Improving communication through mobile technologies: which possibilities?

Using text messaging to support administrative communication in higher education

“…Results from the Oftel Residential Survey indicate that 88 per cent of respondents between the ages of 15 and 34 owned or used a mobile phone in February 2003, up from 83 per cent in 2001 (Office for National Statistics, 2006).A survey conducted during the same month at the University of Dundee (2006) found that 96 per cent of student respondents owned a mobile phone and 86 per cent had previous used the short message service (SMS), or text messaging as it is popularly known. Similar surveys conducted in the UK (Griffiths and Hmer, 2004), Norway (Divitini et al, 2002) and Japan (Dias, 2002;Thornton and Houser, 2004) confirm these findings of widespread use of mobile phones amongst young people in higher education.…”

“…The students also were not able to resolve the contradiction that text messaging presented in their ability to communicate information back to the institution, and instead continued to rely on email. This was somewhat surprising, as previous authors have suggested that text messages should be used as a two-way form of communication (see, for example, Divitini et al, 2002;Griffiths and James, 2005) and the previous IFP cohort had indicated they would use such a service for a variety of queries. The expressed need from this cohort to ensure that they were understood may be related to their insecurity communicating in a second language.…”

“…It is thus necessary to view the use of text messaging in the context of other communication sent by the institution. Students should be able to set their own rules about what information they receive, as mobile phones are personal tools (Divitini et al, 2002). Text messages are also associated with personal contact and, as such, 'careful consideration needs to be given to the human tone of the messages' (Stone and Briggs, 2003: 13).…”

“…By including this special email address, the user is indicating that all of the recipients in the 'To:' line should receive both an email and a text message. Text messages can thus be sent to either individuals or groups, which is a necessary requirement according to Divitini et al (2002). There are no restrictions on the number of recipients and it is not necessary to list a special email address for each user.…”

Proceedings of the 16th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning

“…The facilitation of improved communication and interaction between staff and students in the university environment via mobile technologies has been considered also by Divitini, Haugalokken, and Norevik (2002), Beale and Jones (2004), and McGovern and Gray (2005), with Field (2005) considering the blended learning environment. The delivery of appropriate administrative support as well as timely course content is a key element to engagement in the increasingly competitive communication environment, where "information overload" or a high cognitive load (Frohberg, 2004) is of real concern.…”