I conducted a survey to find out what attitude to the current communication system my schoolmates have. Its aim was also to get some more suggestions what my app could do in theory and to rate the features I am planning to add to my app. 

100 respondents — all of who are my schoolmates — completed an anonymous questionnaire online. There were seven questions in my survey. After each of them there is an average answer in brackets.

1. How convenient – on a scale from 0 to 100 – is it for you to use the DBBs? (49)
2. How often – on a scale from 0 to 100 – do you receive important information (for example, about lessons being cancelled or rescheduled) in time? (52)
3. How often – on a scale from 0 to 100 – do you have difficulties because you haven’t checked the DBBs for updates? (48)
4. How important – on a scale from 0 to 100 – is it for you to receive push-notifications about latest updates on the DBBs? (88)
5. How important – on a scale from 0 to 100 – is it for a school app to have a feature allowing students to type in home assignments? (74)
6. How important – on a scale from 0 to 100 – is it for a school app to have a feature allowing students to type in the marks (including automatic calculating of an average mark, forecasts about promotions, etc.)? (87)
7. Please write two or three suggestions about what kind of features a school app might have.

Results:

The first three questions addressed the problems caused by the shortcomings of the system currently used at SAMD. The results showed that students tended to find the DBBs inconvenient.

I rated three possible features of my app depending on their importance for my target audience:

1. Push-notifications about latest updates on the DBBs (88/100)
2. A feature allowing students to type in their marks (including automatic calculating of an average mark, forecasts about promotion, etc.) (87/100)
3. A feature allowing students to type in their hometask (74/100)

In addition to the features that were mentioned in the first questions, an overwhelming majority (90 per cent) mentioned that students should be given an opportunity to communicate with their teachers (personal chats with teachers, homework written by teachers, marks, exam plans, etc.). Many respondents (70 per cent) mentioned they would like to have access to the canteen menu. A small minority (10 per cent) suggested some entertaining features such as mini games or an opportunity to order pizza.

Questions to consider:

1. Shall I make another questionnaire for teachers?
2. Should I add privacy settings?
3. Shall I cooperate with canteen team because many students wanted to have online access to the menu?