Text Messaging to Improve Social Presence in Online Learning
text messaging to Improve Social Presence in Online Learning
Jimmy, an Army private, waiting in a hot exploring new methods of learning, thus and smelly tent West of Baghdad; Molly, paving the way for educators to adopt a stay-at-home mother, waiting with her new instructional strategies. Educators baby in a Laundromat for clothes to dry; have identified many elements that lead Jane, a science teacher, waiting for the ferry to student success, including frequent to arrive; and Keith, a cell phone account communication and participation within executive, waiting for a day of cold calls a learning community.1 Some of the new to begin. technologies can potentially facilitate stu- What could these four people possi- dent involvement in learning. But how? bly have in common? They represent Most of us would agree that technol- the types of students continuing their ogy is neither good nor bad. It’s up to the A pilot study of education through distance education user to select appropriate solutions and programs at East Carolina University employ them effectively. One problem text messaging (ECU). For each of them, accessing course with trying to gauge the quality of courses content means connecting to the Inter- by measuring the amount of cutting-edge explored its net to receive information presented on technology used is that instructors can a Web-based learning/course manage- never keep up, and students can’t afford usefulness in ment system such as Blackboard, Sakai, to buy all the latest technology required enhancing social or Moodle. for their own learning. The dual chal- ECU provides more than 650 class sec- lenge of staying current and being able presence and tions that are totally online each semester, to afford the newest hardware and soft- serving more than 5,800 students. Jimmy, ware is almost overwhelming. Luckily, communication in Molly, Jane, and Keith are all online learn- research has shown that the key to success ers, but they have much more in common in online learning involves using strate- online courses than this. Like most of their classmates, gies that facilitate communication and they are working adults with busy sched- enhance social presence among online ules. They have all learned how to manage learners, not just applying the newest By J. Barry DuVall, their time and to make compromises to technologies. Matthew R. Powell, get things done. Elizabeth Hodge, and Communication, Learning, Maureen Ellis Keeping Up with New and Social Presence Technology—or Not Let’s take a moment to think about On and off campus, students use their our hypothetical students—Jimmy, cell phones, wireless personal digital assis- Molly, Jane, and Keith. When they start tants (PDAs), laptops, and iPods and take a new course, they have to establish full advantage of Bluetooth. Each device themselves as members of a learning offers a similar technology medium but community. This is important because also a new way to access course mate- they will work with their peers on many rial and communicate with faculty and collaborative projects. The extent to other students. With the proliferation of which they can interact and how well technology devices, students have begun they are respected as valuable members
24 EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY • Number 3 2007 understand the meaning of what is being conveyed. In short, the listener has to “get the message.”2 There is a lot to the pro- cess of communication. It is important to realize and appreciate not only that com- munication is vital for enhancing social presence but also that social presence has a strong impact on learner satisfaction in an online learning environment. A seminal article by D. Randy Gar- rison emphasized collaboration and connectivity as essential features of asynchronous online learning. Garrison suggested that the major components of educational experience consist of social presence, cognitive presence, and teach- ing presence.3 The central premise of Garrison’s model is that learning occurs through interaction. Taken in combination, these elements support both the cognitive and affective objectives of learning.4 Social presence affects both objectives by supporting critical thinking and engaging learners in the social interaction process.5 Stephen R. Aragon, in Creating Social Presence in Online Environments, noted a new body of emerging research that investigates the relationship between student satisfaction and learning out- comes.6 Aragon went on to say that learners who have a higher level of social presence are more satisfied with online learning. This substantiates Jung’s find- ings about the importance of online communities7 and reinforces the need for students to communicate and create
Eric Mueller a social presence. It is Jung’s belief that by not creating a social presence in a of the community offer an indication of cues such as body language, facial expres- course, students will exacerbate their their social presence. In a new class, they sions, gestures, physical proximity, and feelings of isolation. may not know anyone. Relationships, dress to convey meaning and establish In their study on the impact of friendships, and support networks have relationships with others. This is missing social presence on perceived learning not yet been created, and they are not in an online environment. of students in online classes, Jennifer yet sure what will happen. Richardson and Karen Swain found They also experience varying degrees The Importance of that “students’ perceptions of social of feeling isolated at their computers and Social Presence presence are a predictor of students’ may worry about the impact of their The importance of communication perceived learning in online courses.”8 presence on other students. They may and its role in improving social inter- More recently, Terry Anderson suggested wonder what impact others will have action in people and animals has been that the “killer app” for the evolving on their learning. Feelings of isolation studied for years. Communication is not field of social software is indeed distance are common because nonverbal commu- an automatic process that just involves education. In his article, Anderson did nication cannot be used to help under- transmitting information from a sender an outstanding job of identifying elec- stand the full meaning of what is being to a receiver. For communication to occur, tronic source selection software that is, communicated. Learners sitting together the receiver must be willing to receive the or may be, applied to distance learning in campus classrooms rely on nonverbal information, must be listening, and must courses to enhance social presence.9
