Sferum introduced new features that will make lectures and study communication even more effective. In the updated version of the Sferum educational profile in VK Messenger, teachers and schoolchildren have access to an interactive whiteboard for collaboration, session rooms within calls, the Electronic Diary mini-application and other useful options. Thanks to the service’s collaboration with teachers and management representatives of educational institutions, updates emerged and their current needs and feedback were taken into account.
Session rooms for group work
Thanks to the new function of breakout rooms, teachers will be able to organize comfortable work in groups. For example, in virtual rooms, students will be able to look for ways to solve a task in teams and present their ideas in a plenary discussion. This feature is available in the web version of the school profile and on Android devices.
Collaborative interactive whiteboard
The beta version of the interactive whiteboard for collaboration appeared in the Sferum training profile in VK Messenger. It allows the teacher to give tasks and visually explain new material, and students can leave answers on the board and solve problems online. This feature is already available in the web version of the education profile and on Android devices.
Information channels
Users of the Sferum education profile in VK Messenger now have the option to create a channel. In them, you can quickly report on important events in class and school life, such as upcoming holidays, Olympics and competitions, and get feedback in the form of reactions. In addition, channels of cognitive and educational communities have emerged in the education profile, which contain useful information from education, science, history, space, animal world, culture and other fields.
Teacher’s special situation
Teachers who confirm their status are awarded a special badge of distinction (academic title). This feature is already available in the web version of the education profile and on Android devices. This will make it easier for chat participants to find messages from the teacher. In the near future, teachers will also have a number of options for managing chats: They can get approval to read messages, delete chats, control who can write to chats.
Proper storage of educational materials
A mini-application for collecting homework and other materials from students was made available to teachers. With it, the teacher can organize and organize the storage of documents. The teacher shares a link or adds the required users to the app from their contacts in their education profile. The student who receives the download notification sends the required file, it is immediately viewed by the teacher and is ready for download.
One-click diary and schedule
Thanks to the Digital Diary mini application, students can view the course schedule and notes from their smartphones and attend the planned lesson. Starting from the new school year, the mini-app will also be available to parents: Parents will be able to get information about their child’s progress and the curriculum.
Switch between accounts
The process of switching between educational and personal profiles in VK Messenger has been simplified – now you can switch from one account to another with one click. You can also start chatting quickly by inviting another user to chat using a QR code in the Sferum education profile.
“Russian teachers actively use digital tools in their work and are increasingly seeing the advantage of this. By communicating with teachers, we constantly get new ideas from them on how we can improve the service so that the Sferum educational profile in VK Messenger becomes the most suitable assistant in the educational process. As of the new academic year, we are launching a series of useful updates that will help make working in the classroom and communication on school topics more interesting and productive,” said Ruben Akopov, head of the VK Sferum service.
Formerly Spherum started Creative competition for schoolchildren and teachers.