Zadkine informs students on Coronavirus via smartphone app
While the Coronavirus is spreading, everyone is urged to be cautious. The media spread as much information as possible, various companies inform and warn their employees en educational institutions do what they can as well. Zadkine, the Dutch school, feels the obligation to actively protect and inform their students. In collaboration with StuComm, Zadkine has successfully informed and warned their students through their smartphones.
Riet Austie, Information Manager at Zadkine, explains that safety is the priority. “We want to be a safe school. That means that every student, parent, employee and others involved feel safe at Zadkine”, says Austie. The priority is to provide students with the right information. “These days information spreads rapidly. That applies to false information as well, which is why right now we have to focus on providing our students with correct information.”
The department of Safety at Zadkine, headed by Arjen Janssens, wants to inform their students as well as possible. “Various health organizations have provided us with guidelines. They contain what you can do to lower risks and what you have to when you think you are infected. We use this information to inform our students and make sure they are aware of everything.”
According to Austie the way to communicate was very clear. “We have various channels at our disposal. We have our internal intranet, an electronic learning platform and the app created by StuComm which we use to inform our students as good as possible.” Especially that last channel was crucial in this situation. “Naturally, we communicate through every channel at our disposal. But when we asked ourselves how we could best reach our students, the app was the clear answer. Almost every student has a smartphone and uses it quite often. Through the app we can easily reach them.”
This week students receive a message on the Coronavirus every time they open the app. From there, they are directed to the website where more information is available. “So far we have not had any infections amongst our students. We update the information we share every day, to make sure our students are always up to date with the latest developments.”
“The safety of our students is the number one priority. Everybody has to be able to attend school feeling safe. That is why we want to be able to share all relevant information with our students, as fast as possible”, says Austie.
The notification will be in the app to inform all students for the remainder of this week. At the end of the week there will be an evaluation and Zadkine will decide on the next steps in assuring their students’ safety.
