SMS gets message across
The university’s distance education unit turned to SMS technology to keep in touch with its students when it discovered that almost none had Internet or e-mail access — but nearly all had cellphones.
“It was fairly shocking to discover that our students, who are mostly senior teachers over the age of 35 with three year qualifications, had so little access to computer technology,” says the unit’s manager Johan Hendrikz.
At first, SMSes were sent out to advise students that their course work had been posted and to provide them with reference numbers so the university could pursue cases of nondelivery but, before long, the unit was SMSing students to remind them to submit assignments and register for exams.
“We could clearly see the impact,” says Hendrikz. “If we sent out SMSes reminding students to register for a contact session, within 10 minutes the faxes would start buzzing.”
Over time, a comprehensive SMS support system was developed and integrated into the unit’s student communication strategy. This year, the unit has sent out more than 230000 SMSes to over 13000 students.
What makes the system unique is that it also incorporates several academic SMS tools to enrich the learning environment. The hope was that this would reduce the perceptual distance between learners and the university and reduce the drop-out rate, explains Hendrikz.
The tools include an SMS-based quiz; open time when students can SMS questions to lecturers and receive a personal reply; a minilecture delivered via inter voice recording technology; and a short appraisal of assignments — delivered by the lecturer.
“We conducted research across more than 3000 students and found that for them the most important consequence of the SMS support system is that it motivates them to persist with their studies,” says Hendrikz. “If we achieve only that, then that alone is valuable.”
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