April 12th, 2007
UF keeps students up to date through text messages
It's as close to mental telepathy as a university could get. The University of Florida has a new text messaging service that can almost instantly communicate with students via their cell phone, reports Campus Technology.
Students who subscribe to Mobile Campus receive messages that run the gamut from hurricane warnings to class schedule changes.
"It's part of our formalized communication plan," says Chris Cupoli, director of student involvement at UF.
The service is free to students and faculty, but Mobile Campus offers digital coupons and other incentives to subscribers. Anyone at the UF can subscribe, regardless of the service provider. Subscribers sign up for certain interest categories; the university tells student members to expect no more than two offers a day, plus any messages from specific groups they sign up for.
To generate interest in the service, UF sends periodic campuswide messages, such as this basketball trivia question: "To help them through finals, the student center was offering free "finals packs," complete with study aids and Red Bull energy drinks.
"We keep thinking of new opportunities" for using Mobile Campus, Cupoli says.
