Communicating with your entire school community is a full-time job, to say the least. Schools of all sizes have to send urgent messages about everything from events and schedule changes to sudden closures and last-minute reminders.

A recent Campus Safety survey found that within the last two years, K-12 schools and districts increased the usage of their emergency notification platforms by at least 10%, relying on their emails, SMS text alerts, or social media platforms at least weekly.

But schools are juggling more than just the frequency of communications; they’re also under pressure to move as fast as possible while staying as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, drafting, editing, and customizing messages for different communication channels takes a lot of effort and brainpower, and when time is short, every second counts.

As the speed, frequency, and parent expectations rise, artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming communications. With Finalsite's upcoming AI writing assistant, an AI generator for a school’s mass notifications, informing your community will be even easier—and faster—than ever before.

Solving School Communication Challenges with AI Tools for Schools

Consider the state of school communications: short attention spans, different messaging preferences, multiple databases, and language barriers… it’s no wonder your school’s messages face various challenges that can stand in the way of efficient communication.

Time Matters

Whether it's a warning about the weather or a last-minute location change for pickup, your school needs to make sure everyone gets the correct information quickly. Writing multiple versions of the same message for different channels can slow communication teams down.

Writing and Rewriting Messages

First you write an email explaining all the details, and then you have to write a shorter version for a text message. After that, you need to write a version for a voice message, followed by a notification for your mobile app. When the message just needs to go out, re-writing the same message over and over in different ways takes precious time.

Keeping the Same Voice and Style

Stopping rumors, clearing up confusion, or relaying safety information — no matter what the message is about, your message must be clear and easy to understand, and keeping that consistent style and tone can be challenging when you rush to get messages out on different platforms.

When You Don’t Know How to Start

Finding the right words at a moment's notice can be challenging, especially when writer’s block strikes. When an uncommon message needs to be sent, you need all the help you can get to jumpstart the brainstorming.

Introducing Finalsite's AI Writing Assistant

Powered by Finalsite Intelligence, our AI writing assistant will be the first generative AI communications assistant in the ed-tech market to help with the challenges schools face with mass communications. This summer, there'll be a lot to look forward to, including:

Faster, Easier, and Customizable Communications

Instead of losing time to duplicative efforts, you simply tell the AI writing assistant about the message and choose the message’s length, tone, and distribution channels. Then, the AI writing assistant generates different versions of the message for email, SMS, mobile app notifications, web alerts, social media, and voice, so you don’t have to.

Write it once, and AI saves time and takes care of the rest. Need to send a message about school closures because of snow? Submit a prompt, and AI creates a longer version for email, a short one for text, and a friendly, informative post for other notifications.

Keep Your School's Voice

Whether it's a detailed email or a quick text, Finalsite’s AI writing assistant creates messages for different channels from a single prompt, saving you valuable time and brainpower, all while ensuring consistency across your school's communications.

But it's also essential that all messages from your school sound like they come from you, right? Our AI writing assistant can capture the perfect tone for any message, from a serious email about school policies to a fun update about a spirit day (don't forget the face paint!)

Editing Made Easy

Everything you need is in one convenient spot. As a feature of Finalsite’s mass notifications system, Messages XR, there's no need to leave the Finalsite platform to generate content or copy and paste messages from one place to another.

Need to change something quickly? If the first version isn't quite right, you can adjust it with just a click until it's perfect. The user-friendly AI assistant makes it easy to tweak and edit outputs, so you can add or remove words, rewrite the message, or create a new prompt before hitting send.

Simple, Safe, and Secure

Communicate without risking your school's privacy. With Finalsite's AI writing assistant, your information stays safe within the Finalsite platform and isn't used to train other AI systems.

All-in-One Screen Convenience

When you're ready to create a message, everything happens on one screen — there’s no need to jump back and forth between another generative AI platform or copy and paste each message into each channel. Enter the name of your message, write a prompt for the AI, and choose where the message should go. Then, with a click, the AI gets to work and creates your messages for each channel you need.

Key Takeaway

AI for education is moving at lightning speed, and it's going to help schools better understand and connect with their communities. Finalsite’s AI writing assistant is leading the way, making communication easier, faster, and more secure. When paired with Messages XR, the wide range of capabilities will let your school focus more on what it does best and worry less about how to communicate the right message.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Connor has spent the last decade within the field of marketing and communications, working with independent schools and colleges throughout New England. As Finalsite’s Senior Content Marketing Manager, Connor plans and executes marketing strategies and digital content across the web. A former photojournalist, he has a passion for digital media, storytelling, coffee, and creating content that connects.