The story of the frustrated student is the subject of a short video produced by students at Manchester Metropolitan University. The university is looking into alternative ways to communicate with students, specifically an SMS service in which messages are sent directly to students’ mobile phones.
The system is incredibly simple: staff post a message to the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), and if the message is urgent, the staff member begins the message with the keyword ‘urgent’. The next 160 characters are then sent as an SMS. It’s an opt-in system which students value - not least because they are more likely to receive the messages if they go straight to their mobile device.
David Andrew on 04 Mar 09This is a long presentation - but the middle bit is an exercise which can be skipped - about the problems of sharing good practice in education - well worth watching given that a lot of what we do is that.
anonymous on 06 Mar 09At last...I found the link I was looking for. I started to watch this and got drawn into the fact that it was done with the Echo360 system that we use. It looks like a different version of the system though. I've always wondered how worthwhile video is in these cases but I found myself quite liking the video. Maybe that's because I'm a "distance learner". Perhaps video isn't as necessary for people who were at the presentation and are using this for review?
Giles Martin on 10 Mar 09I've watched most of it so far. I also really appreciate the video - I think the inclusion of it does help you feel more like you are part of a human group. Now, I'd also appreciate the other delivery methods echo does (e.g. ipod) for reviewing something, but it is good to have options to tailor to the individual. I also like the (new?) possibility of switching the layout so that the video is the 'larger' screen some (but not all) of the time. Mostly comments on the software, but the talk was interesting too!
