Show HN: ClassPager lets teachers send reminders and run live Q&A over SMS.
70 points by mahipal 13 years ago | 38 comments- biggitybones 13 years agoFirst - the site: I love the simplicity. The concept is clear immediately.
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!
- mahipal 13 years agoThanks! And I love that line about the "personal connection" without breaching privacy -- I'll have to use that.
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.
- yequalsx 13 years agoMy experience with LMS providers is that they are 10 years behind the times. I submitted a bug report to the one my college uses. The system would change custom javascript code and I couldn't use embed tags. Now they have a workaround for this.
- yequalsx 13 years ago
- mahipal 13 years ago
- ednc 13 years agoNice Concept. We're just starting the school process (4yr old), and I'm amazed to see all the use of tech in schools these days. When I was in school, we were lucky to have an Apple ][ in the library!
*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.
- 2mur 13 years agoNice site. Since I'm currently viewing this on IE7 (shoot me now), I can see that you have an error in you conditional IE comment so I can see it at the top of the page:
should be:<!--[if IE lt 9 ]> <![endif]--><!--[if lt IE 9]> css <![endif]-->- mahipal 13 years agoThanks for catching that.
- mahipal 13 years ago
- reason 13 years agoThis is really neat. A few of my relatives are high school teachers that I'm sure will love this. I'll forward it to tem.
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.
- mahipal 13 years agoThank you!
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.
- dylangs1030 13 years agoI'll forward it too, I know several high school teachers. Are you targeting secondary school teachers or college professors as well?
- mahipal 13 years agoThanks! 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.
- mahipal 13 years ago
- mahipal 13 years ago
- ThomPete 13 years agoThis is exactly how you sell this kind of services. No fancy web design, no over complex messagin, no geek speak. Just straight to the point communication. (I say this as a designer)
- mahipal 13 years agoThanks Thomas! I love your designs (and http://www.weekendhacker.net too :)
- mahipal 13 years ago
- joshmlewis 13 years agoI think this is really awesome and definitely headed in the right direction as far as getting teachers more involved with technology, however from my experience in several different schools, most have been really strict on cell phone use during school and teacher/student communication outside of school.
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.
- mahipal 13 years agoYes, 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.
- joshmlewis 13 years agoYeah, 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.
- joshmlewis 13 years ago
- mahipal 13 years ago
- DavidTO1 13 years agoDo you have any traction yet?
My friend does the same thing http://www.tophatmonocle.com/
- __float 13 years agoThat service seems to compete more with http://polleverywhere.com than this.
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.
- mahipal 13 years agoYes, there are many different angles.
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.
- vyrotek 13 years agoFor what it's worth... I sent your site to my sister who teaches highschool biology and she replied:
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.
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- mahipal 13 years ago
- mahipal 13 years agoYes, we have classrooms using the service.
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.
- __float 13 years ago
- mattcrest 13 years agoMy wife is a middle school teacher and created a system similar to this using a Gmail account. She creates groups for each class, then emails to their SMS address (phonenumber@att.net or similar).
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!
- mahipal 13 years agoThanks!
If she or other teachers have any questions, they're welcome to email me: m [at] classpager.com.
- mattcrest 13 years agoSounds 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.
- mattcrest 13 years ago
- webwanderings 13 years agoHow does creating a contact group in Gmail connects it to a SMS number? I am curious.
- mattcrest 13 years agoSorry for the slow reply, but, that in itself doesn't connect it to an SMS number. That's just so she can contact a class as a whole, rather than individually.
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.
- mattcrest 13 years ago
- mahipal 13 years ago
- timjahn 13 years agoI like the clear, easy to understand site. Sounds like a useful product.
Are you marketing this to teachers or the schools?
- mahipal 13 years agoWe'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.
- timjahn 13 years agoI'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.
Depends on how passionate the teacher is often.
- timjahn 13 years ago
- mahipal 13 years ago
- ccorcoran 13 years agoReally awesome application! I passed it along to a couple of my teacher/professor friends.
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'.
- mahipal 13 years agoThanks! Yeah, we hate those clickers too.
- mahipal 13 years ago
- 2arrs2ells 13 years agoGreat UI, and I love the signup interface. Just emailed it out to a bunch of my teacher friends.
- mahipal 13 years agoThanks! 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.
- mahipal 13 years ago
- sumukh1 13 years agoTeachers are looking for stuff like this so the key to success is spreading the word. There certainly are competitors in your space (ClassParrot etc)
Just curious. Why did you choose to use Twilo as your SMS provider?
- dylangs1030 13 years agoHere's what I think:
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?
- mahipal 13 years agoGood feedback -- thanks.
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?
- dylangs1030 13 years agoActually, 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.
- dylangs1030 13 years ago
- mahipal 13 years ago
- briandear 13 years agoThis would be a great feature to integrate with ClassCloud, which is a cloud based classroom management system. I hope the class pager guys release an API! Would make my life easier.
- u48998 13 years agoVery nice idea.
What about security, privacy etc? Who else sees the messages going back and forth and who retains the archive?