The Latest Research

A review of current research indicates:

  • Students and teachers build relationships through texting and social networks that improved student attendance (Pollock, 2013)
  • Teachers note that building effective relationships through texting was a net time saver because it made collaboration with students more possible when face-to-face. (Pollock, 2013)
  • Texting afforded both individualized, timely student support and the ability to strengthen student-teacher relationships in ways that improved interactions in school. (Pollock & Amaechi, 2013)
  • Texting is now something that people from all backgrounds are comfortable with and pilot studies show it is an effective way to communicate with low-income populations. (Chang et al., 2014)

Read more about the latest research in texting to help make an informed decision about implementing a texting program at your school.

Teens, Smartphones & Texting
According to the Pew Research Center, 63% of all teens say they exchange text messages every day with people in their lives. This far surpasses the frequency with which they pick other forms of daily communication, including phone calling by cell phone (39% do that with others every day), face-to-face socializing outside of school (35%), social network site messaging (29%), instant messaging (22%), talking on landlines (19%) and emailing (6%).
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Journal of Educational Media: Texting as a Channel for Personalized Youth Support
The OneVille Project, findings from participatory design research on texting, conducted by youth and teachers in the diverse, immigrant-heavy city of Somerville, MA, indicate that students and teachers built relationships through texting and social networks that improved student attendance.  Texting allowed rapid communication about students’ personal and academic needs.

Journal of Adolescent Health: Enhancing a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program With Text Messaging: Engaging Minority Youth to Develop TOP® Plus Text.
Adding a texting component to a face-to-face program may increase participant recruitment and retention, particularly minority youth.  Among the pilot program findings: text messages should be offered through multiple platforms so youth without access to a mobile phone could receive messages; rewording texts to allow youth to express opinions without feeling judged; and collecting multiple types of contact information to improve follow-up.
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BMC Public Health: Text Messaging as a Community-Based Survey Tool
A pilot study among low-income African-Americans in Detroit suggests that text messaging is not only acceptable and feasible but is the preferred method of collecting real-time survey data in a low-income urban African-American community.
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Computers & Education: Using Theoretical Models to Examine the Acceptance Behavior of Mobile Phone Messaging to Enhance Parent-Teacher Interactions
Mobile phone messages could be a convenience tool to issue notices to parents and reduce conflicts due to negligence such as missing phone calls, forgotten alerts, etc. School policies regarding are most influential in terms of adopting mobile parent-teacher use.
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Computers in the Schools: Interdisciplinary Journal of Practice, Theory, and Applied Research
Cell Phones in the Classroom: Teachers’ Perspectives of Inclusion, Benefits, and Barriers
Findings indicated that the majority (69%) of teachers support the use of cell phones in the classroom and were presently using them for school-related work. Teachers identified student engagement and motivation as the primary benefits; barriers included lack of access and class disruption.
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 References

  • Chang, Tammy, Gossa, Weyinshet, Sharp, Adam, Rowe, Zachary, Kohatsu, Lauren, Cobb, Enesha M., & Heisler, Michele. (2014). Text messaging as a community-based survey tool: a pilot study. BMC public health, 14(1), 936.
  • Pollock, Mica, & Amaechi, Uche. (2013). Texting as a channel for personalized youth support: participatory design research by city youth and teachers. Learning, Media and Technology, 38(2), 128-144.
  • Ho, L.-H., Hung, C.-L., & Chen, H.-C. (2013). Using theoretical models to examine the acceptance behavior of mobile phone messaging to enhance parent–teacher interactions. Computers & Education, 61(0), 105-114.
  • Thomas, K. M., O’Bannon, B. W., & Bolton, N. (2013). Cell Phones in the Classroom: Teachers’ Perspectives of Inclusion, Benefits, and Barriers. Computers in the Schools, 30(4), 295-308.