I just heard about this app (Bloomz) for parent communication and am interested in it. It looks wonderful in that parents can choose how to get their notifications (email, text, etc.). However, I'd love to hear from anyone who actually has used it. Specifically, I am interested to know your experience. Is it easy for all parties involved? Is it better than regular email (I'll continue to keep my website)? Do you recommend it? Anyone?
I haven't yet, but I'm evaluating options. Check on Teachercast.net and see if they did a show on this app or on parent-teacher communication apps in general.
I switched last year to Bloomz from Remind. I loved it. The parents and admin loved it as well. You can send private messages, whole group messages, pictures, and even have student portfolios. The part that sold me was that parents can choose the language they get messages in and they can sign up for parent conference spots that you set. There is a behavior component and volunteer sign up.
All of those things sound good. My issue is even though I have a web page and I email parents every day, I have noticed a trend in the last couple of years: If it doesn't go straight to the parent's phone, they don't always check. This looks appealing to me as parents can choose how they get my notifications. Do you know if there are any limitation into how many parents you can add to your account (I would be doing the free version...not sure there is a paid version, lol...just assuming there is).
I don't know if there's a limit. I had 63 signed up since I had both parents signed up for some kids and a few administrators. There is a new paid option. I'm not sure if I'm going to upgrade or keep the free version.
Have you seen this? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d-4PDAFtmTYymutoERe__oaxif-bF8gRyXzb0rkC2BM/edit
If you send a message on bloomz, can parents read it right there in the email or text, or do they have to click a link to view the message? I debated switching from email to class dojo for newsletters, but decided against it because they have to click to view the message on the website or app.
Oh, well that sounds great. I don't have my student list yet (I return Thursday), but we cap at 23, so it sounds like there shouldn't be a problem with how many parents can be added.
That's excellent! That's what I want. I think if it goes straight as a text, they will be more apt to read what I send out.
Next question... Does anyone use this and class dojo? Our kids also have logins for reading and math, plus parents have access to the gradebook online. Do they have to create another username for Bloomz?
I just signed up for Bloomz last week after hearing about it on another thread. I've already used to set up home visit conferences with students' families. I set up the first round of conferences through email, and it is SO much easier doing it through Bloomz. There is a paid version, but I didn't see any additional features that would be very beneficial to me, at least in my first year of use, so I'm sticking with the free version for now. I will continue to use Remind, as well, but only because I had already told families about it before I learned about Bloomz. Parents can read the messages in the email or text that they receive, as well as logging in through the app/website. I don't use Class Dojo anymore, because I no longer use it as my behavior management system.
So when you initially set it up, how do you connect parents? Do you just need their email and you send them the link and a code? Or, how does that work?
Yes, there were a few options to do it: either automatically send them invites through an email address contact book (like Gmail - which is what my school uses), type in email addresses and send invites individually, or import a list of email addresses from a document stored on your computer. I opted to type them in and send them individually. This was more time-consuming than connecting through Gmail, but I think it's important to keep parent email addresses confidential (I usually use the Bcc option when sending emails). I tested the Bloomz invite beforehand with my own email addresses and learned that, if I used the Gmail option, it would allow each parent to see the email address of every other parent who was invited. Since I didn't want that, the only other way to do it was to send them one at a time (or two if they were a married couple - I assumed it was okay for them to see the other's email address). When you send the invites, it will send an email with a message to the parents, indicating to them what the invitation is for. Bloomz provides a standard message or you can customize it. It also gives them a link and to register their own account, automatically connected to your class. As an alternate option, I believe it was also possible to simply send out a link and code from your regular email (like you would with any mass email you send to parents). Then they could choose to go sign up and create an account from that. I opted to go through Bloomz because it seemed to me that they might be more likely to sign up that way, knowing that I had already added them to the class. All they had to do was click the link to accept. So far, I've only had two parents actually "join" the class, and I've had four parents use it to sign up for conferences. We're still three weeks away from school beginning, though, so I'm hoping that number will increase when the students are back in class.
Oh, I think I will test it out and send it to my email too to see how it would look on both ends. Thanks for all that detailed information! I always get so nervous when I'm about to start something new like this. I don't like not knowing all the ends and outs because it makes it difficult to explain to the parents, but it also makes me worry that something might go wrong with it. It seems like it has the potential to be a fantastic tool that I don't want to not try it because I don't necessarily understand it, yet. Thanks again! I'm going to go do some testing with it now.
You're welcome! I have the same concerns as you! For that reason, I decided to use it primarily for sign-ups, announcements, and a class calendar this year. I turned off the parent-to-parent communication feature, and I don't plan to use the student portfolios this year. I doubt that I'll ever use the behavior feature, but it's possible I could change my mind down the road, I guess. I made sure that I deleted anything about those features when sending communication to parents. I don't want to overwhelm myself! If all goes well, I figure that I can always announce the features - particularly the portfolio feature - later in the year or try it next year.
Well, I tried my other email that I hadn't used to sign up with and I got that one! Maybe there was a conflict with that other email.
Yes, that is my understanding. As an alternate, they can also download the app to their phone and get alerts. Here is the info from the FAQ: "How do parents receive notifications from the teacher? Is there a texting option? Notifications from the Teacher are sent to Parents in multiple ways: Via the phone app notifications system (iOS or Android) Via email Via Text or SMS (read more about it here) Via in-app badges (receive notifications inside Bloomz app as well) Parents and Teachers can always choose how they want to receive their notifications and which notifications they want to receive in these ways under Settings -> Email Notifications "
So for anyone who has used both, how does it compare to ClassDojo? I just saw that this also has a behavior management system incorporated? Pros and cons?
I signed up for an account. To me, it is not intuitive at all. I also have an account with SeeSaw that I was contemplating using, and I had a portfolio item posted vith audio, video, text in about 2 minutes. Bloomz...meh...not sold on it yet. I get the idea with using 1 app instead of two, but I don't mind using both SeeSaw and Remind; Bloomz looks like too much stuff. I'll fiddle with it and see if I can be turned on to it.
Okay....I chickened out. I am not using Bloomz, just my regular email and class website. I figured all my parents get email notifications on their phone, and I use Google for everything else (so I won't be using the features in Bloomz), so there's no real need.
I used Bloomz last year and hated it. It started out fantastic, but then every time they would update something the app would be down for a week + just not working. I would contact them regarding it and they would just tell me to use the website and not the app, even though the app was much more user-friendly than the website. I was this frustrated with it, I can only imagine how the parents felt.
