Research employing SMS student deadline reminders and course outcomes such as grades, assignments turned in, and perceived confidence.

1. IMPROVING STUDENT OUTCOMES
USING TEXT REMINDERS
LIN HUMPHREY
ALISON B. SHIELDS
DEBRA A. LAVERIE

2. POOR
SYLLABUS
COMPLIANCE
IN LARGE
SECTIONS
THE PROBLEM

3. • 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

4. 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

5. 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.
.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. 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.