First, apologies to those of you reading this who don’t like to see ‘text speak’ used in this context. I admit that I am actually one of  those who generally prefer to write and punctuate text messages as I would any piece of writing but in the interests of the content of this blog post I wanted the title to be relevant and mildly engaging at the very least!

Today I wanted to share my thoughts about text messaging in an educational context … but what has prompted me to do this? Mobile phones are everywhere and although some of us use them (not just for making calls) much more than others, the fact that it is a technology that the majority of learners have and are familiar and comfortable with makes it seem like a ‘tool’ to be seriously considered to support learning, teaching and the general learner experience. My colleague Christine’s post in February about mobile phones being a blessing or a curse and my musings on the Horizon Report 2009 have already considered this topic but in response to several requests for more information about using SMS text messaging in an educational context and Christine’s most recent post where she mentioned our ‘text wall’ I wanted to say a bit more.

We (at RSC Wales) have been taking advantage of the fact that most people have mobile phones with them wherever they go by using a ‘text wall’ as a communication tool at events, workshops and staff development sessions to collect feedback and comments and to gather and then respond to questions. The main function (imo) of the xLearn text wall we are using (originally heard about through JISC TechDis) is as a tool to gather, in one easily accessible online place, text message communications. These ‘communications’ could be comments, thoughts, questions, responses to specific queries or even tasks … all things that we want to happen in a teaching and learning environment. This particular text wall can also be used to send texts to individuals or groups but this is not something we have felt the need to do to any great extent as of yet. Here is an example of the kinds of text wall communications we had with the delegates at our July 2009 event ‘Integration Learning Together’, where we used it as one way of collecting general responses to the day as well as gathering questions for Martin Dougiamas who was presenting to us (and receiving the questions directly through the text wall) live from Australia.

However, this is only one way that text messaging is being used/can be used in an educational context. A number of organisations are now using text messaging services like Edu txt or Janet txt to stay in touch with their learners … texting notices, timetables changes, etc … and interest seems to be increasing in this kind of service. In response to this interest I have gathered together some basic notes on the range of SMS/text message services that are now available for those in an education context. Here are my notes on the types of text messaging services that are currently being used within education.

I know that we all choose to use our mobile phones in different ways today and that many see mobile phones as a distraction to learning rather than as a handy tool … but I think that much as any tool generally has a primary purpose, we also eventually find other good uses for it (a ruler is to measure accurately but also to draw straight lines, track text as you read, mark the place in a book …) as we become more familiar with it. But then thinking about what I have just said, isn’t the primary purpose of a mobile phone to be able to communicate and stay in touch … and isn’t that what we want to do with our learners anyway?