The Internet of Everything Connected Classroom Starts with Startups

When I think of a traditional elementary or secondary classroom, I think of colorful bulletin boards, desks, pencils and neat piles of books and paper. As students all over the country return back to school, it’s interesting to think about how the classrooms we enjoyed as students (back in the day!) have evolved to include electronic white boards, tablets and other high-tech collaboration tools.

While this technology has fundamentally changed the landscape of the modern classroom, the Internet of Everything is driving education-focused start-ups to enable more connections in and outside the classroom than ever before. Here’s a look at a few start-ups that are revolutionizing how students, teachers and parents connect and learn.

Remind101 – Gone are the days of students forgetting to bring home a note from their teacher. Remind101 is a free text messaging platform that allows teachers to better communicate with parents and students. According to their website, teachers and students never see each other’s phone numbers, which makes it a secure and safe way for everyone to communicate.

Class Dojo – Recently featured in top-tier publications such as Wall Street Journal and Wired, Class Dojo is a classroom application that monitors student behavior in real-time. From your tablet, smartphone or laptop, teachers can easily award feedback points for behavior in class and create reports on classroom behavior to share with parents.

Edmodo – Launched with the plan to merge how students live their lives and how they learn, Edmodo is a Facebook look-alike collaboration tool that lets students and teachers connect in new, and strikingly familiar ways. Teachers are able to not only connect with students on an individual and class level in a secure way, but Edmodo networks can be built to include parents, administrators and more.

As you drop your students off for their first day of school, remember to take a look at the technology in the classroom. Thanks to the combined power of the Internet of Everything and start-ups with a passion of enhancing learning, the classroom will never be the same again.

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