Sferum has rolled out new features designed to make lectures and study communication even more effective. In the updated VK Messenger educational profile, teachers and students can access an interactive whiteboard for collaboration, session rooms for group work, the Electronic Diary mini-application, and a suite of additional tools. Working closely with educators and school administrators, the team gathered feedback and implemented updates to meet current needs.
Session rooms for group work
The new breakout rooms feature enables teachers to organize productive small-group activities. In these virtual rooms, students can collaborate on tasks, brainstorm, and then share their solutions with the whole class. The capability is available in the web version of the school profile and on Android devices.
Collaborative interactive whiteboard
The beta of the interactive whiteboard for collaboration is now part of the Sferum training profile in VK Messenger. It lets teachers assign tasks and visually explain material, while students can annotate the board and solve problems in real time. This feature is already accessible in the web version of the education profile and on Android devices.
Information channels
Users of the Sferum education profile in VK Messenger can now create channels to share timely class and school updates, such as upcoming holidays, student olympiads, and competitions, with quick reactions from participants. In addition, channels for cognitive and educational communities have appeared, offering curated information across fields like education, science, history, space, animals, and culture.
Teacher’s special status
Teachers who verify their status receive a special badge, making it easier to spot messages from the instructor. This feature is available in the web version of the education profile and on Android devices. In the near future, teachers will gain tools to manage chats more effectively, including read permissions, chat deletion, and control over who can post in chats.
Proper storage of educational materials
A mini-application for collecting homework and other student materials has been made available to teachers. It enables organized storage of documents. Teachers can share a link or add the necessary users from their education-profile contacts. Students who receive a download notification can submit the required file, and the teacher can review it instantly and make it available for download.
One-click diary and schedule
The Digital Diary mini-application allows students to view their course schedule and notes from their smartphones and attend planned classes. Starting with the new school year, the app will also be accessible to parents, who will be able to track their child’s progress and the curriculum.
Switch between accounts
The switch between educational and personal profiles in VK Messenger has been streamlined — users can toggle between accounts with a single click. Quick chat initiation is also possible by inviting another user to chat via a QR code in the Sferum education profile.
As Ruben Akopov, head of the VK Sferum service, explains, Russian teachers are actively adopting digital tools and recognizing their benefits. Ongoing conversations with educators generate new ideas on improving the service so that the Sferum educational profile in VK Messenger becomes a trusted assistant in the classroom. With the new academic year, a series of useful updates is being launched to make classroom work and school-topic communication more engaging and productive.
Previously, Sferum launched a Creative competition for schoolchildren and teachers.