Kelsey Murray teaches mathematics at Rocky Mount High School in North Carolina

One way remind101 has revolutionized our school is through the new building we are constructing. In June, the school I teach at, Rocky Mount High School in Rocky Mount NC will move into a brand new, state of the art building with all of the latest technological features, as well as being an 'eco-friendly' building. One remind101 account we have set up is a chance for students, parents and community members to receive alerts with new building progress stats and links to slideshows for updated photos of the construction. While people can't always enter the construction site because of safety reasons, every one in our town can feel connected and 'in the know' about our new school via these announcements.

A more general way remind101 has helped our school is by increasing the number of students who complete their homework assignments. By enrolling students and parents, students do not have the excuse 'I forgot to write my homework down' or 'I didn't know what we had for homework.' Also, when parents get involved in pushing students to do their homework, this starts the beginning of the parent-teacher-student communication we strive for. Parents then join alongside the teacher in helping students succeed.

I, along with other teachers at my school, send announcements with general information as well, more than just homework assignments. I remind students of upcoming events at the school, test/quiz dates and I even scheduled a "Merry Christmas" announcement to be sent out to my students while I was in Africa during Christmas break. 'HOW COOL?!' they all said! :)

Jason Rhode wrote a great post on SMS in higher ed, "Text messaging students while maintaining privacy". A few interesting statistics on mobile penetration in schools:

• 99.8% of college students reportedly own one or more mobile phone (Truong, 2010).
• 54% of teens text daily (Lenhart, Ling, Campbell, & Purcell, 2010)
• 97% of students reporting that they use SMS as their main form of communication (Truong, 2010).
• 53% of students have smartphones
• 75% of 12-17 year olds owncell phones
• 50% of teens send 50 or more text messages a day; 30% send more than 100/day

Jason does a live demo of remind101 at 32 minutes, check it out!

It's obvious that students-both high school and highered alike are using mobile phones to communicate but the privacy concerns become an issue when teachers and professors are involved. "Valid concerns exist concerning how to do so in a manner that protects the privacy of both the students and the faculty or staff member."

Jason Rhode is the Assistant Director of the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at Northern Illinois University 

Catherine Horton Flippen is a foreign language and fine arts teacher at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Georgia. She is an educational technology evangelist, effective digitized pedagogy integrator, and all-around technophile. You can follow her on Twitter (twitter.com/CatFlippen), read her blog Ctrl+Alt+Teach (www.ctrlaltteach.com), and browse her digital footprint (about.me/CatFlippen). 

I’ve been a victim of communication failure. So has most every other educator I know. It’s practically a pandemic taking over our email and snail mail and leading to even more time spent outside of the classroom desperately trying to reach students and parents. Take, for example, the following scenes from a particular school day that I have experienced at least twice any given semester: 

2nd Period Student: “Sorry I’m late. I didn’t know our class had moved. You can’t mark me tardy.”

Teacher: “You should have remembered. I wrote it on the board and reminded you at the end of class. Now you’ve missed the main instruction, and I’ll have to repeat everything again.”

Group of Students in Every Class: “We have a test? You didn’t tell us we had a test!”

Teacher: “Well, it’s been on the class calendar online, and I mentioned it yesterday in class.  You all should have written it down in your agenda.”

Parent Email at the End of the School Day: “I didn’t know my child had a big project due / needed to bring something to class. She needs an extension / to be excused from the activity / should get an automatic 100%.” 

Teacher: “I posted information on my website and even sent a letter home three weeks ago. Don’t you check my website and didn’t you receive the letter?”

Sound familiar? Just thinking about it makes me shudder. Every educator puts forth so much effort into making calendars, sending home information, and emailing notifications that it becomes a huge disappointment when parents and students are clearly not using your resources. Throw in phone logs, email difficulties and masses of paperwork, and I’m on the verge of bypassing important teacher-parent and teacher-student communication in lieu of spending my time doing even more important things like, you know, grading and planning.

Thankfully, I’ve discovered a communication revolution following on the footsteps of the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and Mobile Learning movements: TEXT MESSAGING. No, not the kind that requires your phone number to be shared among adolescents and teenagers (and the potential mess involved with that scenario), but the kind that is FREE, SECURE, and even DOES THE WORK FOR YOU. No actual phone numbers are exchanged, no personal information is shared, messages can be scheduled in advance, and every message you send out is recorded on the Remind101 website for professional and legal reference.

Thanks to Remind101, I’ve been able to circumvent communication failure so far this semester. My students are still talking about how awesome it is to receive messages from their teacher. They come to my class prepared and on time more regularly than I have ever experienced. Parents have told me that they enjoy feeling more “in the know” of what their student is doing in my class. And after I shared Remind101 with other foreign language teachers at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Georgia, the entire department adopted the practice en masse. 

