ClassDojo

Functionality 9/10

What is Class Dojo? It is an app designed to help adults develop positive qualities in children and promote the environment in the class, which allows all students to feel safe and comfortable. According to the developers, the goal of the app is to assist teachers in establishing appropriate classroom culture.

A focus of the application is on ensuring proper communication between teachers and parents, so the latter are aware of how their children are doing at school.

All a teacher needs to do to start using the app is set up a profile, name the class they are working with, choose the grade level, and core values of the class. There are a number of values to select from in the app, but you can come up with any others that you find important.

Some of the values that are provided to you by the application, include participating, helping others, perseverance, etc. Depending on the problems that teachers may notice in class, they can customize the values when it’s needed.

When the values are selected, teachers have an opportunity to assign the so-called Dojo points to children depending on their behavior: from 1 to 5 when positive and from -1 to -5 when negative.

The points are stored in the app in a quite unique way. Every student in the class is “given” a little digital monster, which appears on their personal page. A number in the green circle next to the character represents how much points a student has received during classes.

The cute monsters can either be chosen completely randomly by the app or teachers may select them for children. When everything is set up and ready, teachers are able to send emails or messages to the parents directly from the app. The invitation also contains an access code, which is different for every student’s profile so that parents are able to see their child’s progress.

The teacher page of the application has three sections, such as class story, classroom, and messages. In the class story, teachers are able to add photos and messages for parents so that they always know what their kids are up to at school. Classroom tab is where teachers can keep track of students’ points, class points, and make reports.

The Messages tab is another great section of the app from which the teachers have an opportunity to send direct messages to specific parents or notifications to everyone simultaneously. What is also great is that teachers will be able to see whether a parent has read the message and when.

The tabs that parents have access to when they install the app include the class story, notifications, messages, and also “your kids.” The last one is perfect for switching between different profiles if you have more than one child.

In ClassDojo for students, little ones are able to see how many points they have earned or lost in the class. It should be noted that children are able to see only their points, thus making sure there is no jealousy between students. The app also comes with lessons that teach about the importance of different values.

Design 10/10

The design of the application is quite nice featuring a white background with purple as an additional color. Characters created by the app definitely deserve to be mentioned, as despite being referred to as monsters, they all look really cute, and children will undoubtedly enjoy them.

All of them look different and come in various colors, but are all equally creative and fun. Overall, the design of the app is simple, pleasant, and doesn’t offer any extravagant design solutions, so everyone is able to enjoy the app.

Usability 10/10

The application is easy to use whether you’re a teacher or a parent. As it was mentioned previously, all the information is conveniently subdivided according to different categories, so it can be managed quickly and efficiently.

The app works without any problems on Android and iOS devices, so you shouldn’t encounter any crashes or unexpected freezing. An application is clearly aimed at global use, so once you download Class Dojo you will be able to select from a large number of interface languages, which is a definite bonus.

Cross-platform use 10/10

ClassDojo is available for users of both Android and iOS devices, which is always great news. The application can be installed whether you have a tablet or a smartphone, but you should pay attention to the OS version: 8.0 and later for iOS devices and 4.0 and later for Android devices.

In-app purchases

The application can be downloaded for free from the App Store and Google Play Store, and there are no in-app purchases, so you’re not limited when it comes to the features of ClassDojo.

The Bottom Line

Leaving a child at school, especially at the beginning, can be quite an unsettling experience for a lot of parents because they can’t see what their children are doing while at school. In this situation, establishing an effective communication with a teacher is extremely important.

ClassDojo is an excellent application that allows people to stay connected to their kids while they are at school. Because teachers are able to contact individual parents at any moment through direct messages or make announcements to everyone, parents hear all the news first.