Covid 19 has led to a disastrous effect on the economic background and put the education sector in the doldrums. While the classes are still getting conducted over various platforms, the rise of digitization of the schooling system remains a question for the school administrative system. It is not just a mere issue of a global pandemic. Still, several institutions have embraced a path to digitizing their grading system, attendance, and other notifications concerned with the institution. A prominent player playing a pivotal role in digitizing the educational institutions is school management software, innovating the teaching methodology, and improved student-teacher collaboration. Moreover, you can access it anywhere, anytime.
There are two ways to approach this digitization:
- School portal
- School management software
School Portal
Do you know what a school portal is?
A school portal is a page created by an institution or an academic unit's administrative section providing an individual with a username or a login id and a password. The portal helps to gain access to various details such as results and attendance.
Limitations in Functions: The portal primarily is an internet hub or community for sharing information regarding all school activities, including academics, research, seminars, conferences, and other events. This can be made accessible to current/prospective students, your staff, and alumni as well.
A mere E-learning platform: A portal is a web-based e-learning platform that provides online sources and manages virtual learning communities. The teachers and instructors get the flexibility to make and share content to extend engagement, like social course activities (social media, blogs, wikis, forums, chats). You can align the online portal with E-Learning Software to streamline course preparation and teaching methods.
E-Library Integration: A portal provides remote access to resources, which include E-books, E-Images, E-Journals, and Library Automation Tools.
Most e-libraries allow a search option counting on what style of material you're searching for (journal articles or monographs? Citations, abstracts, or full-text? Whether you're searching for a known item (known source, particular journal title); otherwise, you want to go looking for whatever information may be available.
School management software
So, what is SMS? and how is it the right choice over SP
It is software designed to manage all the activities of a school or any other educational institute. It helps maintain the digitally daily activities of students and staff and the maintenance of all the resources. It also helps to save time and labor costs by maintaining accuracy and precision. In a typical workplace, it helps to increase the efficiency and productivity of the work.
An efficient SMS comes with a reporting module that permits generating plenty of reports to fulfill the wants of the various users of the system.
These reports are very comprehensive and supply analytics that will help administrators find out more about how the school/college performs and form plans for the long run. With increased automation, paperwork is eliminated from the day-to-day work process.
What an SMS offers may be a comprehensive check up on how each student is performing against their peers. Students' results are computed in real-time and include granular information needed for assessment like the typical school score or the very best score in School from the previous term.
Push notification feature: SMS provides the push notification feature allowing users to notify emergencies or other important events happening within the School. Also, teachers enjoy the notification feature.
Pros of the school portal:
- Easy access to information
As the information is digitally secured, it helps the student and parents to view the information at the touch of their fingertips.
- Eco-friendly
The digitization of data will save a load of paperwork, which eventually helps the environment.
- Communication
It helps to save the time of administration and save their workload.
- Transparency
There is absolute transparency as no stone is left unturned when it comes to administration and a student's report.
Pros of the school management system
- Efficient Control System
It has efficient control over students as it is a computer- and AI-based, so there are zero mistakes.
- Fees collection:
As the information is quickly processed, the fee collection also takes place in limited time spam without much interference. Constant reminders are sent to the parents about the school fees and there are facilities to pay the fees digitally too. This eases out major confusion between parents and the administration department.
- Integration With Other Tools
The school management system software can easily integrate with other advanced tools such as library automation software, student information management system, E-Learning Software, course authoring software, attendance tracking software, etc.
It helps to maintain the academic performance efficiently of many batches.
- Guardian control
With the ease of resources and easy credibility, the guardian can have a good view of the child's progress. It becomes a catalyst that improves a student's overall performance.
The cost of it is relatively low as compared to the traditional system.
It provides a single solution to all the management problems of the institution.
Difference:
While the portal is quite a small part, including academics, research, seminars, conferences, and other events, a student administration system is a vast software that includes information bulletin and administrative units such as fee management, transport management, inventory, payroll, students database, performance data, etc.
The school portal may include an ELibrary, which may be beneficial for the students. The material like paper, E-books, E-Images, E-Journals, and Library Tools may be included.
A school management system is a platform where information about performance, detailed and comprehensive results of School are visible instantly in real-time.
Meanwhile, the school portal consists of factual data, which the user may find quite inadequate.
A school portal is usually designed as per the requirements of the school. It can have limitations.
The school management software comes with all features required for any size of the institution with any number of students. It can be cloud-hosted or AI-powered. The tool is further integrated with futuristic technologies that provide easy access to the students.
School Software ERP can mostly be accessed via laptops, desktops, and tablets.
But the school management system has developed android and iOS applications so that they can access via mobiles.
So, the major difference between a school portal and a school administration software lies in the accessibility, reporting, and control of the systems by the users. A school portal has its own limitations. A school management system offers enough flexibility and allows the users to have complete control of their school activities without having to worry. Ideally, schools, universities, and other educational institutions can opt for a school management tool and efficiently conduct their school administration.
How to choose the right School ERP System for your institution?
Choosing a high-performing student management software can be challenging as it involves the inclusion of various elements pertaining to the institute. Here are a few tips that will help in the finalization of a school management tool.
- Consideration of the number of students:
The institution should consider the size to pick software with the required features.
- The reputation of the ERP:
While looking for a cheap alternative, an institute might choose an ERP which isn't reputed, thus inviting more problems than solutions. Accordingly, an institute should check its reputation before buying school software.
- Cost of the school management software:
As the ERP seems to be a costly alternative, the institute needs to fix a budget and go hunting for the ERP. This will be a benefit for the institute in saving its time and money.
- Features
The institute should check for the availability of the features that can fulfill their needs.
How much does a School Management System Cost?
School Management Software has a variety of ranges with different functions to choose from. It solely depends on the number of students in the institution and the number of modules uploaded on the server.
The institute also has the option to pay for it monthly or annually.
So, choose what is necessary according to your needs.
Conclusion:
The School Management Software has become a boon for most educational institutions, teachers, students, and non-teaching staff members. You can also find out the best free and open source software school management software to unleash various opportunities.
While a school portal provides easy access to information the school management tool provides comprehensive details about everything such as admission procedure, courses offered, fee structure, and even helps in preparing the courses and managing students. You can read the buyer’s guide for school administration software to find more information on the topic.
