The Use of Targeted Bulk SMS Texting to Enhance Student Support,

Inclusion and Retention

Brendan Riordan John Traxler

Head of Database and Distributed Systems Learning and Teaching Research Fellow
School of Computing and IT Centre for Learning and Teaching
University of Wolverhampton, UK University of Wolverhampton, UK
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract

The University of Wolverhampton serves a region of suggest that SMS texting must also fit somewhere in
considerable social, economic and educational addressing UK higher education’s most pressing
diversity and disadvantage in the UK. The University problems, namely increased student participation and
is aware of the potential of mobile learning, teaching retention.
and administration in addressing the needs of its
students and it has national Centre of Excellence 2. The Technologies
(CETL) status for using innovative technologies in its
work. After several pilot projects with handheld In order to send SMS text from a computer,
computers and mobile phones (cell phones), it is now institutions and organisations can choose from
moving to a large-scale scheme that will use targeted various technologies. A very rough classification of
bulk SMS texting to enhance student support, the choices might be:
inclusion and retention.  Bought-in standalone SMS texting systems
 Component systems that integrate SMS
This paper examines the range of technologies and functionality into other applications
pedagogies that underlie the educational use of  Existing systems that offer SMS texting as a
texting, the institutional issues that the proposed feature to enhance their core functionality.
large-scale texting scheme must address and the Any of these systems will enable a user to send an
interim results and progress of the scheme prior to its SMS text but the user will also need to have bought
launch at the start of the academic year 2005/2006. messages, preferably in bulk at a discount. It is the
role of ‘aggregators’ to act as intermediaries and
1. Introduction buffers between the networks and the customers
(since the customers cannot anticipate the exact mix
Most people including educators and their students of networks of their recipients).
are unaware of the facts that SMS text messages can
be bought in bulk at a considerable discount and can In order to exploit the full educational potential of
be written and sent from a conventional computer, for SMS texting it will be necessary in the future for
example a networked desktop PC or wireless-enabled higher education to involve the value-added service
laptop PC, using an interface no more complex than a (VAS) providers that work alongside the aggregators.
standard office email client. This opens up enormous These providers are responsible for the development
possibilities for using mobile phones, as cell phones of all the enhancements to basic SMS that are now
are known in the UK, to enhance, supplement and very apparent in the retail, media, business and
support student learning. There is a convincing leisure sectors such as voting by SMS, gaming by
educational argument that we outline below that SMS SMS, weather forecasts, news alerts, sports results
texting must fit somewhere, however small, within and share prices by SMS.
every institution’s blend of learning and an equally
convincing business case that sets the costs of bulk In practice of course, some providers offer all three
SMS text messages against student fee income and of the services outlined above.
Standalone systems are widely available, usually as a application that will contain a simple address book,
download. Once installed they appear as an perhaps imported directed from an
other personal information management application In anticipation of the initiative described in this
or via a file, often CSV, created specifically for this paper, a survey across large first-year modules in
purpose by the other application, otherwise created most Schools of the University of Wolverhampton
by hand, and containing a minimum of names and showed that undergraduates were positively disposed
phone numbers. The application will also minimally to SMS text to support their studies. The following
contain the functionality to create and send an SMS figure shows results from a typical module:
text. The vendors will obviously sell bulk messages
at a discount and may also charge a fee for using the Which would be useful ? Yes No
software – the situation varies from vendor to vendor. Help with Studying 51 8
Room Changes 38 21
In the case of UK further and higher education, a Appointment Reminders 49 8
variety of institutional software systems may offer Library Recalls 39 18
SMS functionality as an extra. These include Revision Tips 42 15
university or college library management systems, Assessment Reminders 52 6
students’ academic records databases and Assessment Marks 52 7
virtual/managed learning environments Timetable Changes 53 6
(VLEs/MLEs). In general it is fair to say that the Assessment Feedback 41 17
vendors and developers of many of these types of Ignores 1 – 3 unknowns per row
systems are grappling with the challenges presented
by mobile devices (both handheld computers and
This survey followed one of students involved in the
mobile phones) and by mobile learners.
earlier pilot in the School of Computing and IT at the
University that showed the participants in an SMS
There are many technologies that move the
pilot generally felt it had been a useful and helpful
educational use of mobile phones beyond the
experience.
possibilities of 2.5G, for example WAP and MMS.
The key feature of SMS and 2.5G technology is that Yes, No Did not
it is the most ubiquitous and hence most socially 46 Returns Maybe
Definitely Way Answer
inclusive of all the current phone technologies. This Are you pleased
has enormous ramifications in terms of any business you took part in 43 2 0 1
the experiment?
model, and in terms of staff and student acceptance.
Did the
experiment help 40 5 0 1
3. Student Reactions in your studies?
Would you
recommend the
One of the key issues in implementing any scheme of experiment to
38 7 0 1
large-scale will be student acceptance and other students?
engagement. There have been several surveys that
help to define the extent of student reaction and
hence the envelope of possibilities. Another question looked at the typology of SMS uses

