WebedtecH

Mobile technology is growing by leaps and bounds in the U.S. and as such we’re finally catching up with the rest of the world in SMS or “texting.” The question is can educational technology apply this effectively for parents, faculty, and students?

Closing the loop

The frenetic nature of families causes them to be in many places at once.  Sports practice, school, work, extracurricular activities, they all take their toll on the “together-time” that many of us grew up with.  Texting gives schools the opportunity to reach out to families, students, and staff in a more convenient manner for most.  Information can be broadcast to a number of people easily through SMS services.  Groups can be selectively notified of events and news based on groups.  In aggregation it would appear that SMS services have many of the strengths of email with a faster delivery time and fewer issues.  However there are a number of things that must be taken into consideration before approaching a texting solution.

Dollars and sense

In most cases, SMS messages still charge the receiver as well as the sender of the message.  This can be an issue and not something you want to overlook.  If you send out 10 messages in a month you could be charging each recipient $1.00 based on  their phone service.  Making text messaging a service people can opt-in to is a much better idea than making it mandatory.  If you do make it optional, it cannot be your primary mode of contact.  It must be considered part of your overall communications plan.

Brevity is not always best

SMS messages by design are short and to the point.  When communicating something simple such as a school closing due to weather you may be fine.  Sharing something more involved or requiring greater explanation is not a good use of SMS.  Information can be misunderstood leading to issues, rumor, and innuendo.  Recommendation:  if you have something important to share and you use SMS, tell them to go to your web site for details and post the information there.

Rain, snow, dark of night

Not unlike email you have no way of knowing whether someone received your message unless you ask them.  Some systems do offer delivery confirmation but that is only if they are on the same carrier network as the receiver.   Establishing SMS as a early notification and reminder of notices  you have placed in other locations is a much more effective use because you are training your audience if all else fails to go to the source of the information.

The use of text messaging by schools isn’t nearly as controversial as text messaging by students but if you’re planning on implementing this type of a solution you need to take a much closer look at your mobile technology acceptable use plans and make sure they aren’t in conflict with your strategy.

I have been a strong advocate of Evernote for quite some time now and the addition of Evernote Mobile as an extension of the web solution makes it that much more a vital part of my organizational toolbox. Evernote Mobile can capture text, pictures, and voice notes and synchronize them with the web account and the desktop. Using this you can capture whatever is necessary and send it right to your inbox without giving it a second thought. Now combine those functions will the option to search your posted notes and retrieve them anywhere and you have a one-two punch.

You can read all the details about how the application works at the Evernote web site, so how about I give you some ideas as to how I put it to use. Here’s a normal day of Evernote Mobile usage for me:

Start of the day:

Each morning I’ll pop open my Evernote Mobile and jot down anything that has occured to me during the night or over coffee that needs to be addressed. A simple text note takes care of this. (I know, GTD says handle everything only once so it should be going into my Task List right away…but it takes way less time this way.) Finish the morning routine (other steps I’ll describe in future articles) and I’m out the door.

Morning commute:

I have an hour commute each way so I have plenty of time to think. It’s not safe to text while you drive (I’d never do that ) so I frequently use the audio capture function to record short and long notes to myself and store them in Evernote. Blog ideas, discussion topics, problem solutions, research topics, whatever comes to mind.

Listing to my satellite radio there are many times when I will hear an artist I haven’t heard before and want to track down their works when I get to my computer. I tried using the audio recorder on Evernote, but that proved unreliable for this aspect (though I could probably just record the artist name and song title). Instead I use the photo capture to take a snapshot of the radio display to get the artist name and song name quickly.

At work:

This is where Evernote Mobile really shines. I’m in and out of conference rooms and buildings all day long, many of which have questionable cellular coverage. By switching my Evernote Mobile to “pause” I can capture information without any connection at all. If I have a connection it’s that much better since then I can search for information just as easily as I can capture it.

Evening commute:

See “Morning commute”

Back home:

Grocery lists, to do lists, snapshots of birthday party invitations, event schedules, you name it…it goes into Evernote. I use the mobile app to speed up the capture and move onto the next item. No reason to waste time, just capture and go.

As you can see, my main input into my system is Evernote and Evernote Mobile. Mind you, they are not the only way into the system, but they have proven their worth time and time again in capturing and holding all the random information I would normally be writing down and struggling to retrieve.

Application Number 2 – Keeping things in sync

ACU dishing out iPhone / iPod touch to all incoming freshmen – Engadget

Reportedly, the handhelds will enable students to “receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors’ offices, and check their meal and account balances” — and that’s just for starters. Interestingly, we aren’t told whether or not the folks already enrolled will be left out — nor what determines which Apple you get — but we do know that the entity is hoping to “expand the program in the future.”

For some reason I remember this being done when Palm computers were all the rage?  Is it we have a new hammer and the world looks like a nail?