Using Text-Messaging in the Secondary Classroom

Using Text-Messaging

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Using Text-Messaging in the Secondary Classroom Kevin M. Thomas University of Bellarmine Louisville, KY Corrie Orthober University of Bellarmine Louisville, KY

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Using Text-Messaging

Abstract To examine the potential uses of and barriers to using text-messaging in a secondary school setting, this study asked three classes of high school students to use their personal cell phones to receive course related textmessages from their teachers. Of 66 students enrolled in one Latin and two English classes, 46 (70%) agreed to receive text-messages from their instructor. The two classroom teachers sent text-messages to participants concerning a variety of course related topics. Results indicate that students found the text-messages to be beneficial in expanding the boundaries of the classroom and increasing course related interaction, but the lack of access to all students warrants further research to more fully explore classroom applications of text-messaging.

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Introduction The ubiquitous nature of cell phones has changed the way many people conduct their personal and professional lives. In no group is this more obvious than with teenagers. For today’s generation of teens, cell phones are as much a part of their culture as rap music and Red Bull. Getting a cell phone is a teenage rite of passage of the magnitude once reserved for getting a driver’s license. Students personalize their phones with color choice, faceplates, screen savers and ring tones. When cell phones first appeared almost a decade ago, school systems banned students from bringing them on school grounds. After the Columbine tragedy, schools reluctantly acquiesced to parental pressure to allow cell phones in schools, with the understanding that they were not to be visible during school hours. This, inadvertently, opened a Pandora’s Box of problems for educators. The crux of the problems with cell phones in schools is not students’ desire to make calls from school. It is something much more insidious—text-messaging. Mobile phone users now send more text-messages than they make phone calls and teens (13-17) send more text than any other age group (Nielsen 2008).

Text-messages can be sent from one mobile provider to another using the Short Message Service (SMS) capacity that is built into the Groupe Spéciale Mobile (GSM) wireless standard of most cell phones (Newton 2000). A 2005 study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that almost half (45%) of all teens and 57% of teens age 15-17 have cell phones. Of the 11 million plus teens who have cell phones, 36%, up from 33% in 2005, of them are sending textmessages (Pew 2008). Teens use text-messaging for a variety of communication tasks: arranging times to meet, coordinating with friends, chatting and gossiping and coordinating with family (Grinter & Eldridge 2001).When one considers constructivist learning theory’s emphasis on

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communication (Vygotsky, 1978) and technology’s ability to promote student to student, student to content and student to teacher interaction (Jonassen 1998; Thomas 2008), text-messaging would appear to have instructional merit. When one pairs this with the fact that teens are freely using text-messaging in vast numbers, the instructional potential seems all the more alluring. With this in mind, one might ask, “Instead of trying to stop teens from texting, should we be texting with them about curriculum issues?” It was with this question in mind that this study was conducted. The purpose was to explore the benefits and barriers associated with implementing the use of text-messaging for classroom communication between students and their teachers in a secondary school.

Related Literature Text-messaging is an attractive tool for use in the classroom because the size of cell phones makes them unobtrusive, the majority of the students are already familiar with their operation, and students find that texting complements classroom interaction (Motiwalla, 2007). Students love text-messaging because they have found it to be “quick, cheap, and easy to use” (Grinter & Eldridge, 2001, p. 220). In fact, they prefer to use it over more traditional means of communication like land line phones, email, instant message, even calling on their cell phones (Grinter & Eldridge). Students prefer it to these other forms for several reasons. First, the 160 characters allowed by SMS technology forces students to keep their messages short. The terseness this requires is noted as a benefit by students who say this allows them to get quick, short answers and avoid the social conventions normally associated with conversations and keeps people from going off topic. Second, students state they have grown accustom to the interface and this allows them to write messages quickly (Grinter and Eldridge).

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Regardless of the fact that students are already enamored with texting, the potential benefits of utilizing text-messaging in the classroom are numerous. Like many other forms of computer mediated communication (CMC), text-messaging has the capability to support interaction (student to student, student to instruction and students to content) from anyplace and at anytime (Liu, 2003; Markett, 2006; Motiwalla, 2007; Stones, Briggs & Smith, 2002). This anytime, anyplace convenience has been cited by students as advantageous because it allows them to multitask. Motiwalla found that students like the fact that the versatility of cell phones/textmessaging gives them the ability to access course material and communicate with peers and teachers in what would otherwise be periods of dead time--- including while they are riding on the bus, waiting to be picked up, or at an appointment Texting also has certain features that make it the preferred choice of communication for students. Texting is quiet (Grinter & Eldridge, 2001; Mitchell, Heppel & Kadiriere, 2002). This feature allows students to communicate and collaborate in situations that would normally not allow it---for example in the library).