Number 3 2007 • EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY 25 Text Messaging: A Tool for and learning. More than 4,000 students cell phone number they would use to Improving Social Presence responded to the survey. Data indicated receive text messages. A unique valida- Faculty are working with a new gen- that 94 percent of the population had tion number was sent to each student’s eration of college students who increas- their own cell phones, and 70 percent phone, and the students entered this ingly rely on new technologies and of users always had their cell phones number from their computers to verify Internet services to stay socially and turned on. Also, 43 percent had text that their phones were working cor- academically connected. In the quest to messaging activated on their phones, rectly. They were then ready to receive infuse innovation into the curriculum, and 93 percent were interested in this messages from their instructor. faculty seem to be trying to pack as many feature. The preferred interpersonal The instructor sent messages by logging communication tools into their courses communication device carried by cam- on from the Web page. After selecting as possible. Most would agree that voice pus students was a cell phone.12 the group to which she wanted to send communication, MySpace, Facebook, Most analysts agree that college stu- a message, the instructor typed a short discussion boards, online chats, blogs, dents use text messaging regularly. Text message and sent it. Students received wikis, and videoconferencing all have messaging is the second most frequently the message in two minutes or less. strengths and weaknesses. Tools such used computer-based tool, next to e- It was important to restrict use of the as these have demonstrated their effec- mail. Instant messaging is third.13 text messaging tool to important course tiveness in strengthening communica- Institutions of higher education are updates. One reason for concern about tion and social presence in many online increasingly concerned with methods the number of messages transmitted was learning environments. for connecting and communicating that some of the students had to pay for One approach for enhancing interac- with students. With an increase in the the messages they received—as much as tion and communication among stu- number of face-to-face courses being 8 to 10 cents per message, depending dents and between an instructor and moved online, there is a greater need on the carrier. Only two carriers in the students is through text messaging. than ever to create a social environ- area provided unlimited incoming text Undergraduate students participating ment where students and instructors messages in their calling plans. in a Write On! Workshop at the Uni- can become comfortable and interact versity of New Mexico were asked how with each other. Text messaging is con- Description of the Pilot many text messages they sent each day, sidered one way to accomplish this. A Text2Phone pilot conducted in the how long these messages were, and for summer of 2006 evaluated the effective- what tasks they used text messaging. The ECU Text2Phone Pilot ness of integrating text messaging in an Responses indicated that the major- The ECU TAC completed initial online environment. The pilot was cre- ity of students wrote either 5 to 10 research in the spring of 2006 to identify ated to (1) identify if the text messaging short, to-the-point text messages a day Web-based software that could be used approach for updating students with to make plans or see what’s going on to distribute campus alerts and distance important information was effective; with friends. When asked about e-mail, education course updates. After evaluat- (2) evaluate text messaging as a tool for the majority of students wrote up to 10 ing software against performance crite- improving social presence; and (3) study e-mails per day to keep in touch with ria and conducting initial testing, the student perceptions of text messaging as friends and family.10 TAC selected Omnilert by e2Campus for a tool for communication. With the proliferation of cell phone a pilot (http://www.omnilert.com). The The study was designed to provide use among students, each student has pilot project, called ECU Text2Phone, students enrolled in three online courses access to text messaging, which they use was completed in the summer of 2006. in the Department of Business, Career, to communicate with friends, peers, and The test group for the project consisted and Technical Education an opportu- teachers. Surveys indicate that nearly of distance education students enrolled nity to experience text messaging. A every student has a cell phone, which in three courses from the College of distance education participant group means they have access to text mes- Education. (DEPG) was established, consisting of saging wherever they go (if they have students enrolled in courses on Dream- the feature activated). Security on Cam- Description of the System weaver and Flash, personal finance, and pus, for example, found that more than The pilot system worked through a independent study. 90 percent of all on-campus students Web interface, linking content from a For the pilot, e2Campus absorbed the carry cell phones.11 In 2006, the Tech- campus Web page to the e2Campus Web costs. Estimated expenses for a full-scale nology Advancement Center (TAC) at site. At the beginning of the summer rollout to all students on campus were East Carolina University conducted a semester, students interested in partici- about one dollar per student per year. mobile phone user survey to assess the pating in the pilot received a URL to the Prior to the implementation of text mobile needs of distance education and page to sign up for the service. They messaging during the summer session, campus learners. The goal was to learn were asked to create an account with students enrolled in the online courses about students’ uses of cell phones in a username and password and provide were surveyed to determine their cell order to create new ways of teaching the course selection number and the phone carriers and if they had text
