Facebook “Like” Button

When viewing your event details within Tandem, you can now see how many people have liked that event in Facebook. A small Facebook “Like” button will now appear next to the event title. If you are interested in incorporating Tandem with your Facebook fan page, feel free to contact us and we will help you set that up.  It is a relatively quick process and does not require much of your time.

University of Washington Athletics Integrates Tandem with Facebook

Another big day at Intand! One of our more recognizable customers has had success integrating their Tandem calendar with their Facebook page.  The integration between Tandem and Facebook is one of our newer features and we are extremely excited to see the University of Washington using this feature.

The new integration allows for a “Calendar” tab to be displayed at the top of their Facebook page.  When displayed, it shows a list of events for the upcoming week that is pulled from their Tandem calendar.  This integration also allows specific Facebook groups to be linked to a specific schedule of events within Tandem.  For example, the Men’s Basket Ball group on Facebook will be able to sync with the Men’s Basket Ball schedule within Tandem (This feature will be displayed soon).

View the integration:

UW Athletics Facebook Page

UW Tandem Calendar

Twas the time before Calendars (Tandem that is)

Twas the time before Tandem, when all through the schools,

Conflicts were happening , and no one had the right tools.

There were tedious Excel sheets for every facility,

And hopes that someday there’d be peace and harmony.

Gyms and cafeterias were a mess people said,

While visions of optimization danced in their heads.

Facility Managers were ready and the community too,

For a solution that didn’t involve paper and voodoo.

When out on the internet there arose such a buzz,

Schools and districts everywhere sprang to see all the fuss.

When, what to their wondering eyes should appear,

But Tandem For Schools that would become oh so dear.

Happy Communication to all, and to all a headache-free Night

Top Resources for Educational Technology News

It can be tough to keep up with all of the news coming out of the educational technology sector.  With such rapid changes in social media, computing devices, and best practices it can be tough to stay informed.  That is why we have compiled a list of the top resources for education technology.

1. Tech & Learning

2. District Administration

3. THE Journal

4. Converge

5. EdTech Blog

So, when you want to learn about new technology besides Tandem, be sure to check these sites out!

Interview with Bryan Otis, CEO of Intand

What does the name “Intand” mean?  How was the company started?

These and other questions are answered in an interview with Bryan Otis, CEO and Co-founder of Intand.  During this interview, Bryan goes in detail about the formation of Intand and its origins at Bellevue Christian School.  You can find the entire interview on EdTech Digest.

University of Washington Athletic Department Selects Tandem

We are proud to announce that the University of Washington Athletic Department has selected Tandem for Schools to manage and communicate school athletic events.  The University of Washington is one of the first schools to adopt Tandem for Schools at the university level.  This announcement comes shortly after our announcement that Tandem for Schools is now available for higher education.

Tandem for Schools will serve as the online calendar for school athletic events at the University of Washington.

For more information, read the full press release.

Tandem Voted a Top 100 Product by District Administration

Thank you to all of our customers for voting Tandem for Schools as a Top 100 Product of 2010!  In late August we sent a request to our customers asking them to vote for us and they sure came out in droves.  Recognition as a Top 100 Product means a lot to the staff here at Intand and we are extremely grateful that are customers voted for us.  You can feel the energy here in the office today!

You can find the entire list of the Top 100 Products on the District Administration website.

Groups, Groups, and more Groups

With so many different kinds of “groups”, it may be tough to keep them straight.  Our goal is to give you the most flexibility, multiple levels of privacy, and full customization to make your calendar match your unique circumstances.  Here are the differences between the various groups that you may encounter:

User Viewing Groups: Determines who an event is visible to.  If you want to add an event for only Principals to see, then create a User Viewing Group called “Principals” and place those Principals into that group.  When they sign in, only they will be able to see those events.  Examples:  ‘Everyone’, ‘Private’ users, or a more specific group of people such as ‘Principals’.

Primary Groups:  Determines who can edit events once they are on the calendar.  If an event is added to the calendar by someone in the ‘ABC High School Calendar Management’ group, the event is now owned by that Primary Group.  Only other users in that same primary group with calendar operator permissions are able to edit that event.

Permission Groups:  These are assigned to users that need access to specific areas of the calendar, such as the ability to add events to the calendar or edit the list of facilities in your database.

Groups: These are the people (clubs, organizations, teams, etc.) that will be attending or participating in events.  Remember, users track groups that they are involved in or interested in, in order to receive email/text message notifications and updates for events.

Tandem Smart Brief: Outlook Vs. Tandem for Schools

This next installment of the Tandem Smart Brief series compares Microsoft Outlook to Tandem for Schools.  While Microsoft Outlook is intended for office use, some schools try to use it as a online academic calendar and have limited results.  Here are some highlights of the key differences between Tandem for Schools and Microsoft Outlook:

-Both can send email notifications

-Tandem can give directions to events

-Tandem can rent facilities online

View the entire Smart Brief: Outlook Vs. Tandem for Schools

Tandem Smart Brief: Google Calendar Vs. Tandem for Schools

When selecting a online school calendar it is important for a school to pick not just an online calendar but an online school calendar.  That is why we here at Intand have develop a series of Tandem Smart Briefs centered around comparing Tandem for Schools with other common calendaring systems.  The first installment or our series compares Google Calendar to Tandem for Schools.  Here are a few highlights:

-Booth are a hosted solutions

-Tandem has a simple and flexible approval system while Google Calendar does not.

-Tandem allows users to send text message updates

View the entire smart brief: Google Calendar vs. Tandem for Schools