Myschoolapp was a new addition to Wilmington Friends for the Fall 2016 semester. WFS introduced the program to students as a place to gather all of their assignments, schedules, class progress, and other useful tools in one convenient website. Blackbaud, the company that made and hosted Netclassroom, created Myschoolapp so that they would no longer need to constantly update and improve the old software. The new technology has students and teachers talking; it seems to have received mostly positive feedback from the community.

Blackbaud reached out to tech leads Todd Tyler and Gregg Miller last year to inform them of the company’s new site. In the beginning of last school year, Tyler and Miller started toying around with the idea of using Myschoolapp. There were many business meetings between Blackbaud representatives and faculty, administrators, and staff members who work in the Jones’ House to discuss how the program would work in their different divisions. Right after last year’s winter break, the teachers started using the website’s      pilot program, so they could get used to putting in assignments and seeing their schedules. The students were initially introduced to the Myschoolapp when they registered for this year’s courses in late spring. The faculty and students appreciate the new features that have been added to the “New Netclassroom”.

The website boasts many different features that help students and faculty with their class management. The progress section allows students to view their grades if their teacher has an open grade book, meaning they can see a regularly-updated grade in the class. Since the Myschoolapp also ties into the Wilmington Friends website now, users can easily access the different directories and links to different websites such as Quakers Sports, Whittier Miscellany, Daily Announcements, the Student Handbook, and many more. The new feature, “Messages”,  can easily connect students and teachers to exchange information or schedule meetings with one another. Messages is also used between student athletes and coaches, the clerks and members of clubs and committees, and among different grade levels.

With the freshman class (2020) gaining fourteen new students, the Myschoolapp allowed them to have a smooth transition from their former middle schools to Wilmington Friends Upper School. One new freshman, Trey May ’20, stated, “It’s cool, because it shows my schedule and it helps me know where all of my classes are.” Sophomore Alonia Needs ’19, who has been at the school for thirteen years, noted, “It actually makes me want to do my homework because it has the little completed box in the assignment center and it makes me feel accomplished and satisfied when I check it for finishing my work.” Even many teachers and administrative staff are finding the Myschoolapp to be useful. For example, chemistry teacher Mark Schmittle, who has been teaching at Wilmington Friends since 1994, finds the website to be very helpful. Since Schmittle has been teaching at the school for a long period of time, he has seen all of the different organization systems come and go. He stated, “First impressions: It has a lot of capabilities. It is better than what we had; better than the old management system.” Some teachers have been having trouble putting in new assignments, while others find the website to be running smoothly.

In conclusion, the Myschoolapp has gotten primarily positive feedback from the student body and faculty members. Negative responses have been very minimal. It is a fairly new system, so people have varying opinions on it and how well it works for them. Hopefully the few kinks in the system will be worked out soon, and the new website will be entirely beneficial to all of the Wilmington Friends community.