Problem: The software was founded by the brothers Brett Kopf and David Kopf in 2011, in San Francisco, USA with the name Remind101. At university, Brett, who suffers from dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, thought about creating a tool that would help people with the same problem, sending reminders about tests and tasks. After carrying out a survey of 200 teachers, he perceived that their main concern was how to engage parents more in the education of their children, not only those with learning difficulties, but all students. The application was redesigned and launched as a secure way to exchange messages between teachers, students and parents. Recently, it was renamed Remind. 

Solutions: It is free and easy to use. The teacher registers on the system, creates a class, adds students and starts to send messages. Students and parents can join several classes and choose between receiving text messages or e-mails. The teachers can receive instant feedback from students with the use of labels to make the reading of answers quicker and easier. Phone numbers are kept confidential. 

Teachers, students and parents cannot see each other’s phone numbers. The teachers have access to their complete history of messages and can download files if necessary. It is also possible to send files such as documents, PDFs, photos and voice messages. One of the messages most used by the teachers is a parody of the song “Call Me Maybe”, by Carly Rae Jepsen: “Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but you have a test tomorrow so study, maybe”. As well as versions in English and Spanish, the application has been available in Brazilian Portuguese since February.

Outcomes: Use of the app contributes to improving education by facilitating communication between teachers, students and parents. The application is among the most downloaded education apps in the United States. One in five teachers in the country uses the software and 60 million messages are sent every month. Remind has been available for download around the world since September 2014.