Deep Dive: Statuses

Why did we add Statuses to Bloom’s Network?

We have implemented features into Bloom’s Network that we do not think you will find anywhere else. However, to optimise the positive impact our website can have on teachers, the decision was made to port similar functionality from existing social media websites. One of these is the status feed. As with everything else, the Statuses feed has been tailored to the teaching community in an attempt to provide a one-stop solution for teachers to use in their everyday lives.

What is the Statuses feature?

That Statuses feature is made up of two components: writing a post to the wider teaching community and writing one specifically to teachers at your school.

Communicating With The Wider Teaching Community

It is evident from our research that the ability to post a status to the teaching community as a whole, to get a wide variety of opinions, is highly desired. There are a large number of groups on Facebook that have been created for this very reason. In the main status feed, Bloom’s Network allows teachers from schools up and down the country to communicate, share ideas, and collaborate with one another on whatever topic they like.

Any of these statuses posted on the website will be visible to other teachers who have signed up. This will allow you to get a wide range of opinions from teachers across the country.

School Notice Board

As well as being able to post statuses to the wider teaching community, with Bloom’s Network it is possible to use the status feed as an informal school noticeboard. When you navigate to the status feed you will see a filter that, when activated, will only display statuses that have been posted by teachers from your school. This is your place to ask any questions or make any comments that are school-specific. You will see a tick box that says “only post to your school” under statuses; ticking this means that only other teachers on the website who selected your school at sign-up, will be able to view your post.

How do I use the Statuses feature?

After you have signed up for Bloom’s Network at bloomsnetwork.com/signup and confirmed your email address, you can log in to the home page. Once there, you will see the questions feed. Click on the Statuses tab to view the statuses feed, from here you can choose to either post to the whole community or to your school in particular.

Any future developments?

We are hoping to add another tab on the Status Feed that will allow users to filter the posts to only show statuses from teachers they follow. Whilst we do not want Bloom’s Network to mirror other social networking sites, where small groups of people band together and only listen to their own opinions, we do want the news feed to feel personalised to each individual.

In the more distant future, we intend to get schools themselves on board with Bloom’s Network. One of our ideas is to provide schools with a way to post anonymous questionnaires and get the views of their teachers. This will give teachers a safe space to have their opinions heard on school improvements and allow schools to track teacher’s opinions on whether their changes are beneficial.