My classes are heavily integrated with educational technology, so we are often in a computer lab two to three times per week and sometimes on short notice. I send out frequent messages to each subject I teach to remind them at least twice of our relocation beforehand.

• Paula Sanchez at Mill Creek High reminds her students at 6pm almost every night what is or what will be due tomorrow.
• Lindsey Barwick Brouillard at Berkmar High School in Lilburn, Georgia sends a message to her Language Arts students in the evening once or twice a week asking one or two reflection questions that they are meant to answer as a homework assignment for that day.
• Mill Creek Foreign Language classes switch classrooms once per week to use language labs for listening and speaking practice. Whenever Jason Smith or Claire Wise, both of whom have language labs in their classrooms, need to switch with other teachers, they send reminder texts to each individual class period to reduce confusion and tardiness.
• Courtney Alexander Lowe at Loganville High School in Loganville, Georgia will text interesting facts and news to her Chemistry students to make learning an often difficult field of science more interesting and relevant.
• While she was recently ill, Gillian Bradley of Mill Creek High texted her students to let them know that although she was absent that day, they were still having their vocabulary quiz.
• Some of the other ideas we’ve generated involve sending out parent-only reminders for major tests, texting shortened links (using bit.ly) to digital assignments or information, and even sending out a “vocabulary word of the day/week” that students can use on classwork for extra credit. The uses for educational text messaging are endless.

So, why use Remind101 when other SMS options are available? Remind101 was the only one with the easiest user interface as well as simple sign up instructions, e-mail option for those without mobile devices, unlimited texts, up to 10 groups, and amazing one-on-one assistance availability. This service was the best for teachers with extensive technological experience as well as teachers skeptical or unsure of using mobile technology in association with their classes.

Harnessing the power of mobile devices and Web 2.0 communication can connect teachers with students and parents more readily than email, static websites, and send-home paper notifications, and that connection makes your class more relevant and accessible to a generation of students attached to their cell phones and smart technology. Seeing as Remind101 makes text messaging so simple and secure, everyone should be utilizing this resource in their classes. Maybe one day we will see the end of frustrating communication failures and teachers will have one less thing to worry about during their busy days. 

(Ironically, just as I finished writing this blog post, a student approached me and asked, “Mrs. Flippen, how do I sign up for that text message thingy?” Even teenagers who are initially unsure eventually see the usefulness of Remind101!) 

This is a guest post by Craig Nobiling, a high school social studies teacher from Chadron, Nebraska. You can reach him @Craignobiling or email craig.nobiling@chadronschools.net

What's your background?

 I teach upper-level (grades11 and 12) Social Science courses (Psychology, Sociology & US Government) at Chadron High School in Chadron, NE. Chadron is located in the extreme northwest corner of Nebraska; it is also the home of Chadron State College.

I've been in education for nearly 20 years and have seen MANY changes in curriculum and protocol as well as technological advances in this time. Most certainly so in the last 10 years, with the expansion of the internet, the introduction of social networking across the spectrum and their consequent integration into our classrooms.

Cellphones in the classroom. Toy...

Most traditional schools and experienced educators cringe at the thought of introducing a phone into the classroom. Cellphones are not highly regarded in the educational arena because they are seen as a "toy." Texting and gaming are not part of the educational environment - at least until now. There are literally thousands of educational "games" that engage the new "screen-agers" of today. A visual and interaction-based generation has been born since the turn of the century. And as educators, we can either fight it or be willing to understand and utilize its ever-growing capabilities WITH the students. With those thoughts in mind, Brett Kopf and his team of creators of Remind101 have assisted educators in kindly reminding our cellphone-toting students (and their parents) to complete their work and study for upcoming exams.

What do you think of remind101?

I am currently underway in my second semester as a novice Remind101-user, and thus far I am extremely pleased with its ease of use and simplicity. What two better ways to entice tech-shy educators (with ease of use & simplicity?) coupled with the safety and security of keeping cell numbers private. It's a teacher's dream, of sorts, of making sure everyone (with a phone) gets equal notification of due dates, meetings, events, etc. So far every student in my classes has a cellphone with texting capabilities.

What messages do you send home?

I use it to send homework & exam reminders, as well as upcoming academic and school-wide events. The response so far has been very positive from the students, mainly because I set most of the texts to be sent immediately when school dismisses so they don't forget to take their materials home. I particularly like the scheduling feature for this very fact - so the students can walk out of the building with all of their materials- and I don't have to send that notification at the same moment.

...A pioneer?

Since I am the first teacher in our district to utilize mobile phones, it has been an experiment to say the least. I was encouraged by both our building and technology administrators to challenge both the students and my comfort zone in regards to the phones. I had to establish clear cut responsibilities and consequences for their use and misuse. So far - the only consequences I've had to administer is a friendly reminder to keep them out at the corner of their tables. That phone is as tempting to them as a King Size Snickers bar would be for me sitting out there! 

