SMART. INNOVATIVE. SIMPLE. INTRODUCING BACKPACK.

Transcription

1 SMART. INNOVATIVE. SIMPLE. INTRODUCING BACKPACK

2 Backpack is the new online homework planner aimed at revolutionising the way homework is set. It is available for students, teachers and parents via an app or on our website. It will change your school.

3 WHAT IS BACKPACK? Backpack is an online homework planner. Students, Parents and Teachers can access it through our dedicated apps or via any computer. As schools move into the digital age, with computers in almost every classroom, the homework planner has been left behind. The problem with a lot of software in the education sector is that it appears messy. Other companies try to cover too many different problems, leading to complicated processes that are often left unused. Backpack is the opposite. We have focused all our efforts on solving one problem facing educators in the UK and around the world today: Homework. Our apps and online portal bring homework into the 21st century. Backpack allows teachers to spend more time teaching students, whilst our app takes care of the distribution of homework. A teacher sets a piece of homework on Backpack and it instantly appears on every student s phone or computer. Parents can interact with Backpack too keeping them involved with their child s education every day. It s an excellent idea on so many levels. John Didymus - Headteacher Ridgeway School Plymouth

4 SETTING HOMEWORK HAS NEVER BEEN SO EASY! Teachers simply click Add Homework on one of our mobile apps or online. You then select a class and fill in the details. You can also add a target grade and any supporting documents/materials. It takes seconds. Backpack takes care of the distribution for you. Walking around the classroom checking student planners is history! DESIGNED WITH EVERYONE IN MIND When we designed Backpack we realised that not all our users would be as technologically capable as others. So we created a 3- Step- Rule. Nothing takes more than 3 steps: from setting homework, to marking it or asking a question. It s all so simple.

5 Superb idea that streamlines many of the tasks teachers are required to do. Involves parents in their child s education and removes existing issues with planners. Siobhan Currie English Teacher - Plymouth College

6 MAKING LIFE EASIER FOR TEACHERS We understand the pressures that modern life brings. Teachers lead increasingly busy lives, as do their students. It takes time to set homework tasks in the conventional way, and this time is valuable. Teachers can focus more on what matters - Teaching. Using Backpack saves time and effort when setting homework and you can also upload resources too reducing paper consumption. Teachers no longer have to worry about ensuring everyone is clear on what their homework is and checking that students have it written in their planners. Homework tasks can be set anywhere, not only saving time but also helping teachers who are ill or away from school. Teachers can make sure their classes stay on track. FOR SENIOR MANAGEMENT Senior Management and Department Heads no longer have to gather and analyse data from multiple sources to find out how students or staff are doing. Collecting the relevant information is time efficient and hassle free. Communication with parents becomes more accurate even if a department head or senior manager does not teach the student directly.

7 AND MORE SIMPLE FOR STUDENTS As a student it s so easy to lose track of what they have to do. But with Backpack they can be confident that what they see on our smartphone apps or our website is exactly the task they have been set. If they have any questions they can simply ask a question on Backpack. Teachers can reply to their question on their smartphone, or through the web platform with ease. If a teacher uploads marks to Backpack for a homework task, students get useful feedback instantly and they can always go back over previous tasks, making sure they keep doing the right things and improving where they went wrong. FOR PARENTS Parents can check their child s progress on the go. No longer are parents required to go over planners or contact staff directly. When parents do interact with staff the discussion can be far more progress orientated. Staff don t need to update parents on a student s progress, as they already have access to the information via Backpack. Staff can spend the limited time they have working with parents to improve a student s performance.

8 This is the tool we ve been looking for. There are so many benefits. Helping teachers and parents monitor progress and organisation is something, traditionally, we find very time consuming. I can t wait to lead in that field. Jonathan Shields Head of Sixth Form - Plymouth College

9 SAFE. SECURE. RELIABLE. We take our responsibilities to schools and their students very seriously. All data is stored behind firewalls on our super reliable UK servers. User safety while using Backpack is essential. Students can connect with teachers through our Q&A feature but this is not an instant messaging platform. Teachers can send a message only if they have been sent one first. Administrators can read all questions and answers on the system. HAVE A QUESTION? NO PROBLEM Students have all been there. You have an assignment due in three days time but no lesson with that specific teacher before it s due. And you re stuck. With Backpack a student can ask a teacher a question using their phone or by going online and the teacher can get back to them when it s convenient. The teacher can even make the answer available to the rest of the class if it would be useful for other students.

