As my year 12 students are busy preparing for their end of year theoretical examination, I thought it would be a good opportunity to start an SMS Mailing list in which students sign up to receive one SMS message per day. The purpose of the mailing list is to teach mini concepts via 160 character text messages with the aim of further discussion on return to class. Occasionally, the SMS might contain a question in which the students need to respond to on the spot. The great thing about sending spontaneous messages of this nature is that students are forced to apply their understanding in a more real life setting, in which they may not have access to their resources.
See the picture below for an example of what the messages look like
To make this possible I have been using a service called www.smsglobal.com in which you can sign up for a free trial (25 credits). The great aspect of the service is the capacity to send multiple messages to groups with the push of a button. You can also schedule messages ahead of time, minimising your need to log in and out of the web portal.
So why SMS over other internet services such as Twitter? Well to be honest, SMS is simple, no fuss and available to all.