Kleinspiration: Highlighting @Remind101: Ignite at #ISTE12

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Highlighting @Remind101: Ignite at #ISTE12

Friends at First Sight

Last week I had the pleasure of traveling to San Diego for the International Society for Technology in Education conference. My husband, Jason, and I arrived Saturday afternoon. Though we didn't make it in time for Social Ed Con, we were able to attend the after party they hosted that evening. It was during this event where I met my friend, Brett, for the first time.

Brett and I have known each other for nearly a year. We have Skyped on several occasions, chatted on the phone, send text messages, and exchanged numerous emails. Brett and I first started talking professionally about his educational start up, remind101. It was important to him to consider the voice of a teacher as he developed his product. Brett spoke to many teachers during this process. As the conversations became more frequent and Brett was getting closer to his product launch date, it became more difficult for me to schedule our Skype conversations during the evening when my husband could watch our children.

I was super excited about helping Brett (and his brother, David). As a consequence, our Skype conversations evolved into family chats with Brett. My four year old, Jacob, would often hop into my lap and say hello. My husband, Jason, even offered advice while passing by the view of the webcam. Riley, my seven year old, especially enjoyed offering her opinion of what direction Brett should take with remind101. It was a neat experience talking with a guy in Pal Alto, CA about a product that didn't exist yet. It also felt great knowing that someone cared about what I had to say (something I try to always offer my own children and students).

When Brett arrived at the Social Ed Con event Saturday evening, we immediately hugged and started chatting like best friends from high school. Jason even found out that he and Brett had the same major and academic adviser while attending Michigan State University. The event was a lot of fun, and we all ran into many people we've been connecting with over the web for the past year. Below, you can see us with our good friend, Eric (from ClassConnect) and our new friends from MentorMob, a Chicago based company.

@KleinErin @SuperBad_ @MMVincanity @EricSimons40 @BrettKopf

Remind101 is a company I believe is a great resource for teachers. There are many creatives uses beyond simply texting your students. The following are a few ways teachers are using remind101: sending weekly spelling words out to parents, reminders to students about upcoming projects and assessments, updates for schedule changes, notifications regarding events and dismissal times, field trip reminders, and real time feedback to parents when students are out of the classroom. It's free, easy and safe to use.

When preparing for my recent Ignite Talk at ISTE, I knew remind101 was a company I had to highlight. Ignite presentations are unique in nature. Each presenter has five minutes to present 20 slides. The slides are on an automatic loop so the presentation continues regardless of the presenter's pace. You can view a portion of my Ignite Talk below. I've captured the section that includes remind101.

Here is a brief video put together to share what Ignite participants thought of the format:

If you haven't signed up for a free remind101 account, I encourage you to click here and see how this tool could be a resource for you this fall. I frequently check out their blog to stay up to date on the new features. They also love to highlight teachers on their blog. If you have a story to share about how you're using this tool, contact Brett!

Now that I downloaded the free app, remind101 is even easier to use: anytime, anywhere!