Famundo

Introduction

Famundo is an online calendar that is regulated by Famundo, LLC, a consumer technology team out of Southern California. The purpose of the software is to manage address books, calendars, a library, shopping lists, etc. No software download is necessary. This program runs off a server base that is entirely free and is accessible from any computer connected to the Internet.

Famundo users may choose from two basic formats; family and organizations. Family members can customize their thematic home page with an assortment of scheduling and information options. Each family member, with individual login names, can access information from the home page.

Famundo users also have the option to select information that they would like to make public and private among other users like family and friends. Ultimately parents are in control. Even though a child designates something as private, this will only apply to other children within the family. Parents have complete reading privileges of a child's site.

"Famundo grew out of our desire to find a solution to manage the daily onslaught of scheduling and communication needs of our families and to bring some sanity to today's hectic lifestyle."

Richard Kuhlenschmidt, CEO, Famundo LLC

Use in education

Famundo is a wonderful tool that is free and easy to use. Educators can use Famundo in many ways.

1. Organization

Famundo offers a free online calendar where teachers and students can share upcoming events. Teachers can manage schedules that their students will easily be able to understand and handle. It provides teachers with an easy way to avoid scheduling conflicts and a centralized place for your event planning. Teachers are not only able to organize schedules but are also able to easily organize files uploaded or made in Famundo.

2. Privacy

Privacy is very important when dealing with student files. Famundo offers 3 levels of add/edit access and 5 levels of view access for any item, including calendars, events or documents. It assures that only the right people have access to information that deals with teachers and especially students. Only specified members are allowed to browse, edit, and view Famundo accounts.

3. Communication

Famundo's calendar view allows teachers, students, and parents to select the specific information they want to see. You get a clear and detailed picture of only the events that are important to you.

For example, a parent may wish to view their kids' 3rd and 6th grade class schedulesor the PTA schedule all in one clear and concise display.

As events are added or changed, it is reflected on their personal Famundo calendar.

Examples of use in education

The importance of teacher-student-parent dialogue can be established with the use of web-based application Famundo. A one-stop calendar, the schedules of those you have shared calendars with can be viewed -- in an integrated manner -- with your own calendar. And they're clearly identifiable by color.

It is a calendar for every facet of your life and can be viewed by different levels and edited by different level authorship. It's so easy to add a new event. Famundo provides a to-do list integrated with the calendar.

Collaboratively you can schedule everything from soccer practice to family fun night or build to-do lists and shopping lists from the comfort of your browser. Let's say your school, church, and scout troop are using Famundo, you can simply visit their site, select the calendar you are interested in and subscribe. You can even designate which family member these events belong to. [[Image:<img src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd58/missy_pumbaa/famundo.jpg">]] A school administrator can build class schedules for different sites. These individual calendars can be edited by the teachers while the same calendar can be viewed by parents and students. Parents and/or students can subscribe to the calendar and add it to their own collection of calendars and integrate it into their own individualized event planner.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Famundo has many advantages such as it eliminates one of the most stressful factors in today’s life, keeping the school and family schedules in sync. By providing a version both schools and families, a family’s schedule is automatically kept up to date. Famundo offers different community organizations you belong to like schools, churches and sports teams. Individuals can use the basic program for free and there is nothing to install. Famundo for Families PLUS is a pay-as-you-go service. Pay for it as long as you need it. There are no long term contracts, no sign-up fees and no termination fees. You can cancel at any time. It’s all hosted on Famundo’s secure servers. Basically Famundo simplifies your scheduling processes, keeps your information private and confidential and it simplifies the communication process. But of course Famundo does have some disadvantages such as you are only limited to 250MB of storage on the basic plan and if you want to upgrade storage you would have to switch to the Families PLUS plan and pay $10.00 per month. This was one of the major drawbacks of Famundo due to the pricing, $10.00 was way to much money to be paying for that amount of storage space. Another disadvantage is that Famundo families cannot invite other families to build a large user base.

References

Cashmore, Pete. December 2006. For Family and Finance, Try Famundo and Fygo. Retrieved on November 20, 2007 from http://mashable.com/2006/12/20/for-family-and-finance-try-famundo-and-fygo.

Kuhlenschmidt, Richard. October 2007. Famundo launches new fundraising program for schools. Retrieved on November 20, 2007 form http://www.famundo.com/press_release/128-Famundo+launches+new+fundraising+program+for+schools.

(No author). Retrieved on November 20, 2007 from http://www.famundo.com.