Another instructional benefit of text-messaging is the asynchronous nature of texting which allows students time for reflection. The reflective nature of texting is also supported by the archival feature of text-messaging that permits students to follow the interaction (Markett, 2006). Students may think of a comment or point to add to a previous classroom discussion after leaving school, and texting allows them to add this comment to the discussion. Similarly, some students may not feel comfortable making comments in the classroom. This could be due to certain students tending to dominate classroom discussion or because a student is shy. Again, texting provides a place for these students to participate in the classroom discussion (Davis, 2003; Markett, 2006).

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There are many benefits to embracing these “mini-terminals for text-based communication” (Grinter and Eldridge, 2001, p. 219) for use in the K-12 classroom. Due to the omnipresent nature of cell phones the majority of students are already in possession of them and are extremely well versed in their use. Therefore, expenditure and training would be minimal. Additionally, text-messaging via cell phones supports a wide array of instructional benefits including anywhere and anytime interaction with peers, instructors and course content as well as providing a medium to receive, reflect upon and communicate with classmates concerning courses related material.

Methodology Course and Participants Participants were taken from three classes: two sophomore advanced placement English classes (23 students in one class and 22 in the other) and one first year Latin class (21 students). Students’ ages ranged from 15-17 years of age. The students attend a large, urban school in a southern state. The school is on a block schedule format. The school year consists of two semesters. Students take four 90 minute classes each semester.

At the beginning of the spring semester of 2008, the sixty-six students (27 males and 39 females) in the three classes were given the option of receiving course related emails from their instructors. Students were told that they would receive reminders about test and homework as well as other text concerning class assignments. However, participation was voluntary. Those students who wished to participate were instructed to send their instructor an email with their area code, cell phone numbers and the names of their cell phone service providers. These

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numbers were then place in a group list. Of the sixty-six students, 46 (70%) elected to receive text-messages from their instructor. Since the purpose of the study was to understand the benefits and barriers to using text-messaging in the classroom, it was important to also discover why student chose not to receive texts from their instructors. For this reason, all sixty-six students completed a survey at the end of the semester.

Data Collection Data was collected from three sources: student surveys, the actual text-messages that were sent (by both instructors and students), and discussions—both during and after the study—between the two participating teachers and the teachers and students. Since direct observations were not possible, a survey was developed by the researchers and used to collect data. The survey provided insight into the participants’ demographics as well as their perception concerning the use or lack thereof of text-messaging. The survey was design to assist in understanding the benefits and barriers associated with using text-messaging as well as students’ perceptions on improving the use of text-messaging in their classes. The first seven questions of the survey were multiple-choice. These questions gathered demographic information as well as information concerning the participants’ use of text-messaging outside of school.

Question 8 asked student to answer “yes” or “no” to whether or not they used the class textmessaging. If students answered “no” to Question 8, they were asked to answer Question 9. Question 9 asked them to explain why they did not use text-messaging, thus helping to understand the barriers to use. If they answered “yes” to Question 8, then they were asked to answer questions 10-18. These questions explored student’s perceptions concerning use of text-

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messaging over the semester. Finally, an open ended question at the end of the survey asked for any additional comments. A log was keep of the text the teachers sent and those received from students. These messages were stored in email and a backup word document.

Data Analysis The data that was collected was analyzed using a qualitative research approach. Analysis of the data consisted of organizing the data in to manageable units reading and re-reading my data and looking for themes to emerge (Brogdan and Biklen, 1982). Any themes and questions to emerge from the data were placed in a word processing document. I also took time to reflect on the data, which helped me to produce new insights and questions concerning the data and the emerging themes. Emerging themes were used to create a coding system to further organize the data, that is, to sort the data into relevant categories (Table 1). (Insert Table 1) Results At the end of the semester, all 66 students in the three classes completed a survey about their experience(s) receiving their instructor’s text-messages. Even students who did not participate in receiving texts were surveyed to help understand possible barriers to using text-messaging in the classroom. The results of the multiple choice questions on the survey are presented in Table 2. (Insert Table 2)

Beneficial Students are using text-messaging for school related purposes. When asked if they texted their friends about school work, 28 (44%) acknowledged that they did. An additional nine (14%) said

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that they did sometimes and two (3%) said they did but rarely. One student said that she received them, but did not send them. Only nine students who participated in receiving text from their instructors stated that they had never texted a friend about school work.

