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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.

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• Text Messaging for Student Communication and Voting. (deposited 04 Feb 2011 11:07) [Currently Displayed]