10 USEFUL STATISTICS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Backpack records and produces a variety of statistics based on student and class performance. These include: Punctuality of Homework Progression in individual subjects Average mark/grade received Comparison of performance in different subjects TRACK PROGRESS WITH EASE Students can see their progress anywhere. They can find out what their current tasks are or how they did in previous homework tasks. Parents who lead busy lives no longer have to check planners or ask teachers how their child is doing. They just have to login to Backpack, using our app or website, and it s all there. Teachers and School Management have a digital platform from which they can analyse any student s performance. This helps everyone make sure students get the most out of their classes.

11 Backpack improves everyone s experience in education. Teachers, Senior Management, Parents and, most importantly, Students are brought together on one platform. It s all so simple.

12 GREAT VALUE, MASSIVE SAVINGS Backpack costs schools just 4 per student per year. This is in conjunction with a one- off setup fee. This represents remarkable value for such a complete homework solution. You get exactly what you pay for: No hidden charges, no extras you don t need. Choosing to use our multi- platform app could result in considerable cost savings: paper planners and diaries are a perennial drain on school funds. A moderately sized school would save around 2000 by choosing Backpack. Backpack: cost effective, more efficient and better for the environment. WE ARE HERE FOR YOU We know how frustrating it is when things don t go to plan. If any of our users are having a problem they can send us a message or call us. We have a dedicated, free, support line where you can leave a message 24/7 and we aim to respond to all messages within 1 working day. There are no stupid questions and we encourage users to ask us questions or suggest new ideas. Backpack is here for you.

13 WE WORK WITH YOU It s a daunting task to buy technology in the education sector. Backpack clears the first hurdle as it represents great value for money. However we are just as concerned with the second obstacle. Support. Getting the best out of the technology is just as important, but it requires both the school and the supplier to work in tandem. Often suppliers are more concerned with the sale than the support that follows it. Not us. We will work with you to get Backpack set up in your school - from gathering the required data from your management system to providing technical support to those who have any queries. SO WHAT NEXT? We hope you have enjoyed learning about Backpack and what it has to offer you and your school. The Backpack team would love to hear from you. You can get in touch with us over the phone, send us a message on our website or drop us an . In the meantime please take a look at to find out even more This is a National Rate number. Minutes are inclusive with most landline or mobile call packages.

14 Hi, A LITTLE BIT ABOUT US I m Alistair and I m the founder of Backpack. I have just started university having finished school earlier this year. As students my friends and I noticed something. Over our time at school we had witnessed the revolution of the smart board and the introduction of computers into every classroom. We observed the switchover from paper registers to a digital system and then even the integration of fingerprint recognition into that process. As all this change took place in our school our own relationship with technology was changing simultaneously. We had gone from one of us having a mobile phone when we were aged 10 to every pocket containing a smart phone by the age of 18. And yet whilst these advances in educational and personal technology occurred side by side with one another nothing bound them together. Then it hit us. Our homework planners were one of the few things to stay exactly the same throughout this transitional period. We delved into our pockets, plucked out our phones and searched the app stores to see if it had been done. To our surprise no one had created a solely homework focused product accessible on multiple platforms that integrated all the stakeholders in a school. There were some larger companies, part of the VLE market segment, which had a homework aspect within their broader product but these were difficult and costly to set up and had very little take up among teachers, students or parents. At one school we spoke to, only 1% of parents (that s 8 parents in this case) had ever used one of these services. The school laid blame at the complexity of the broad product they were using and the lack of access it offered on different devices. Backpack was born. Our products are something we can be proud of. Professionally designed and programmed from the ground up based on the core principal of simplicity for the user and a complete focus on homework they are different from anything else in education today. With input from students, teachers, parents and senior management we have created a product that can complement the paper planner or replace it completely. The Backpack team also consists of Simon and Aaron. Simon is a multiple business owner and has worked at a senior corporate level for over 25 years and provides Backpack with his invaluable commercial experience and expertise. Aaron is the CTO of a leading Irish start- up and has worked creating mobile apps, server infrastructure, tools and web applications at companies like Intel, Audi and Telefonica. Aaron s technological skills are responsible for all the clever things our apps and online platform can do.

15 Backpack Innovations Ltd 2014