Do you use sms texting to enhance your teaching, leading and learning?

I'm wondering if any of you use the most ubiquitous technology available to enhance your teaching, learning and leading. As a technology innovation manager for the NYC Dept of Ed, I do. However, sadly and unexpectedly it was shut off this week which has interfered with my work terribly. The official statement was this, "ALL TEXT MESSAGING capabilities for DOE account holders will be disabled because it is the DOE position that communication thru text messaging is primarily for “personal use." That may be the case for some, but NOT for me. I have come to depend on texting to allow me to do job my job effectively in many ways. Fortunately a little unofficial birdie said educators who use sms for professional purposes could make a case indicating how they are using texting for professional purposes and they would get the service reinstated, but I'm not so sure. There is no protocol for making the case and no public information about who to make the case to.

For all those out there at the NYC DOE or elsewhere, I am writing to ask you to help me by commenting on the post I wrote to make the case for funding texting on employees phones which you can read here.

I'm hopeful that with my post, and your comments, once we know who to make a case to, we will have a strong argument for initiating or continuing funding of this important resource.

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Permalink Reply by Terry Smith on October 18, 2009 at 8:58am

Lisa - sometimes while skyping with classes in England, we have also been texting internationally with them on my iPhone. I put the iPhone in the hands of kids as much as possible - these are grade 4 kids. We have also used texting to send chess messages in our Internet chess games back and forth between Indian Wells, CA and my class in Hannibal, MO.

Terry

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Permalink Reply by Pete K on October 18, 2009 at 1:31pm

SMS it not free where I work. And with 110 students it seems a little expensive but maybe you can let me know how you can work around this...

I'm using a 'dumb' cell phone and so are most of my students.

Pete

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Permalink Reply by Michael Kadin on October 18, 2009 at 2:28pm

I will certainly join in your crusade! Texting is of immeasurable value in and out of the classroom, even if the cost per byte of data is simply ridiculous.

Check out my blog posts here and here about how I use texting in the classroom.