Text Your Students Presented by: DeAnna Kirchen

What students say: “ is for old people” “I never check my ” “I didn’t receive your announcement” “I get too much junk in , so it’s too hard to sort through the junk to read the real messages.” “If you want to get a hold of me, try texting me!”

Two texting tools we will learn today 1) Google Voice- to receive texts from students 2) Remind- to send texts to students Both are FREE!

Google Voice- Pros Receive a fake phone number Receive incoming texts easily in gmail Replying via is easy Receive voic , too

Google Voice- Cons Outgoing texts not so easy- need their phone numbers Students hesitate to text because you will have their phone number

Google Voice- How to set up Go to Gmail.com Set up a new account (unless you want to use an existing Gmail account) In the upper right-hand corner, click on the little boxes Scroll down and click on this:

Google Voice- How to set up Scroll down to “Home & Office” Click on “Voice”

Google Voice- How to set up Scroll down to “Get a Voice number” Click “I want a new number” Follow the prompts Click “Help” if needed

Google Voice- Your view It works just like You can respond just like you would reply to

Remind- Pros Neither your number nor theirs is known- everything is private (it was designed for elementary school) Easy for students to subscribe- text or options Messages can be scheduled for a future date/time Messages allow for attachments (pictures, pdf documents) App available (also free)

Remind- Cons Students cannot send texts to you, only receive texts from you (unless you start a “chat session”) If student chooses not to subscribe, you cannot communicate with them Text message rates apply Outgoing message limited to 140 characters (they wouldn’t read anything longer than that anyway, so this forces you to be succinct!)

Remind- How to set up Go to Remind.com Sign up (simply follow the prompts)

Remind- How to set up Create a class name– this is for you; students do not see this Create a unique class code– this is the code that the students will enter to subscribe to your announcements/texts

Remind- How to set up You are given a “Remind number” to which students will send a text to subscribe Or, you can send invitations

Remind- Your view Choose the class Type 140 character message & click send or schedule for later (include attachment if wanted)

Remind- Your view Example Notice it keeps track of the number of characters

Remind- Student’s view Student uses number and class code Student receives confirmation and is asked for their name

Remind- Student’s view Student receives text message of announcement Student cannot reply

Remind- Now let’s try it! We will set up a class just for OTC You will see the student experience Get out your phone!

Thank you! Questions? Please complete an evaluation at onlineteachingconference.org My contact info: DeAnna Kirchen text, voic (714)