That's a wrap for Qwickly Symposium New England! At MassBay Community College, the Qwickly Team presented an overview of recent product updates and future plans, covering innovations across Qwickly Attendance, Qwickly Course Tools & Qwickly Jot. 

Check out a quick summary of the sessions on each product family: 

Qwickly Attendance has seen a plethora of improvements for both instructors and administrators. Seating chart enhancements include new 20x5 layouts, the integration of student photos for better visual identification, and a cleaner interface. Qwickly Attendance can now pull LMS avatars from Canvas and Blackboard, offering an alternative to traditional photo store integrations.

A significant future development is automated check-in using NFC tags. This new method of check-in allows students to check in by tapping their phone against an NFC tag, eliminating the need for instructors to manage the process directly. This method offers high accuracy for student presence and can be deployed at the classroom or even individual seat level. A public beta for NFC check-in is planned for the summer.

A major new development is the SMS Text Messaging tool within Qwickly Course Tools, which allows instructors to send one-way text messages to students without revealing phone numbers. Students opt-in by registering their numbers via the Qwickly Course Tools interface or a link in an initial email. Currently, it supports US phone numbers only, with plans for international support and custom school phone numbers.

Qwickly Jot, designed to digitize the traditional paper assignment (like drawing or marking maps), has received a key update. Instructors can now directly mark up student submissions with written feedback, shapes, and other annotations, with both original and marked-up versions saved.

For more information on any of these enhancements and new features, please watch the on-demand "What’s New in Qwickly Products" webinar.