Form or Function: What’s More Important When It Comes To School Management Systems?
It’s an age-old question when it comes to technology: what matters most, form or function? At Edumate, we believe both elements play an important role in the success of our K-12 education management system, so we recently put both under the spotlight to weigh in on the factors that really matter to us … and really matter to you.
Designing for purpose and practicality
A fundamental principle of good design that transcends industry dictates, ‘form follows function’. With its origins grounded in modernist architecture, the rule lends itself well to all manner of products but is particularly transferrable when it comes to software design.
We’ve spent sixteen years tailoring Edumate’s operating system in close collaboration with leading educators and long-term industry professionals to ensure our features continually align with your needs. As such, Edumate has evolved and adapted to the fluid landscape of the Australian education system to become the nation’s most trusted and advanced school management system.
There’s never been any doubt of Edumate’s superior functionality over the years, but in our efforts to deliver innovative solutions to whole-school administration, did we inadvertently sacrifice form on some level? It appears that we did…
You talked. We listened.
We continually seek feedback to ensure we’re delivering on our core values and progressive approach to education management that underpins what we see as the Edumate difference.
While our users – a broad-based collective comprising staff, carers, and students – overwhelmingly comment on their satisfaction with the functionality of our features, curriculum mapping, and information sharing capabilities, we also received feedback suggesting we could improve the overall experience by adopting a more aesthetically pleasing design.
It’s important to us that our software provides a pleasant experience for every user, not only in function, but in form. We understand the importance of an appealing and user-friendly interface … we also understand you never get a second chance to make a good first impression!
With that in mind, we’re proud to share Edumate Enterprise’s latest improvements. We’re sure you’ll agree that even with a facelift, Edumate will always be more than just a pretty face.
Our completely redeveloped user interface has been designed based on your feedback and suggestions and includes:
Improvements to make Edumate more receptive to mobile and tablet devices. Says Edumate Co-director, Daniel Hill, “Edumate Enterprise is now much more device agnostic. We recognise the need for our software to be compatible across a wide range of devices and platforms. It’s all part of our commitment to keeping communication and connectivity at the educational forefront twenty-four hours a day, from anywhere in the world.”
Enhancing visual design and aesthetic appeal. “We wanted to improve the overall feel and consistency of Edumate, and elevate initial impressions,” says Daniel. “We’ve streamlined the look and layout of the software, taking into consideration stylistic choices for text style, font, and colour. The result is a much cleaner, minimalistic, and graphically pleasing user experience.”
Continuous improvement, continuous growth
Early feedback on our latest developments has been pleasingly positive. Sarah Dawson, Lead Coordinator of Christian Community Ministries Ltd, a group of eighteen Edumate-using schools, captured the central theme with her recent comments.
“Edumate’s new look is a great improvement. The screen is cleaner, easier to navigate, and the data you are looking for no longer feels cluttered. The new menu and the way that it populates take up less space, requires fewer clicks and is much more user friendly. As a user who spends a lot of time in setup, I especially like that the menu can be customised for ordering and hiding unused items. I will be moving the setup menu item straight to the top!”
It’s feedback like this that allows us to continually deliver quality outcomes to your school’s administration, student wellbeing, communication, and learning, and we’ll never compromise on this. So … back to the original question of what’s more important, form or function? At Edumate form and function go hand-in-hand, and will always be complimenting each other to ensure your user experience remains at the premium level you’ve come to know and expect.
Do you have any feedback or suggestions about your school’s education management system? We’d love to hear them. Contact us online or call our team on +61 (02) 8313 2700.
