Remind (formerly known as Remind 101) has added a couple of helpful new features to their free text messaging service. First, you can now use the mobile apps to send structured feedback. According to the press release that was sent to me you can now use Remind to send questions or quizzes, track attendance for trips, gather votes or collect stars from your classes.

The second significant update coming to Remind on August 28th will allow you record and send personalized voice greetings to students and their parents. Make sure you update the app on August 28th to take advantage of this option.

Readers outside of the United States and Canada will be happy to know that Remind can be used outside of North America. The Remind app can be used to message through wi-fi, but not through SMS. This feature was released a few weeks ago.

Applications for Education
Text messages are opened and read much faster than emails or voicemails and Remind capitalizes on the pattern by allowing you to send text messages to students and their parents. The service is an opt-in service so students and parents only receive messages from you if they want to. Remind also protects privacy by masking the real cell phone numbers of all parties involved in the messaging.

Clarification at 8:27pm: I originally published this post at 5:47pm on the basis of a press release from Nectar PR, Remind’s PR firm. The information they gave me did not indicate that the features listed above wouldn’t be available until August 28th. I should have done a better job of verifying that the voice update was live right now. My apologies for any confusion.