Text Messaging for Student Communication and Voting

Abstract

Text messaging has gained widespread popularity in higher education as a communication tool and as a means of engaging students in the learning process. In this study we report on the use of text messaging in a large, year-one introductory chemistry module where students were encouraged to send questions and queries to a dedicated text number both during lectures and at other times when support with module material was required. Questions were answered either verbally during the lecture itself, at a subsequent tutorial or via a reply back to the student’s mobile phone. SMS texting was also used as a rapid system for communicating results of a class test following a peer assessment exercise. With knowledge only of the student’s registration number a text message can be sent to a dedicated text number and then forwarded by mail filtering rules to the recipient student’s mobile phone. Finally, text messaging was evaluated as an in-class voting system to conduct short multiple choice quizzes on material being covered in a bioanalytical chemistry lecture without the need for bespoke handsets or specialist software. Students commented favourably on the use of text messaging in these contexts.