Why do students send course related text-messages to their friends? The answer is that these students have found it to be beneficial. Students’ responses indicate that they text-message classmates for a variety of course related reasons. Students’ texts friends to asks or answer questions about assignments; likewise, they texts to ask for help or offer help to others concerning class work. Also, students indicated that they text-message their classmates when they have been absent from class to find out what they have missed.

The same benefits were reported by students about receiving course related text from their teachers. Of the 63 students who received text-messages, 58 (92%) found them valuable. Fortythree of the students’ (68%) perceived the function of the text-messaging to be predominately as a means of reminding them of assignments, dates and/or test material. Although this is a limited application of this tool, this application should not be discounted. Student’s responses showed that the reminders they received were extremely helpful in ensuring that they came to class prepared. Several of the students noted that due to their busy schedules they often forgot to complete assignments or study for tests and pointed out that the instructor’s texts were valuable reminders that contributed to their overall success in their course. Likewise, several students noted the benefits of these reminders on days when they had been absent from class. These students pointed out that the instructor’s texts allowed them to not fall behind and come to class prepared. Several students (7 or 11%) did use texting to ask their instructor questions and help

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on homework and expressed that this allowed them to not get stuck and frustrated when working on course work. They also liked the immediacy of knowing they could get their questions answered by the teacher if they needed. Finally, students noted the benefits of their teacher texting them extra problems for them to complete.

When asked if they would like for their other teachers to use texting in their classroom, students again brought up the benefits of these reminders. One student stated that he would never forget to do his homework again and that these reminders were especially helpful over the weekend. Another student’s comment concerning the use of texting by instructors summarized it all. When asked if other teachers should use texting she responded, “Of course! There is no reason not to.”

Barriers Teacher generated text for class work was not without problems. Not all students had phones, phones with text-messaging or wanted to participate. Technological issues were also a problem. Lack of access and technological problems are barriers often associated with the implementation of many technological applications in the classroom and are not easily surmounted.

In regards to barriers to participation, only three participants (5%) did not have access to a cell phone and six others (9%) stated that they did not text. When asked why they did not participate, the majority of students with cell phones responded that 1) either they don’t text or their phones do not support texting, or 2) they could not figure out how to participate. In regards to this finding, it should be noted that in order for two of the three classes to participate they had to be able to received text-messages via email. Some of the student’s service providers did not support

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receiving text-messages from email. Emailing the text-messages allowed the instructor to send text-messages without 1) giving students their personal cell phone numbers and 2) being charged for sending texts from their personal cell phones; however, not all service providers support the reception of text-messages from email. For this reason, one teacher in the study decided to send his text-messages from his personal cell phone. With the exception of this, technical problems were all but absent from this study. Overall, 54 (86%) of the 63 students who received texts reported no down time. Only two of those reporting problems indicated the nature of their text interruption: they were grounded. Additionally, students reported they did not participate because they had a limited allotment of texts and that they simply did not want to receive text from their instructor.

Students also did not like that their instructors texted them early in the morning. In fact 12 students commented that they would like to receive text at what they perceived to be a more appropriate hour. At least one student noted that the instructor’s messages were truncated due to the 160 character restriction. Another student also noted frustration due to the fact that the instructor was new to texting and therefore texted too slowly.

The fact that all students did not have cells/texting or chose not to participate was by far the biggest barrier to taking full advantage of what student feedback demonstrates to be a tool with the potential to be an exceptional means of expanding the boundaries of the traditional classroom. This short coming was even addressed by several students who commented that one way to improve the use of texting in the classroom was to expand it in order to incorporate more students.

