Text Messaging in Online Teaching

An Online Educator’s Journey

Presentation by Jason Rhode, Ph.D. | jrhode@niu.edu | niu.edu/jrhode | twitter.com/jrhode

jasonrho.de/IOCmobile11

FactsSources

April 20, 2010 report by Pew Internet and American Life Project http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx

June 17, 2010 Wired Campus Report http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/student-smartphone-use-doubles-instant-

messaging-loses-favor/24876

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75% of 12-17 year-olds own cell phonesPhoto credit: flickr.com/photos/librarianguish/4594070690

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• fdsa

50% of teens send 50 or more text messages a day; 30% send more than 100 texts a day

Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/yourdon/3478186431

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• gfds

99.8% of college students own one or more cell phones5

Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/yourdon/4303061929

• Nm,

49% of phone-owning students have smartphones6

Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/danzen/4387877247

• fda

97% of students use text messaging as their main form of communication

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Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/irisheyes/5431140

Google Voice

voice.google.com8

google.com/googlevoice/about.html9

Google Voice App

10google.com/mobile/voice

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List of SMS Gateways

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SMS_gateways13

Student Option to Opt-in

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Twitter

twitter.com/ionsn111119

My Experience

jasonrhode.com/howtosms20

Findings Thus Far

• Students who opted-in responded that they’ve found text messages helpful

• Students with text message capabilities stated they’d be likely to opt-in to receive text messaging course updates in future

• Only a few have sent text messages to instructor

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Review of Email-to-SMS Steps

1) Setup Google Voice account & installed GV app on my phone

2) Gave students my Google Voice number3) Invited students to opt-in to receiving sms

communications, requesting their mobile number and provider

4) Created sms list with gateway email addresses5) Sent welcome text via Google Voice

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Presenter Contact Info

Jason Rhodejrhode@niu.edu (email)twitter.com/jrhode (twitter)jasonrhode.com (blog)niu.edu/jrhode (web)815.209.9783 (phone)

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