Quick Google searches and fact clarifications have been used so far in the class as well as setting calendars and schedules for city/school board meetings, college representative visitations, ACT tests/deadlines, and the like. Since I have mainly junior and seniors it is truly like speaking to adults and treating them that way. I know there will be glitches, but as my Principal Jerry Mack has noted, "you will have failures, and glitches to work out, but I want to test the waters." So far, so good...WE have learned together in this process - meaning the students and me. I have learned more from them regarding the different phones (iPhones vs Droid-based systems) and their app's. I have benefited from their assistance as well, which makes it that much more rewarding in the end for both of us.

What do students say?

I want to expand my knowledge and minimize my fear by further integrating them into my subjects. This will just take time - and if they(my students) are patient with me it should benefit the classes as a whole. It is amazing how the students take even more ownership of the class by helping me - and I think they like the fact that these "tools" can FINALLY be used IN school - without fear of confiscation. Hopefully the "anti-cellphone directives" can be re-written with proper guidelines by our schools and students can responsibly use them in the classroom.

(We didn't pay him to say this!)

I am excited and anticipate the Remind101 teams expansion of this program in the future. I have spoken directly with Brett and have expressed my successes and questions with the program and he listened genuinely. I wish other creators would "put themselves out there" when their product hits the market. Thank you Brett for a product that truly makes education easier for me AND my students.

If any teacher wants to get in touch with me my email address is below as well as the school's phone number - who knows maybe we can talk as a "class" and I could let my class tell you how well it works!

Here is a sampling of the messages that I've sent home in the past few days:

Soc1a, Soc1b

1A&1B We'll have a speaker in class Thur from CSC Admissions Office;assignment is still due(pg10 1&2)upon arrival 2 class;Handout due Friday

sent to 28 people 5 days ago

Soc1a, Soc1b

1A&1B Ques 1&2 pg 10 due Thur; GoogleDoc/Word or Email ONLY - NOT handwritten!

sent to 28 people 5 days ago

Soc1a, Soc1b

1A/1B Don't forget your Study of Soc Handout is due 2morrow & it is "Habitude Friday"as well-all you need is a highlighter&pen/pencil

sent to 28 people 4 days ago

Soc1a, Gov2, Gov3, Soc1b

ALL CLASSES-don't 4get the Financial Aid Mtg in the HS Auditorium Tonight@6:30pm-Xtra Credit for my classes-bring ur parent(s)&ur questions!

sent to 57 people 6 days ago

Darcy Esparza teaches 7th grade math (regular and Pre-AP) at Vernon Middle School

How'd you hear about remind101? 

If you'd like to be featured on our blog, leave a comment or email contact@remind101.com!

Kimberley Lewis teaches Creative Writing, Journalism and Speech 9-12 at Rockwall-Heath High School

How did you hear about remind101?    

I wanted be able to get messages to students in classes and activities I sponsor without giving my personal cell phone number out.  Having students as friends on my "teacher" facebook felt awkward, and not all students have facebook access.  I had looked into getting a google number, and I was afraid that I would not keep up with it.  I didn't want it to be one more thing to do.  Ann Knostman our Instructional Technology Specialist found Remind 101.com for me.  It is perfect for sending messages safely.

How do you use remind101 in your class? i.e, reminders, updates, positive motivation...  

So far, I have only used it for reminders & updates, but if I have room, I include supporting our teams that are playing that evening.

What problem is remind101 solving for you as a teacher?  

I love the ability to set reminders ahead of time.  I think it really helps the kids stay on track... especially when journalism has deadlines.  I had some students tell me that they forgot about a test.  That won't happen when they are signed up for Remind101.com.  It really helped the kids stay organized during homecoming week when the different groups had different places to be.

Have you received any feedback from students/parents? If so how do they like it? (The good and the bad)  

I only signed up recently, so I haven't gotten a lot of feedback yet, but when I rolled it out, one of my students said, "Can you please teach the other teacher how to use this?"  

Do you have any tips for teachers who may want to use remind101? i.e, how to get started, how you shared the code with students...  

95% of kids and parents use cell phones and email.  My best advice is don't wait to roll it out.  I posted the pdf invite on my teacher website.  I mass emailed parents, and I showed my students as a warm up one day.  We are using a "Bring your own Technology" program at school where the students can use their devices appropriately.  I gave them the opportunity to "Sign up now."  It will make communication with parents much easier when they know you care enough to set this up.  You are showing you are doing everything you can to help your kids be successful.

Any feedback for remind101? What features/updates would you like to see, if any

I love it.  Please don't cap the number of people we can have in our lists.  I would have liked to decide what each group texted to get on the list*  @lewis made sense, but @chai would have made more sense to be @chain.  I love it though.  If that is the worst anyone can say, you know you have an amazing product.

If you are a teacher and want to be featured on our blog, leave a commnent or email contact@remind101.com 

*You can choose your own code now!