Raftr to Offer Instant Communication Platform Free of Charge to College & Universities

Amid Covid-19 concerns, higher ed institutions are seeking rapid and reliable two-way communication

SAN FRANCISCO - Californer -- Silicon Valley-based higher ed tech company Raftr (http://pro.raftr.com/) announced today that it would be offering its messaging and notifications platform free of charge through the end of the academic year to colleges and universities in the wake of Covid-19 concerns. The company says its app is designed to facilitate instant and direct communication between college administrations and their students in a mobile-first platform, including the ability to send direct messages instantly to students' mobile devices.

"In talking with our partner institutions about their challenges with how quickly the Covid-19 outbreak is evolving, and the dynamics of their campuses, we feel the right thing to do is to offer support," Raftr Founder & CEO Sue Decker says. "Raftr can provide universities immediate access to communicate with their students, faculty, staff, and even parents, anywhere in the world. It is very fast to implement and designed for interactive, flexible and coordinated communication on a stand-alone basis or to supplement email communication."

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Features of the rapid response notification solution include:

• Private, authenticated network accessible only to each institution's students, faculty, and staff (parent access is available upon request).
• Access to up to 3 'Pro' accounts, which allow administrators to send custom push notifications with important updates.
• Topic groups (called 'rafts') which can include general Covid-19 announcements, Study Abroad announcements, academic updates and more.
• Public and private chat channels for community members to share information, ask questions, and get answers in real time.
• Optional automatic posting of existing Covid-19 updates from authenticated sources, including CDC, the World Health Organization, and/or existing university news sites or blogs.
• Ability for faculty to host real-time, virtual discussions and "office hours" in private channels for instances in which courses have been moved online.

Decker says the free use of the platform will be granted through the remainder of the academic year. To be eligible, administrators are asked to submit a request to enable their community and attend a one-hour online training session for any staff members who will be posting updates in the platform. Those staff members will be given access to Raftr ProTools, including the ability to manually notify groups of students.

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Online Request Form
Submit a request (https://pro.raftr.com/network-request/)

Contact:
Mandy Seaman
mandy@raftr.com
3020 Issaquah-Pine Lake Rd
Suite 251
Sammamish, WA . 98075
‪(417) 319-4549‬