IMPROVING STUDENT OUTCOMES

USING TEXT REMINDERS

LIN HUMPHREY

ALISON B. SHIELDS

DEBRA A. LAVERIE

POOR SYLLABUS COMPLIANCE IN LARGE SECTIONS

THE PROBLEM

• Recent findings indicate that

the average human has an

attention span of 8 seconds.

• Goldfish have an attention

span of 9 seconds

(Microsoft Canada 2015)

OUR TARGET AUDIENCE

BUSINESS PROFESSIONALISM COURSE

LARGE CLASSES HAD POOR ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION

• Course included

• Intro to business

• College resources

• Personal branding

• resumes (2 submissions), headshot,

LinkedIn, online bio, slideshare,

research

• Mandatory attendance

• Max 2 absences

• Device use - absence

• No late submissions

BACKGROUND

• Smartphone users between the ages of 18-24 send on average

2,022 text messages per month (Experian Marketing Services

2013).

• College students spend six minutes a day using email (Junco

2013).

• Past research has indicated that students prefer receiving school-

related messages via email (Salaway, Caruso, & Nelson 2007).

• Other studies have indicated that student preferences for

communication methods evolve over time..

LARGE CLASSES HAD POOR ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION

• 250 students per section

• Up to 1200 in a semester across 6

sections

• Emails asking for exceptions were

the norm.

• Reminders were provided each

week on screen

• Syllabus infographic in use

THE EXPERIMENT

• Offer text reminders using Remind to 1

section and maintain email reminders in

the other section

• Reminders sent out at the same time

with the same basic content

• A survey was completed for extra credit.

• Performance measured by grade (1-200)

• Assignment submitted (0-6)

• Narcissism, technology expertise, and

career contribution measured using 1-7

Likert-type scale

THE EXPERIMENT

• Free text reminder system

• FERPA-compliant

• Students cannot message directly

• Adopted heavily in K-12

• Can be pre-scheduled

• Many students already enrolled.

Signup

Text scheduling tool

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

ANALYSIS

• Analysis completed using Stata 13 and one-way ANOVA

• N=238

• Average age = 20.14

• 55% female

• Controlled for narcissism and technology competence

• Research design based on classroom effectiveness using

technology by Rinaldo, Laverie, Tapp, and Humphrey (2013)

HYPOTHESES

• H1: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments exhibit

higher performance in the course than those who receive email reminders.

• H2: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments turn in more

assignments correctly and on-time than those who receive email reminders.

• H3: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments have higher

contribution to career goals than those who receive email reminders.

• H4: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments have higher

task mastery than those who receive email reminders.

• H5: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments have higher

perceived confidence than those who receive email reminders.

HYPOTHESES

• H1: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments

exhibit higher performance in the course than those who receive

email reminders.

• 178.7 (text) v. 169 (email) out of 200

• F=16.49; p<0.0001

• H1 supported

HYPOTHESES

• H2: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments

turn in more assignments correctly and on-time than those who

receive email reminders.

• 5.6 (text) v. 5.3 (email) out of 6

• F=7.78; p<0.0057

• H2 supported

HYPOTHESES

• H3: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments

have higher contribution to career goals than those who receive

email reminders.

• 5.63 (text) v. 5.51 (email)

• F=0.76; p<0.38

• H3 not supported

HYPOTHESES

• H4: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments

have higher perceived task mastery than those who receive email

reminders.

• 5.65 (text) v. 5.37 (email)

• F=4.41; p<0.037

• H4 supported

HYPOTHESES

• H5: Students who receive text reminders of course assignments

have higher perceived confidence than those who receive email

reminders.

• 5.81 (text) v. 5.56 (email)

• F=3.43; p<0.06

• H5 approaching significance

DISCUSSION

• Students who received text messages displayed tangible benefits in course

performance, namely grades and number of assignments turned in on time

correctly.

• Perceived confidence and task mastery were also exhibited by students

who opted in for text reminders, while contribution to career goals was

similar between groups.

• For large sections, text reminders may improve performance.

• 94.4% of students surveyed felt the text messages improved their

performance.

• 76.3% of students surveyed indicated they are more likely to read texts

than emails.

INSTRUCTOR OBSERVATIONS

DISCUSSION

• Emails from students in the section receiving text messages were

minimized, while the other section had normal email volume.

• Setup on the system takes 5 minutes, and student opt-in takes 20

seconds.

• 1 in 3 K-12 schools use Remind, so many student are already enrolled.

• Students do not see instructor contact info, and messages can be pre-

scheduled.

• For large and small sections across disciplines, this can show instructor

empathy and concern for student performance.