26 EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY • Number 3 2007 messaging capabilities. Of the students What We Learned “How is that going to work?” surveyed, 72 percent had text messag- We conducted a survey to evaluate “It would be fun.” ing and used it on a regular basis. Of the effectiveness of text messaging in an “Interested in how it would work.” the students enrolled in the courses, 28 online environment.16 Students in the “Wasn’t sure the value of it.” percent received text messages for free, three participating distance education “A good alternative way to whereas the remainder had to purchase courses who completed the survey indi- communicate.” a text message bundle or pay up to 10 cated that text messaging is a technol- “Challenging.” cents per message. Those students who ogy they enjoy using to communicate. “I didn’t know what to expect.” did not own a cell phone could receive Table 1 shows how students responded “It was fine with me, trying some- the identical information via e-mail. to the questions from the survey. thing new.” The professor’s role is to create a Some of the students’ comments in dynamic learning environment encom- response to two open-ended questions 2. Please make additional positive or nega- passing several outlets for learning to on the survey follow: tive comments about the course, technol- take place. Vygotsky14 stated that learn- ogy, or communication process. ing is a social process. If the professor 1. What did you think when you found “It met all of my expectations.” provides the appropriate environment, this course would be incorporating text “I had the opportunity to learn about students should have multiple oppor- messaging as a communication device? something that was of interest to me that tunities to interact and communicate. “Interested.” was not offered as a course option.” Developing a dynamic technological “Nervous.” “Wonderful class.” infrastructure allows the creation of a “I do not own a cell phone.” “Excellent instructor and a lot of social space in which communication is “Cool.” information.” abundant to ensure that both instructor “Nice.” “Excellent.” and student have a voice.15 “It was a change from other courses.” “I don’t mind it, but I don’t think it Prior to the start of the summer ses- “Excited.” is necessary.” sion, we developed ideas for the type of “Curious, ready to try something “The communication was great!” information to send students via text new.” “Allowed a variety of learning messaging. Elizabeth Hodge, the pro- “I thought it was OK.” methods.” fessor who was involved in the pilot “I thought it was a neat idea.” “Great course, instructor very encour- study, addressed several instructional “Not used that often, didn’t like it.” aging and interacts more than other design factors before implementing the “Needed to add additional option to instructors.” new technological tool as a medium for phone.” “I think that all of these new ways of communication. Based on the traditional “Worried over cost.” communication are great, and I am glad theoretical approach to instructional design, Hodge analyzed content, delivery Table 1 method, learner characteristics, and the process necessary to provide material in Student Responses to Survey an online environment. The main focus Percentage of of the evaluation was to determine the Response to Survey Questions “Yes” Responses best way to tie the short message ser- vice (SMS) text messages to information Felt comfortable participating in this online course 100% students wanted to receive. We selected Felt comfortable expressing their feelings during this online 95.8% the following types of messages for the course pilot: Would enroll in another course that offers text messaging as 91.7% ■ Course updates: General information an option about the course for a particular week, Said that course communication met their expectations 91.7% including information students need Found text messaging for course information helpful 87.5% to complete course requirements. Said that the cost of receiving text messages was NOT a ■ Grade information: Updates on 87.5% grades. hindrance ■ Deadline information: Course calen- Feel that text messaging is a useful tool for use with distance 83.3% dar information to keep students on education courses at ECU task. Have previously used text messaging 79.2% ■ Weekly “hot” topics: Topics provided to Found text messaging for grade updates helpful 75.0% invoke debates and foster communi- Feel that text messaging is a tool that can improve a sense of cation about the curriculum for the 75.0% online course. caring and trust between students and instructor
Number 3 2007 • EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY 27 I am a part of a department [that] is not and felt that it was useful for enhancing 7. I. Jung, “Building a Theoretical Frame- afraid to go to the next level.” communication in their online class. work of Web-based Instruction in the “Great way to stay in touch [with] The collaboration and communication Context of Distance Education,” British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 32, class.” created through the use of text mes- No. 5, 2001, pp. 525–534. “Text messaging takes much longer to saging also supported the creation of 8. J. Richardson and K. Swain, “Examining use and it was not used that much.” a social context that fostered a sense Social Presence in Online Courses,” Sloan “If text messaging is used to notify us of community. Using the text messag- Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, about grades, and used as a reminder for ing tool, teachers and students became Vol. 7, Issue 1, 2003, p. 74. important events, it could definitely be active participants in the learning pro- 9. T. Anderson, “Distance Learning—Social a very useful tool.” cess. Furthermore, the use of SMS text Software’s Killer Ap?” 17th Biennial Conference of the Open and Distance messaging to share online resources Learning Association of Australia, 2005, Data collected in this survey indi- allowed students to learn through inter-
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