I’ve been using e-mail to send my students last-minute reminders or updates to our schedules, but none of them check them in time. Do you have any recommendations for quick group communication?

A: Remind and Bloomz are two apps that allow for group chats and are known in the educational world for getting messages out to parents and students without anyone revealing their phone numbers. There are many apps out there that allow you to push a message out, but it’s that group-conversation function that can be hard to find. Another app you could try that’s not necessarily specialized for educators but accomplishes the same purpose is GroupMe. I know it’s tempting to just text your students in order to get in touch with them quickly, but for your own safety and legal protection, it’s vitally important you use an app that allows your administration to see and document the logs of your communication.