Technology colleagues,

A few days ago I posted the request below, and I have already  
received nine great ideas. If you would like the Web address for this  
free resource, please email me your idea.  (It gets harder now --  
you'll have to send me a different idea from those that are posted  
below.) I will then email you the URL.

Thanks to:  Bonnie Odorne, Tina Luffman, Jennifer Davis, Wendy  
Quinones, and Barry Bakin for the nine ideas.

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net


On Oct 15, 2007, I wrote:


> Suppose there were a free service that enabled you -- from a cell  

> phone or a land line -- to send up to a 30-second voice message to  

> yourself, or to anyone you had listed in an address book that you  

> had created for this purpose.  Suppose your students could send  

> messages this way, too, from their phones. Suppose when you called  

> the toll-free number (U.S. and Canada only) it said "Hi (your  

> name), who do you want to send a message to? " Suppose you then  

> said the person's name (or "me" for sending yourself reminders).  

> Then, suppose you spoke your brief message. Then, in a few minutes,  

> suppose the message were sent to an e-mail address (as a translated  

> text message, with a "real voice" audio option) or as an SMS text  

> message. Suppose, also, that you could set up a group of people,  

> and whenever you wanted to, you could send them all one voice/text/ 

> email message. (Suppose this group were all the students in your  

> class, or all the instructors at your program, who have either a  

> land line or cell phone.)

>

> Such a free service exists. (There may be more than one, but I only  

> know of one.) If you would like to know what it is, here's the  

> catch: you have to email me (djrosen at comcast.net) at least one idea  

> of how you would use this with students. Then I will email you the  

> URL for the free service.  I am not promoting this service  

> particularly (although I do think it could be useful.) What I am  

> trying to do is to use the collective intelligence, imagination and  

> experience of subscribers on this list to collect ideas about how  

> to use such a technology. I will compile whatever I get and send a  

> summary back to this list.

>

> If you want to know the Web address, send me -- not the Technology  

> list -- your idea(s) about how to use this service with your basic  

> literacy, ESOL, ABE, ASE, or college transition students, students  

> -- in a face-to-face or on-line setting.


Nine Ideas

Use the telephone-to text message feature to:
Remind students of writing center appointments
Do an all points to a class talking about a glitch in a web-based  
assignment.
Before an orientation send new students a message as to where our  
classroom is located, what paperwork to bring and so on.
Send messages to students who have been absent all week to contact me  
and let me know if they will be back to class next week. Encourage  
them to come back and let them know they could call me to let me know  
about any problems they were having.
Communicate with the teachers I work with as a professional developer  
and
Demonstrate the service to these teachers, so they could then use it  
with their students.
Send a message in the evening announcing what topics we'll be  
covering in class the next day.
Give an assignment.  Those who do it would receive a prize or  
incentive.  Possible assignments might include finding someone close  
to them and interacting with them using spoken English.  They would  
have to record the response and some details about the interaction  
(with whom, when, response, etc.) to get credit.  The message would  
be something related to a grammar point or something else we've  
studied in class. For example, if we've been working on comparatives,  
the assignment might be "Talk to the first person you see in  
English.  Introduce yourself and ask them if you can ask them a  
question as part of your homework for your English class.  Your  
question for today is "Do you prefer visiting Disneyland or Sea World  
and why?"
Offer a mini-vocabulary lesson like a "word of the day" message, and  
then a challenge to call back and use the word in a sentence as part  
of their conversation with me.
Listening tasks.  Send a message with several instructions related to  
a task.  Those who successfully complete the task get a prize.  "Call  
this 800 number United Airlines and use the automated system for  
flight arrivals to find the expected time of arrival of flight 1450"




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