One of the hardest things for educators to do – especially when I was in high school, a time long, long ago before everyone had a smartphone glued to their face – is to send information to their students in a quick manner. Perhaps to change the homework assignment, or update students on the date and time of a test, or send out emergency information. Email is not always the fastest form of communication, especially with grade-school students. Remind101 thinks that the answer to this problem is by utilizing text messages; the company just banked a $3.5M round, so someone else shares their view of the solution.

The concept is pretty simple. According to the Remind101’s info section:

Remind101 provides a safe way for teachers to text message students and stay in touch with parents for free.

Teachers use remind101.com, the Android app or the iOS app to send texts to students and parents phones without ever having to share their own phone number.

Students and parents also never have to share their phone number with teachers. Ever.

Teachers never see their students’ phone numbers. Students never see theirs. Remind101 is a one-way broadcast system. Teachers cannot send individual messages to students or parents, and students/parents cannot reply.

We had a chance to speak with the Remind101 representatives at the 2014 FETC. We were told all about the concept and some of the use cases:

Check out all of our coverage of  the 2014 Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC)