U.S. Cellular Provides Tips for Back to School Apps
Smartphones Serve as Back to School Command
Center
Roanoke, Va. -- Back to school is a busy season that can be
a hectic time for parents, students and teachers alike, but the latest wireless
technology tools can help make the school year run smoother. Turn your
smartphone or tablet into a “Back-to-School Command Center” with everything you
need to plan, prep and navigate your child’s school year.
Your smartphone can help simplify your
life, save time and enhance learning according to a recent U.S. Cellular
customer survey. Half of the U.S. Cellular customers with children who
participated in the wireless carrier’s online survey¹ said that they used
educational activities on a mobile device with their children. Of those
customers, 33 percent use math apps, 22 percent use reading apps, and 20
percent use pre-school learning apps.
“There are so many ways that your
smartphone can help you kick off the school year, from capturing the first day
of school, to organizing school activities and assignments, to helping
reinforce key homework concepts in an engaging way,” said, Dana Dorcas,
director of sales for U.S. Cellular in the Mid-Atlantic. At U.S. Cellular, we’re here to help you make
the most out of what technology can do for parent and students, during the busy
school year and all year long.”
The experts
at U.S. Cellular offer these tips to get your “Back-to-School Command Center”
ready:
Organize
the Family Schedule– Apps like U.S. Cellular Family Organizer by Cozi (free)allow
a busy family to put all of the detailed family schedules into once centralized
place for quick and easy access. School
assignments, after-school activities, medical appointments, vacations,
holidays, and work obligations can all be viewed in one calendar.
Homework
and Study Helpers – There are a
wealth of resource apps available to help reinforce basic educational concepts
for elementary students. Use your smartphone or tablet to help your younger
students by downloading Math Practice
Flash Cards (free) which allows students to practice addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division problems and
Political Maps (free), which shows kids the countries of the world with
their capitals and the languages spoken within those areas.
First
Cellphone Milestone– Back to school
also marks a time when many parents might buy their child their first
cellphone. U.S. Cellular discovered that while 91 percent of parents either
already set or plan to set mobile phone usage guidelines for their children, 63
percent indicated they would find it helpful to have a parent-child agreement
to guide their ability to supervise children’s usage and behavior with mobile
devices. As such, U.S. Cellular has created a Better Moments Parent-Child Agreement, which is a document to guide
the conversations parents and children can have in determining guidelines for
using a mobile device safely, courteously and appropriately. You can customize
it and your child based on your family preferences.
Keep on Top of Assignments– Parents can also help their kids get their devices
ready to go back to school with apps that can simplify and enhance their
studying and homework. Older students can self-manage their homework, schedule
study time, homework and tests using the handy HomeWork (free) app. It will list all of a student’s homework
assignments, exams and due dates in a handy checklist so that students can
track when tasks have been completed and progress has been made.
Know
the Rules – Making sure that
children know what rules pertain to mobile phone usage within their school
district is very important as well as setting appropriate phone guidelines for
the new school year. Parents can have
even more control than they think when it comes to kids’ cell phone use with a
service like U.S. Cellular’s Family
Protector App ($9.99 per month for up to five devices with a 30 day free
trial). With this app on your child’s
smartphone, you can set restrictions on when and where kids’ phones will work.
For example, you can set the app to prevent your child’s phone from working
during school hours or to only work for emergency numbers. You can also restrict access to certain
websites and phone numbers, or even create a geo-fence so that you receive an
alert when your child has left a designated area.
¹ Between April 1-5, 2013, a total of
527 online interviews were conducted among U.S. Cellular post-paid customers by
Consumer Insights, in partnership with Directions Research Inc.
About
U.S. Cellular
U.S. Cellular rewards its customers
with unmatched benefits and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate
the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier has a strong line-up of
cutting-edge devices that are all backed by its high-speed network, which has
the highest call quality of any national carrier. Currently, 61 percent of
customers have access to 4G LTE speeds and 87 percent will have access by the
end of 2013. U.S. Cellular was named a J.D. Power and Associates Customer
Service Champion in 2012 for the second year in a row. To learn more about U.S.
Cellular, visit one of its retail stores or uscellular.com. To get the latest
news, promos and videos, connect with U.S. Cellular on Facebook.com/uscellular,
Twitter.com/uscellular and YouTube.com/uscellularcorp.
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