Sycamore Education

Sycamore Education is proud to announce a new web application for use with mobile devices! This application is meant to help parents access vital information about their students, while giving parents the flexibility to use pretty much any mobile device available.

 

 

What is the difference between a “web app” and a normal app?

A web app is an application that is accessed from your phone or tablets mobile browser. A normal or ‘native’ app is downloaded from an app store like iTunes or the Android Market Place.

Why did you not create a normal app?

Native apps only work on a specific phone type: ie, apps written for the iPhone only work on iOS products. If we had gone this route, we would have had to create multiple versions of the same app to work on all types of devices. This approach would have led to increased production cost and time.

By developing a web application, we’ve broadened our reach and reduced our cost. Our web app can be accessed by almost any web enabled device out there (phones, tablets, etc). Sycamore’s philosophy has always been to keep our costs down so we can in turn keep our product super affordable. By building a web app, we’re letting the largest number of people take advantage of it at a fraction of the cost!

But I really want that icon on my phones screen to click on!

We can do that! Both iOS device and Android devices allow you to bookmark a web page - http://m.sycamoreeducation.com/ - and create a shortcut for that bookmark on your home screen. We even have a lovely icon that shows up for you. This way, any time you want to view our app, just click the icon and away you go!

Who can use this web app?

Right now, all parents of Sycamore students will be able to log in and access school news, events, their student’s grades and their current financial information from the school. In the near future we will open the app up to students themselves to look at their grades and current homework. After that, teachers will be enabled to access their classroom resources and eventually will be able to access their Pass-A-Notes, grade assignments and take attendance from the application!

From what devices can I get access to this application?

The beauty of a web application is that pretty much every modern mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Windows Phone 7 devices, etc) has a browser capable of accessing the app. Even your desktop computer can pull it up if you really wanted to (just be warned- the app was made for use with a very small screen, so it may look a little goofy on a huge computer monitor).

You probably already know that Sycamore Education is a great student information system (SIS).  It's also a complete school administration system (SAS).  And it's a powerful customer relationship manager (CRM).  

Now we're adding another acronyn to the mix: LMS.  That's right, Sycamore now includes an integrated (and quite nifty) learning management system.  

Check out this screen shot:

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Now teachers have some really nice tools which are integrated into every classroom homepage.  

Teachers can set up a syllabus for the class, a schedule, and include class policies.  And teachers can easily customize and configure these features to suit the specific needs of the given class.  

As I mentioned, these features are seamlessly integrated into the Sycamore Education system.  Which will lead to the topic of my next blog post: Don't Even Thank About Purchasing a Stand-Alone SIS.  

A little foreshadowing here.  I can't tell you how many clients I've talked to who are considering purchasing a stand-alone gradebook, a stand-alone curriculum manager, or a stand alone SIS.  Don't do this!  The days of stand-alone products are numbered.  Why would you want the headache of trying to manage several products, while trying to manage an entire school?   I'll elaborate in my next post.