After school programs have increased in popularity over the past few decades as more parents enter the workforce and the number of single-parent homes continues to rise. Parents want after school programs for a variety of reasons for keeping children safe after the school day is over to improving their child's success in school.
Technology, in the form of software and a variety of devices, can help you run your program more efficiently and effectively.
The benefits of technology in after school programs
Purely from an operational standpoint, childcare software offers multiple methods of saving time and money.
Automated check-in and check-out improve efficiency as well as attendance accuracy overall and for each participant.
- Access to online calendars allows participants and parents to select specific activities.
- Online billing and statements save time with bookkeeping and banking tasks.
- Staff clock-in and out becomes more accurate and efficient.
- Online enrollment including required participant and medical information is easily uploaded and stored in digital form.
- Online applications can help schedule rooms and activities.
If you are on a tight budget, the staff’s attention should be on the children, not administrative paperwork. Technology eliminates paper sign-in sheets, manual payment processing, and scheduling.
Instructional and communication benefits are two other areas where technology can streamline processes and supplement school work.
- Technology connects students and teachers to supplemental instruction materials.
- It allows teachers to build link libraries for fast access to authoritative resources.
- Students can learn at their own pace.
- It provides an easy way to provide parents with program information.
- Students are used to technology and will engage more freely when using it in for classwork.
There is a universe of websites and online applications that help children develop memory, critical thinking, and coordination skills while opening a whole world of creativity.
Challenges to implementing technology
It can seem easier just to keep doing the way you always have. Some people resist change in any form, and that group may include some of your teachers. Making changes requires disrupting long-held processes and learning new tools.
The very word technology can conjure thoughts of expensive software and hardware that is difficult to learn and maintain. And there is always to risk that participants can access inappropriate content or become susceptible to online predators.
It can seem impossible to allot enough time for staff training. On top of that, teachers must change the way they plan lessons to incorporate online resources and activities into lesson plans they may have used for years.
Related reading: How to Implement Change in Your After School Program
Strategies for increasing adoption
The biggest barrier to adoption is lack of training. Most workers have been exposed to technology for a good portion of their working lives and increasingly in their homes. Today’s software solutions are often developed with ease of use in mind.
Your staff should not require lengthy training sessions to work with the technology. You may identify staff members who embrace new technology who can lend a helping hand to those who are slower at learning new processes or programs.
Technical support is another critical element in adoption. Knowing that there are resources available online, on the phone, or via email or text can de-stress the introduction of new technology.
Decrease the risks of slow adoption and to the children by implementing guidelines and role-modeling of appropriate technology use.
- Use software to restrict movie selection by rating.
- Use software blockers to restrict access to inappropriate content.
- Limit the amount of screen time with technology times that automatically shut down according to preset timers.
Follow federal media mandates for technology use and provide access to up-to-date information about the latest changes to the law.
Potential uses for technology in after school programs
As mentioned above, there is a plethora of online content, both static and interactive, created to help kids learn.
- Applications are available to reinforce reading and comprehension.
- Students can strengthen their writing (and keyboarding) skills.
- You can keep track of long-term projects.
- Teachers and students can conduct research and explore the world.
There is never a better time to prepare for technology use in future careers than to provide access to technology to learn appropriate use and practice skills.
Why you should choose web-based after school software solutions
Going back to the topic of expense, web-based after school software solutions are often more cost-effective than programs meant to be installed directly onto your computers or server. Because you pay a monthly subscription fee that includes ongoing support and automatic backups and updates to the software, you will save money from the beginning.
An on-premise program has a higher up-front cost than web-based solutions as well as future updates are extra expenses. Also, web-based solutions can be canceled and restored anytime and you can add and subtract licenses as your needs change. You don’t need to pay for licenses you aren’t using.
There are other benefits of the web-based software.
- You can access the software from any device, anytime, and from anywhere. You are not tied to the computer at the school.
- Cloud-based childcare software vendors live and die by the security they provide. Your information is more secure at the vendor’s data repository than on your hard drive.
- Automatic backups mean you won’t lose any of your information.
- You have ongoing support and software updates.
- Since web-based software is accessed by a web browser, there is no issue with device compatibility.
Using web-based software makes it easy to add or subtract capabilities, integrate third-party applications, and make changes to how the software operates. Although there is less customization available with a cloud-based system, the rest of the benefits outweigh that limitation. Unless you have a set of extremely esoteric requirements, you should be able to find a solution that fits all your needs and most of your desires.
After school programs have increased in popularity as well as answered the call for places of safety for children who would otherwise be left to their own devices after school was out. Instead, they can access homework help, be exposed to enriching experiences, and have a place to stay where adults can watch out for them.
Using technology to run your after school program more efficiently and effectively eliminates administrative busywork and provides materials for teaching that you had no access to before the computer revolution opened the world to your students.
