An electronic diary for a school: what it has to do

A paper diary answers one question: what grade was given. Parents and teachers care about other questions: why that grade, what the child did not understand, and what to do now. An electronic diary is only worth having if it answers those.

What it has to do

  • The grade the same day, without writing it twice. If a teacher has to enter the same thing in the register and in the system, they will stop filling in the second one.
  • The topic next to the grade. “7” says nothing; “7 — comparing fractions” does.
  • Homework and timetable in the same place. A parent should not have to open three sites.
  • One parent account for all their children, even when they go to different schools.
  • A line to the teacher on the same page, visible to the school but not to the student.

Questions to ask when choosing

  1. Where is the children's data stored, and who can access it?
  2. What happens when a student moves to another school — does the history go with them?
  3. Does it work on a phone with nothing to install?
  4. Are there ads, or is data sold?

A diary without the lesson is half a diary

The most useful diary fills itself in: the student solves an exercise, the answer is checked, and the result lands on their knowledge map by topic. The teacher sees the weak topic and gives the final grade; the parent sees the same.

In TutorVoice the diary, homework, grades and the parent page are parts of one system: see the parent and student pages or enter the demo school as a parent.