrot is a website for teachers. It allows its users" to send  text messages back and forth between students, parents, and teachers without revealing anybody's phone number". No need need to fret,  your phone number will not be shown to anyone and you are the only person who can have access to it. This technology is highly educational, private, efficient, fast, and reliable.

Statistics have proved that teenagers or at least a huge number of them prefer text messaging to emails. This is generation Next and they depend wholly on mobile technology to do everything in their life. As educators we need to take advantage of this fact and start implementing this technology in our teaching. They will for sure like it and feel more comfortable working with it.

How can teachers use ClassParrot

Teachers can use ClassParrot to do many things such as :

1. create a quick polling and Q/A platform in and outside the classroom
2. Remind students of their upcoming exams and quizzes
3. Send homework updates and events reminders
4. Interact with parents and brief them about their kids learning and achievement

You might be asking yourself why using ClassParrot when teachers can just go ahead and ask for students' phone numbers and use them directly ? Well this is not a guarranted educational way plus there is no law to cover either you or students when you do so, ClassParrot has even clearly explained this point when it said

" Direct phone-to-phone text messaging presents legal risks for schools. Educators and students exchanging personal contact information create unavoidable liabilities that could potentially cause serious problems in an academic setting. Aside from being unsafe, traditional text messaging becomes cumbersome for educators because it is not intended for mass communication. 
ClassParrot addresses both of these issues. It’s safe: ClassParrot is a closed messaging system where there is never any need to share personal information directly with students. It’s convenient: ClassParrot is optimized for all educators – including teachers, administrators, coaches, program facilitators, mentors and tutors. The system facilitates the enrollment process (for all message recipients) so that educators can effortlessly text one student or an entire class." Taken from ClassParrot

Some features of Classparrot 

Here is a list of some of the best features that ClassParrot offers to its users :

• It is partly free. It offers 500 messages for free but you can invite your peers and get 200 messages more for each one you invited
• Teachers can use any computer to send messages and students will get them right in their phones
• Subscribed students and parents will be able to communicate with the teacher and answer back his messages
• It enables students and teachers to talk freely and " without giving up their privacy or talking on liability"

How can I get started using ClassParrot ?

It is very easy to use. Teachers need to head over to ClassParrot main page and create their own class. When they are done a unique code and phone number will be generated for them. It is this code that they need to share with students and parents who, in their turn, will have to send a text message to that phone number to sign up for notifications for that class.

If you need to learn more about Classparrot then i I invite you to read their FAQ page.