An early survey took place at Kingston University Which messages are most useful ?
(Alsop et al, 2002 [1]) where feedback from students 46 Returns Most Fairly Useless Did Not
showed a wide acceptance of personalised, timely, Useful Useful Answer
Urgent admin,
non-‘spam’ SMS text and a preference for “push” such as room 29 13 1 3
technologies over “pull” technologies, that is SMS changes
and email over web-sites and notice boards, as a way General
of receiving information. A large and reminders, eg
25 19 0 2
coursework
complementary survey by the Learning and Skills
deadlines
Development Agency (Attewell & Savill-Smith, Teaching
2003 [2]) of 18-24-yr-olds showed a universal materials such 39 7 0 0
acceptance of SMS and a preference for mobiles as revision tips
phones and games over handheld computers. Individual 33 12 0 0
feedback on
 coursework
Individual These examples are probably all, to a greater or lesser
admin such as 18 24 0 0
appointments extent, a mixture of learning and teaching
methodologies, difficult to extricate. We can however
examine SMS texting in order to assess its capacity to
All this survey work suggested that there was a role support a range of theoretical models. The most
for institutional SMS text within the University of obvious dichotomy is between transmissive and
Wolverhampton. discursive learning.

Transmissive learning focuses on content, for

4. Recent Work
example knowledge, information, facts, procedures
and rules, being transmitted from teacher to learner.
Some examples of the recent use of SMS text for
In face-to-face teaching, this takes place using
learning and teaching include a scheme to assist
lectures, books and handouts whilst in technology
tourists arriving at Athens for the 2004 Olympics to
supported learning it takes place using web pages,
learn Greek at the Olympics (Pincas, 2004 [5]). On
CAL packages or virtual learning environments.
registration, the tourists received a daily quota of
Mobile learning with SMS text already offers a
Greek vocabulary and using an intelligent back-end
similar range of choices.
to the system could receive SMS text to learn
additional Greek words. The m-learning project did
Discursive learning focuses on learners, perhaps
something similar with substance-abuse education for
facilitated by a teacher or a moderator, coming to a
young people
greater understanding of their subject by shared
(http://www.m-learning.org/index.shtml). Posters
discussion. In face-to-face teaching, this takes place
were produced with an eye-catching MCQ test and
using seminars, discussions and tutorials. In the
young people were invited to try the quiz by texting
course of the last ten to fifteen years, the use of
their answers to the number given on the poster. They
technology, especially networked computers working
then received feedback.
with distance learning students, has provided
increasing support and richness for this discursive
SMS texting has been used to provide daily support
element of learning. Technical advances have added
for teaching Italian vocabulary to Australian
visual and aural dimensions to the originally textual
language students at university (Levy & Kennedy,
format of web-based meetings and conferences in
2005 [4]). This particular account also draws together
synchronous and asynchronous modes. SMS texting
one of the best current reviews of the literature of
is beginning to support this form of learning. The
SMS in teaching and learning. Another account talks
strategies to support and enhance online educational
of using SMS to teach literature in Germany (Hoppe,
conferences and meetings are now relatively stable
2004 [3]). There are also several informally
and established (Salmon, 2004 [6]) and depend
documented accounts of SMS use: one is from
crucially on the idea of an “e-moderator”. Within the
Knowsley in April 2001, an area of Liverpool, UK
technical limitations, for example usability, we
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1296942.stm),
should look to extend these ideas into mobile
another from Wales in February 2003 where there are
learning, specifically SMS texting, with m-
reports of a BBC scheme to teach Welsh using SMS
moderating.
linked to face-to-face sessions
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2798701.stm).
The University hopes to develop both these strands of
Blogging (and self-evaluation, reflection) are
teaching and learning once the infrastructure and the
supported by an increasing variety of SMS
operational uses are tested and established.
technologies (as well as other mobile phone
technologies)
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3497596.stm) 6. Institutional SMS
reported on 10 Mar 2004. Google, the widely used
