NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — During the back-to-school rush, parents and students understandably have a lot of questions about times, places, and plans at school.
A phone call or a few minutes on the Internet can usually answer most of those questions, but some districts are trying to make the process much faster than that.
Noblesville Schools are one example. The district, which is in the middle of a long renovation and expansion plan for several of its buildings, also has a “construction” project of a much different type: the schools are building toward a future full of mobile apps.
Working with a company called Schoolwires, the district has its own comprehensive information app. The app offers instant, on-the-go access to things families most often look sit down and look up on the district’s web page: lunch menus, game times, holiday calendars and more.
“We try to take those big things the community wants to learn about and put them in the app,” Andrew Swickheimer, Noblesville Schools’ Director of Technology said. “We’re really fortunate to be one of the few schools in the state of Indiana to have this in place.”
While a district-wide app may just seem like a logical next step for schools, Noblesville is also encouraging its students to get creative and enter the world of apps. There is a new “App Club” at Noblesville High School, and students have already entered competitions with apps they’ve developed.
Junior Zack Baker helped develop an app that could radically re-shape a daily school ritual.
“I worked with a couple of other friends and we built an app that allows hall passes to be digital,” he said.
You can watch Baker’s explanation of the app here.
“Teachers are really excited because it eliminates a lot of work on their part because they don’t have to spend a lot of time writing passes and stuff like that,” Baker says. “Students like it, too, because they like technology and it’s a cool new thing to have.”
The hall pass app is exactly the kind of work Christy Steffen, the school’s in-house, full-time technology instructional coach, encourages.
“Our teachers are amazing and always looking for new and innovative ways to be inspired by our kids,” Steffen explains. “So we can pull out more of those kids who have this kind of talent and cultivate it in our schools.”