NEWSLETTER

SMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

In this newsletter:

Are you having problems contacting your students?
Lecture venue changes? Time changes? Class cancellations? SMS texting may be the key to solving your problems.

Students would like their results sent by SMS
A recent survey by Orange has shown that students would like to receive their results by SMS.

Student Union uses SMS to keep its members clued up
Student Unions are beginning to see the benefits of using SMS to keep students informed of current events, jobs, finance advice etc.

SMS in Education Guide
A guide for Programme Administrators, Lecturers and IT Staff. Discover how SMS Server can help solve problems and create benefits for users in the Education sector.

Are you having problems contacting your students?

Have you ever considered that there may be a better way to keep in contact with your students? If a lecture time changes without notice, how do you inform all of your students? If a coursework deadline is altered, does your class find out instantly?

To telephone each and every student would be both time consuming and costly. Another option is to place the information on a notice board.

However, the probability of all students checking it regularly are slim to say the least. What about email? Perhaps not the best method where even today’s computer savvy students fail to check their emails on a daily basis. What other option is there? Your answer could lie with SMS text messages.

90% of students own a mobile phone There are more than four million students in UK further and higher education, with nearly 90% of them now owning mobile phones. Most are more than familiar with sending and receiving SMS text messages. In fact, text messaging is becoming as widespread as voice calls, mainly due to its ease of use and low cost.

The problem with SMS messaging is that it is 'tricky' to quickly type in the messages on a standard mobile phone and then distribute to groups of people.

Send SMS through email

Wouldn’t it be great if sending and receiving SMS was as easy as sending an email? Well now it is.

M:Science provides its SMS Server to the Educational sector which seamlessly integrates into existing email systems to allow you to send and receive instant SMS text messages as though you were sending a normal email. Imagine the benefits of having the ability to instantly contact your students.

• Make students aware instantly of Lecture venue/time changes or cancellations.
• Alert students to any event you may have planned.
• Inform students when course and grades are ready to be collected.
• Contact a specific student saving you money on telephone charges.
• Have the ability for students to text in a request which arrives in your email inbox and then reply directly to their mobile phone. (2-way interaction).
• Save £££ on the cost of calls. Each text message sent can cost as low as 6p.

M:Science SMS Server For more information on how M:Science SMS Server could benefit you email us.Alternately you could try out the product for yourself or request a web-demo from one of our advisors who will carefully guide you through the features and discuss your requirements.

Students would like their results sent by SMS

The governments E-envoy office (responsible for advising government on all IT/IS issues) have predicted that sending results by SMS will revolutionise and speed up the publication of exam results. In a recent study undertaken by Orange the majority of students would like to get their results by text message.

62% of students are in favour of getting their grades sent directly to their mobile phones, rather than having to rely on the postman to ensure they are delivered on time.

Convenience and freedom topped the list of reasons why text messages were seen as a good means of releasing the results.

David Taylor, Orange UK's commercial director is quoted as saying: "Most students own mobile phones and are familiar with sending and receiving information as text messages.”

Student Union uses SMS to keep its members clued up

Students at the National University of Ireland are being kept up-to-date with all the latest ‘goings on’ through the use of SMS. The Student Union has seen the benefits of using SMS to send messages to their students. Typical information given is:

• Latest social events
• Current events
• Job information
• Financial advice

As well as the above you could use SMS to interact with students, providing a useful channel, which would be of use to Student Unions around election time.

Imagine the possibilities of adding the capability of Text voting to your next big election. You could certainly expect a larger percentage of the student population to register their vote.

SMS in Education Guide

There are many ways in which SMS Server could help you:

Administration Staff

• Broadcast Lecture time\venue changes
• Alert students of events
• Contact specific student (save cost of telephoning)
• Notification of results awaiting collection
• Send grades/results via SMS

Lecturers

• Send meeting requests to specific   group/student(s)
• Alert students to changes in work

Student Union

• Notify students of latest events/gigs
• Enable interactive Text Voting (student elections, Radio/TV station)
• Send out tips/advice
• Send promotional texts

Finance Office

• Alert students when Loans cheques are available for collection
• Inform students when hardship loans/access funds are ready

IT Departments

• Send job information to mobile IT support & recieve replies back into your email inbox
• Setup SMS alerts for server crashes etc.

Marketing

• Send promotional texts to college\6th form students

About M:Science SMS Server M Science SMS Server provides a fully scalable, two way, end to end SMS solution for communication with customers, suppliers, prospects, remote personnel or anyone with a compatible GSM device. The product integrates with any SMTP compatible groupware system including Microsoft Exchange Server, Lotus Notes/Domino and Novell GroupWise thus minimising implementation and user training requirements. Messages are delivered and received via the Internet through the M Science Internet Service at www.m-science.com. On-line management features provide a complete live picture of the status of your account and all the facilities necessary to manage your SMS messaging requirements.