Educause 2006 Presentation - Connecting Your Campus With SMS - Russell Lindell & Ravi Kallianpur, Texas A&M University - Qatar

1. Connecting Your Campus with SMS
Russell Lindell, Sr. Software Applications Developer,
Texas A&M University at Qatar
Ravi Kallianpur, Director of User Services & Instructional
Technology, Texas A&M University at Qatar

2. Overview
• Texas A&M University at Qatar
• Introduction to SMS
– Definitions and terms
• TAMUQ’s implementation
• Demonstration
• Implementation for your campus
• Questions

3. What Is Texas A&M University At Qatar?
• TAMU branch campus
• Doha, Qatar
• Fall of 2003
• Qatar Foundation
• College of Engineering
– Chemical
– Electrical
– Mechanical
– Petroleum

4. Our Students
• 185 students
• Planned enrollment - 600
• 40% International
– 27 countries
• Very high use of mobile
phones

5. Why Did TAMUQ Choose To Use SMS?
• Contacting applicants
– Voicemail nonexistent
– Lack of an email culture
– Unable to reach applicants by phone
• High use of cell phones in the local culture
• Decided to use SMS

6. SMS Gateway Solution
• Originally used staff cell phones
• Ineffective for large groups of recipients
• Slow composition of messages
• CIO decided on web based interface for
convenience of use
• Used existing authentication system for
only staff and faculty

7. SMS Vocabulary
Short Message Service (SMS): A service
for sending messages of up to 160
characters to mobile phones.
SMS Gateway: A web site that lets you
enter and send an SMS message.

8. SMS - Short Message Service
Also Known As:
• Texting
• Text Messages
• SMSes
• Texts

9. Key Benefits Of SMS Technology
• Instant reception of
communication
• Low bandwidth
requirements
– SMS equivalent to 1
second of voice data
• Targeted audience
• Global reach

10. When Should SMS Be Used?
• Time sensitive information
• Supplement to other forms
of communications
• Low bandwidth situations
– Natural / Manmade Disasters
• Email inaccessible or
impractical

11. Possible Uses For SMS
• Emergencies
– Natural / Manmade disasters
– Jeanne Cleary Act
• Advisories
– Traffic accident / Unscheduled maintenance
– Weather advisories
• Instructor communications
– Room location
– Class time

12. Possible Uses For SMS
• Reminders
– Library, Registration and Fees
– Appointments
• Campus news and events
– Sports scores & highlights
– Student government elections
– Club news & updates
• Contact during school holidays
• Find out what your students
want / need
“I only wanted one pint
today. Didn’t you get
my text message?”

13. Disadvantages Of SMS
• Limited in length
– 160 Characters
• Less than 100%
participation among users
– Cell phone ownership
– Release phone number
• Potential for SMS SPAM
• Unverified receipt

14. Things To Consider
• Policies
– Purpose of the system
– Who can use it
– Scope of use
– Cost to the recipient
• Procedures
– Under what conditions is a message sent
– Special conditions in an emergency situation

15. Things To Consider …
• Other considerations
– Language support
• ‫ّﺔ‬‫ﻴ‬‫اﻟﻌﺮﺑ‬ (Arabic)
• 中文简体 (Mandarin)
• ภาษาไทย (Thai)
• Ρусский (Russian)
– SPAM: Don’t abuse the
system

16. TAMUQ’s Implementation
• Custom SMS Gateway
• Service provider for
message delivery
• Development technologies
– ASP .NET
– C#
– Active Directory
– SQL Server
– Web Services

17. Features Of TAMUQ’s SMS Gateway
• Web based application
• Integration with Active Directory
– Authentication
– Address book
• Personal address books
• Group messages
• Message logging
• Message tracking
• Usage statistics

18. SMS Gateway Infrastructure

19. Demonstration
Please turn
ON your cell
phones!

20. Utilization
• Faculty use to notify students
of assignments and exam
reminders
• Admissions use to contact
applicants
• Used to notify students of
class changes
• Emergency notifications
• ITS helpdesk
• Removed aversion to text
messaging

21. Metrics: Messages Sent By Month

22. Metrics: Total Recipients By Month

23. Parameters Of Use
• Only faculty and staff have direct access
– Students go through the department of
student affairs
• Both business and personal use
– Incidental use
• No cost to the recipient

24. Third Party Solutions
• e2Campus
– www.e2Campus.com
– www.omnilert.com
• Rave Wireless - Rave Essentials
– www.ravewireless.com
• TXT4schools
– www.tonicdesigns.co.uk/html/txt4schools.html

25. Summary
• What is SMS
• Benefits and Disadvantages
• Appropriate Use
• TAMUQ’s Custom Solution
• Third Party Solutions
• Slides on Educause website
• Comments / Questions?

26. Contact Information
• Russell Lindell – rwlindell@tamu.edu
• Ravi Kallianpur – ravi@qatar.tamu.edu