School engagement and community building are crucial factors for the success and well-being of students, teachers, and parents. It refers to the degree of involvement, interest, and commitment that students and their families have in their education and school community. However, in today’s fast-paced and digitalized world, school engagement and community building are increasingly challenging.
One emerging technology that can help schools foster engagement is the real-time sharing of candid photos taken at school events. New AI-powered platforms allow schools to capture and share photos of their students, with the student and their parents, instantly and securely. Real-time photo sharing can strengthen the connection between the school and the home and increase students’ motivation and pride.
In this article, we will examine the importance of school engagement and community building and how real-time photo sharing can enhance it.
The Importance of School Engagement
School engagement is considered the degree to which students identify with and value the results of their schooling and their level of participation in academic and non-academic school activities. It is a multidimensional construct that includes behavioral, emotional, and cognitive aspects. School engagement is important for several reasons:
- Research has shown that engaged students tend to have higher grades, test scores, retention rates, and graduation rates than disengaged students.
- Engaged students are also more likely to pursue higher education and lifelong learning.
- Engaged students and their parents tend to have more positive attitudes and perceptions of the school, its staff, and its programs. They are also more likely to communicate and collaborate with the school and support its goals and values.
- The role of parents and the community in school engagement is crucial. Parents and caretakers are the primary source of support and guidance for students. Increased engagement strengthens the relationship between school and family.
How AI is changing the game for content management and delivery at schools
With the advent of content management platforms powered by facial recognition and, in some cases, numbered jersey recognition, schools can now automatically curate all the photos they gather from their staff and community into a single, secure, cloud-based gallery. The technology then automatically sorts photos by a student. This opens up amazing possibilities for yearbook administrators as it makes identifying the best candid photos of each student a breeze. However, as we’re examining in this blog, it also allows every student and their families to receive every photo the student appears in, within seconds of their being published. With a platform like WaldoSchools, these photos are delivered to families via text message or push notification alerts from a mobile app. As we’ll dive into below, this has a meaningful impact on a school’s community building and family engagement.
How does AI-powered photo sharing enhance engagement and strengthen a school’s community?
Real-time, mobile delivery of photos from school events enhances school engagement and strengthens a school’s community in several ways:
Strengthens the connection between students
AI-powered photo sharing from school events allows students to receive priceless memories and build a collection of their most memorable times at school. Whether it is the annual boat race, the homecoming parade, the science fair, or their favorite field trip, sharing every photo a student captured with them, via text or app alert, as soon as they are uploaded, increases overall engagement. It also increases the bonding between students as they can see themselves and their peers in action, and receive recognition and feedback from fellow students. This can boost their self-esteem and confidence, motivate them to participate more in school, encourage them to express their creativity and personality, and showcase their talents and skills
Provides parents a window into their student’s school life
Whether it is prom, homecoming, or just recounting yesterday’s activities at school, we all know how notoriously bad kids are when it comes to sharing with their parents. And in the increasingly dual-income families we live in today, parents often can’t make school events and feel very removed from their child’s schooling. Real-time photo sharing from school events can bridge this gap by providing schools with an effortless and automated way to showcase their student’s achievements and activities to parents who are starved for this connection. This window into their student’s world can create the bridge they need to foster a dialogue about school increase the parent’s connection to their school community and increase student motivation and pride as parents show more interest.
Provides teachers a path to connect with students and parents
This new technology allows teachers to showcase the value they provide their students every day. It also allows yearbook administrators and school marketers to find great content more easily. The days of school photos being squirreled away on the hard drive of one staffer’s PC, only seeing the light of day if they make the yearbook, are over. Today, this content is more valuable than ever as families balance work and school and long for a connection to their school.
A Recommended Solution
WaldoSchools is a leading AI-powered solution for schools that are looking for more secure content management while also seeking to get more value from the content generated at school events. Waldo provides schools with a state-of-the-art, cloud-based content management platform and families with a mobile app for viewing and sharing all their students’ memories from school. It is packed full of features that save schools time while dramatically increasing the value of a school’s content. It can be a significant driver of engagement and strengthen a school’s community. Some of the cutting-edge features are:
- Crowdsourcing with moderation: Waldo has focused on how to provide schools with the best of both worlds, an easy ability for teachers, parents, and students to upload the photos they capture at school events with the ability to moderate the publishing of photos by contributor.
- Facial recognition: Waldo delivers secure technology that matches user-submitted (or school-generated) selfies to photos in an album.
- Numbered jersey recognition: For sports, when faces aren’t easily seen, Waldo uses proprietary numbered jersey recognition to find and deliver athletes’ photos.
- Mobile photo delivery: Photos are delivered to each person in the photos right on their mobile phones. Fun, friendly text alerts or app notifications are sent every time a new photo is found.
- Available on all platforms: Waldo plays nice across devices and platforms, making it straightforward to view, download, and share pics from iOS, Android, or the web.
- Student dashboard: School administrators are provided a student dashboard where candid photos are automatically tagged, organized, and sorted by student.
- Advanced security feature: Waldo features an innovative tool to help schools meet their obligations surrounding protected students. Waldo’s Do Not Publish allows schools to identify protected students on the platform with a reference image and Waldo scans every image uploaded and prohibits them from being published. This is an incredible time-saving tool and helps reduce a school’s risk of accidentally publishing a photo in the yearbook, social media, or website.
- Easy family sharing: Families can easily share their students’ photostreams with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and others right from the app. Anytime a photo of the student is found, everyone is notified with a link to view it in the app.
- Waldograms: Pick a favorite photo from a school activity and quickly send it as a postcard to family and friends. Delivered by Waldo via USPS within 4 – 6 business days. Schools can also use this tool from their admin interface and send out holiday cards, birthday cards, or cards for announcements or recognition.
Conclusion
Real-time photo sharing is a powerful and promising tool for enhancing school engagement and creating a stronger connection with families. Real-time photo sharing can bring many benefits to school personnel, students, and parents. Most notably, it drives increased parental involvement, enhanced student morale and recognition, and strengthens ties to the community. Check out Waldo Schools if you’re looking to get more value from your school’s content while enhancing security and community at the same time.
