SMS Text and Students. SMS and Students Blog

Posted by Fox on June 15, 2008 at 3:30 PM

PageOne, the UK's leading messaging technology company, today announces it has launched an open source Moodle module to allow Moodle Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) users access to its JANET txt messaging service.

PageOne have developed the new plug-in called 'MoodleMobile,' in conjunction with Kidderminster College. It allows users to send and receive text messages directly within Moodle, using PageOne's JANET txt messaging service. JANET txt is a low cost suite of secure SMS-based messaging services provided by PageOne on behalf of JANET (UK), one of the world's leading network infrastructures dedicated to the needs of the education and research communities in the UK.

Those working within the education sector can download the new MoodleMobile plug-in on PageOne's website, and give their feedback on the service. (

http://www.pageonejanettxt.com

).

MoodleMobile allows you to send a message to any of your existing contact groups, enabling a large number of people to be contacted simultaneously. Users simply select a message recipient from their existing contact list, enter the message, and click 'send'. Messages can be sent to as many or as few people as required, as well as allowing users to select individual recipients from a list. By extending communications in the VLE to include messaging, educational institutions hope to enhance user experience and increase the likelihood of learning success.

"Messaging has grown to be an increasingly effective communication tool amongst schools, colleges and universities," said Chris Jones, CEO, PageOne. "We are delighted by the response we have received so far from members of the education community, and look forward to further developments planned for MoodleMobile over the coming months"

Posted by Fox on June 27, 2007 at 3:31 PM

SchoolMessenger, a leading U.S. parental notification company, today announced that it will add SMS text messaging capabilities to its entire product family on July 1.

The SMS text messaging enables the rapid and reliable delivery of messages to mobile devices, adding an additional delivery path to SchoolMessenger's existing voice messaging and email capabilities.

"In today's schools, educators need the fastest, most reliable tools available to get the word out to parents and staff," said Kent Lowry, president of SchoolMessenger, a division of Reliance Communications. "True SMS text messaging was designed and built from the ground up for communications to and from cell phones. It delivers a superior level of performance and convenience compared to some text messaging alternatives, and is a great addition to sending a personalized voice message or email."

SchoolMessenger SMS is designed to leverage the platform, protocols and gateways intended for text messaging. There are no carrier-specific requirements to consider, and messages arrive fully-formatted, accurate and in full. Unlike an email, or an email-to-text message, which travel through multiple servers on their way to being read, true SMS messages go directly to the mobile carrier. Fewer stops in the process greatly diminishes the chance for latency, delays and errors.

Whether sending a voice message, and email or an SMS text message, the SchoolMessenger customer interface remains the same. In addition, SchoolMessenger SMS leverages existing data integration tools from the company to ensure that contact information is always up to date and accurate.

Link : schoolmessenger.com

Posted by Fox on June 20, 2007 at 4:21 PM

I'm working like at madman to finish of some major tweaks on this site. You may notice one or two pages not working at intended. I should be done in a couple of hours.

Posted by Fox on April 19, 2007 at 3:53 PM

Not as sinister as it first reads. Apparently mobile phones were banned from the exam and only 50% of the answers were correct. Suckers!

Senior high school students in Bandung, West Java, told journalists Wednesday that they had received the answers to the national exams through SMS text messages on their cell phones.

Rara (not her real name) said she had received the answers to the maths and economics exams at 5 a.m. on Wednesday by SMS text, the day of the two exams.

She said that half of the answers were correct. She had also received an SMS text message containing the answers to the Bahasa Indonesia test the day before. Each SMS text message also contained instructions saying "spread this but check it first".

Link : Read the full story

Posted by Fox on April 18, 2007 at 11:12 AM

Following the recent and very tragic Virginia Tech Massacre, there have been numerous calls for Emergency SMS Text Broadcast systems to be placed in Schools and Universities. Of course any system that reduces casualties in any event is a great idea, but SMS text is one of the least effective in the specific case of Schools or Universities. Why? Having discussed this with my 14 year old son, the list is large.

Okay, imagine you are sat in class. BEEP BEEP. You and 20 fellow students reach in to your bag or pocket... "gunman on rampage on campus. stay in class & lock the door". Now imagine the panic of you and your fellow students...

continued...

Posted by Fox on April 18, 2007 at 8:20 AM

Over the past couple of days I've read numerous articles on the how an emergency SMS Text broadcast service could have saved lives at the Virginia Tech Massacre. One of the better articles was written by Andy Carvin.

My only comment is that the technology to send SMS text to groups of people has long been available, it's just a case of implementing it.

I know I've said this each time a disaster has happened over the last couple of years, but why the hell don't we have an emergency SMS Text broadcasting tool that can be used to send warnings to every cell phone in a given area or to a given group?

Link: Read the full article

Posted by Fox on April 17, 2007 at 8:45 PM

I wonder whether the students may do better if they didn't have their mobile phones in the school, in the first place. Hey, what do I know?

Freeport High School (Maine) plans to engage students and enhance learning opportunities with a 42-inch plasma screen in the school hall. Goals include an SAT testing game and a substance awareness campaign, both of which will highlight questions and information on the school’s screen and engage students to respond via SMS text messaging using their cell phones.

The screen will highlight, in real-time, collective student responses, and the answers will be sent to their phones and prompt recipients with the option to receive more daily tips via their cell phones.

Link: Read the full article