Text Messaging Services: Remind & Celly

Many of our teams and activities make use of text messaging to keep students informed and connected when not at school. In order to keep cell phone numbers private, text messages are sent and managed through third party apps/websites. The most popular of these seem to be Remind and Celly. 

Remind & Celly may also benefit classroom teachers. In fact, they were designed with teaching in mind. While students are expected to check their email, most check their text messages with more frequency. A quick reminder of an upcoming test, project, or assignment through Remind or Celly may yield positive results. Both of these services also make use of group chats that can be enabled during class.  Your messages/group chat can also be simultaneously posted on your LMC with the use of their app widgets.

Remind widget

Both apps/services are extremely easy to use and are free. Both can be used on multiple devices and NEVER exchange personal information. No cell numbers are ever exchanged and messages are public. Parents can also join the class. 

While both services/apps are very similar, they do have some differences. Celly has more options but Remind is a little simpler to use and set up. 

If you want to improve class communications, you might want to give one of these apps a try. See the videos below for demonstrations. Feel free to contact one of the DTCs to help you set it up. 

Remind.com Video

Cel.ly Video