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Discussion The vast majority of students who participated in this study: 1) had cell phones, 2) used textmessaging and 3) found texting beneficial for school work. Texting facilitated interaction between teacher and student from anywhere and at anytime. However, the scope of this study was greatly limited by the lack of access for all students. This lack of access restricted the application of texting to primarily sending reminders, answering questions and posting additional work problems. Although these uses should not be discounted and were cited as helpful in the students’ busy lives, feedback from students indicated that they had already been utilizing texting for a far wider scope of school related activities like asking for help, offering help and other collaborative and social constructivist activities.

These findings would appear to support some degree of classroom applications for this technology and suggest that educators are missing a prime opportunity to interact with students by banning instead of embracing this technology. The majority of students are already familiar with this technology so there would be little training. Texts messages can be sent via email ensuring that teachers incur no cost and text-messages can be sent from school computers. Further research where all students have access to texting is necessary to explore fully the use of text-messaging in the classroom, to discover the scope of its application and to ensure the appropriate utilization of it in regards to sound pedagogical infusion into the classroom.

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References Davis, S. (2003). Observations in classrooms using a network of handheld devices. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19(3), 298-307. Grinter, R.E. & Eldridge, M. (2001). y do tngrs luv 2 txtmsg? Proceedings from ECSCW '01: Seventh European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 219-238. Jonassen, D., Peck, K., & Wilson, B. (1999). Learning with technology: A constructivist perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Lenhart, A., Arafeh, S., Smith, A. & Smith, A. (2008). Writing, technology and teens. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved November 15, 2008 from http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/247/report_display.asp Liu, T-C., Wang, H-Y., Liang, J-K., Chan, T-W., Ko, H-W. & Yang, J-C. (2003). Wireless and mobile technologies to enhance teaching and learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19(3), 371-382. Markett, C.; I. A. Sanchez; S. Weber; B. Tangney (2006). Using short message service to encourage interactivity in the classroom. Computers and Education, 46(3), 280-293. Mitchell, A. & Doherty, M. (2003). M-Learning support for disadvantaged youth: A mid-stage review. Anglia: Ultralab. Motiwalla, L. F. (2007). Mobile learning: a framework and evaluation. Computers and Education, 49(3), 581-596. Newton, H. (2000). Newton's telecom dictionary (16th ed.). New York: Telecom Books. Texting now more popular than calling. (2009). Retrieved March 3, 2009, from Nielson Mobile Web site: http://www.nielsenmobile.com/html/press%20releases/TextsVersusCalls.html

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Stone, A., Briggs, J., & Smith, C. (2002). SMS and interactivity---some results from the field and its implications on effective uses of mobile technologies in educating. Proceedings from WMTE ’02: IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, 104-108. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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Table 1: Coding system for emerging themes Themes Barriers 1. Lack of access (LA)

Indicators

Did not have cell phone Did not have ability to text on cell phone Were not allowed to text by parents Phone has limited number of texts

2. Technological Issues (TI)

Cell phone did not receive text-messages from email 160 character limit

3. Lack Desire (LD)

Did not want to participate Did not want to text

Benefits 4. Convenience (C)

Anytime interaction Anywhere interaction Helped if I was absent Help on weekends Immediate help

5. Teacher to student interaction (TSI)

Texted grades Help with homework questions Reminders (helped students with busy schedules)

6. Student to teacher interaction (STI)

Ask questions Come to class prepared

7. Student to content interaction (SCI)

Extra practice examples

8. Student to student interaction

Many of the students are already using texting for school related communication. Missed work when absent Questions Answer questions Reminders

Recommendations

Expand texting to all teachers Expand texting so all students can benefit

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Table 2: Survey information Number of Students (n= 66)

Percentage of Students

Do you have a cell phone? …Yes …No

63 3

96% 4%

Do you use text-messaging? …Yes …No

60 6

91% 9%

How often do you text-message? …Weekly …Daily …Hourly …Did not respond

9 23 27 1

15% 38% 45% 2%

How many text-messages do you think you send per day on average? …Less than 5 texts per day …Less than 10 texts per day …Less than 20 texts per day …More than 20 texts per day …Did not respond

10 6 5 36 3

17% 10% 8% 60% 5%

11 5 4 26

18% 8% 7% 43%

10

18%

How many texts do you think you receive per day? …Receive less than 5 texts per day …Receive less than 10 texts per day …Receive less than 20 texts per day …Receive more than 20 texts per day …Did not respond