Internet search engine now has an SMS interface Large-scale sustained institutional SMS will depend
available in the USA giving in the first instance on addressing a variety of non-technical, non-
limited functionality. pedagogic factors. These will include:
 up-to-date data, specifically student mobile
phone numbers, preferably from pre-
5. Modes of Learning and Teaching
 enrolment web-based enrolling, with an on- say, the same data protection obligations must apply
line student update facility as already do so for email and snail mail.
 address books by organised by course,
module, School, campus, year, etc 8. Other Institutional Issues
 a budget and business case that articulates
extent for addressing lost fee income There is a range of broader issues associated with the
 training and staff development that institutional use of SMS. These include:
differentiates between administration,  Understanding the cost-benefit relationships,
teaching and IT the possible business cases and revenue
 durable student support and buy-in streams (if any)
 further research on the ethnography and  Accessibility, especially SENDA in UK or
pedagogy of SMS comparable legislation relating the equality
of access to educational provision
The University has a range of measures to explore  Usability, ergonomics and design issues
these and is currently working with a range of small  Quality Assurance, and fitness-for-purpose
pilots. in the context of formally accredited courses
and provision in an institutional context
7. Ethical and Legal Issues  Monitoring, Evaluation, Validation issues
 Equity, especially what about non-owners?
There is also a legal dimension to our initiative that  Ethics, for example SMS-etiquette, spam,
must be explored: in the UK, the medium with which consent
we communicate to students in itself does not affect
the law relating to privacy and security expectations These will all need to be addressed within a specific
of students. Whichever method we employ, the eight institutional context before the University can
data protection principles will apply as set out in the proceed with large-scale institutional deployment.
Data Protection Act 1998. These will have feature in
the development of the University scheme.
9. References
As it becomes more common for SMS to be used as a
communication method between universities and [1] Alsop, G., Briggs, J., Stone, A. and Tompsett, C., “M-
students, we feel that good practice would be for Learning As A Means Of Supporting Learners:
students to be informed at the outset that this is a Tomorrow’s Technologies Are Already Here, How Can
means by which the University will communicate We Most Effectively Use Them In The E-Learning Age?”
with them. However as students may opt not to Networked Learning 2002, Proceedings of the Third
International Conference on e-Learning in Higher
provide a mobile number for whatever reason, it is
Education and Lifelong Learning, Sheffield, March, 2002
inadvisable for the University to make this the only
means of communication - some students may not [2] Attewell, J., & Savill-Smith, C. (2003). Young People,
have a mobile phone, may not use the texting facility Mobile Phones and Learning. London: Learning and Skills
etc (both admittedly unlikely these days) or may be Development Agency.
unable to read the messages (e.g. because of
disability considerations) and thus the University [3] Hoppe, H. U. (2004). SMS-based Discussions -
could fall foul of discrimination legislation if an Technology Enhanced Collaboration for A Literature
alternative were not made available. Course. Proceedings of WMTE, National Central
University, Taiwan:
We must ensure that any messages relate to [4] Levy, M., & Kennedy, C. (2005). Learning Italian via
university 'business' and are not used as e.g. an Mobile SMS. In A. Kukulska-Hulme & J. Traxler (Eds.),
income stream for marketing or sponsorship Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers.
purposes. The latter would then involve legal issues London: Routledge.
surrounding marketing and unsolicited mail and
potentially having to provide opt out opportunities. [5] Pincas, A, (2005), Using Mobile Phone Support for Use
We recognise that there may also be security issues of Greek During the Olympic Games 2004 (The Inlet
for the University as the data controller i.e. is the Project), International Journal of Instructional Technology
and Distance Learning, online at
SMS server secure, is storage secure etc - that is to
http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jun_04/article01.htm (accessed
20 June 2005)

[6] Salmon, G. (2000). e-moderating - the key to teaching

and learning online (F. Lockwood, Ed.). London: Kogan
Page.