Instantly streamlining school efficiencies with Groupcall Emerge
The Angmering School, located in Angmering, West Sussex is a specialist Sports and Science College which caters for mixed learners aged between 11-18 years. Marc Ginnaw IT Manager explains the benefits of Groupcall’s Emerge for the school following a successful trial with three users. They now intend to roll it out further.
Convenience at hand I first encountered Groupcall Emerge aer seeking a new handheld soluon for register taking; we had previously been using Bromcom for registraon and were using PDAs (personal digital systems) for PE registers on the field. However, we stopped using Bromcom for lesson registering as we started using the SIMS Learning Gateway (SLG) and needed lesson marks to show on it. The marks from Bromcom do not show in SLG but the marks from SIMS Lesson Monitor do. We had hoped to use SLG on our Windows Mobile Devices but the internet browsers we tested with it didn’t work well enough.
Groupcall’s Emerge parcularly appealed due to immediately being user-friendly; it presented a fast and simple soluon. I was instantly able to recognise its benefits for real-me registering as well as being able to take registers off- site and then to synchronise the data later.
In PE lessons, taking registers outside on the field with a laptop is impraccal and inconvenient for the teacher. One alternave would be to mark students via paper-based registers but this can be difficult, parcularly in disagreeable weather condions, and being located near the coast we are oen familiar with this! Therefore, the ability to conduct registraon via a handheld device is excellent! We have successfully trialled Groupcall Emerge with 2 PE teachers and will soon be rolling it out to the rest of the department. The teachers are keen to start using the iPod, not just for taking registers, but also for educaon-related apps and having the ability to use the device for videoing evidence and playing it back on classroom projectors. Having this extra value makes it a lot easier to encourage staff to adopt a new process.
The emerging future I can see Emerge will be parcularly useful for off-site visits where there can oen be a requirement for instant access to student’s personal informaon, such as medical data. For example, should a student fall ill and require possible medical aenon, the power of being able to immediately find these details regarding possible allergies is huge. Planning for off-site trips is me-consuming, yet with Emerge providing this informaon in a hand-held device, the teacher’s workload may be reduced through not needing to compile a student file prior to each school trip. The result is a far more efficient and faster process which means staff me can be beer spent on acvity planning for example. Finally, some feedback from one of our Emerge users; Shaun Smith, Student Support Manager explains how using Emerge on his iPhone 4 has helped:
“
I have been up and running with using Groupcall Emerge for approximately 12 weeks now. To get right to the point, it’s been FANTASTIC!!
”
I would at a guess say it saves me at least an hour a day and has proven useful while at home when I just need to call parents or give informaon out.
Below are the main benefits: • Time saved • All parents numbers at my fingerps • The Emerge App is extremely intuive and user friendly • The speed I'm retrieving data is simply excellent • Password protecon works extremely well and it has become roune to come into school in the morning and update during forum, and then work off line for the rest of the day • The ability to restrict access to contacts for staff but sll have their metable works well.
For further informaon on Groupcall’s products and services or to arrange for a free trial, please contact us on: 020 8502 7344, email:
info@groupcall.com or visit our website:
www.groupcall.com
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