MidKent College

When a group of carpentry students from MidKent College planned a service trip to Kenya, they needed a way to communicate home during their journey. As a user of Blackboard ConnectTxt, MidKent felt that its two-way communication functionality would give students the ability to stay in touch quickly and easily. While the ConnectTxt service facilitated that information exchange as expected, no one foresaw the profound effect that these messages would have on those who were sending and receiving them.

CHALLENGE: Overcoming the Limits of Kenyas Infrastructure to Keep Students Connected

MidKent College (MKC) provides further education in vocational, technical and other areas, to approximately 7,000 full-time-equivalents, primarily students in their late teens. They have used Blackboard ConnectTxt for several years to communicate with students about class cancellations, online tuition and fee payments reminders and the like. The College also integrates ConnectTxt with its virtual learning environment (VLE), enabling two-way SMS conversations between students and their instructors or tutors. MidKent officials initially conceived of the service project in Kenya as a practicum for carpentry students to use the skills theyve learned for good, volunteering on various school construction projects in the heart of Kenyas urban slums. Internet access at the school sites is very limited, and the MidKent students didnt want to occupy computers that were intended for use by Kenyan schoolchildren. Instead, mobile technology seemed to be the best option to keep MidKent students connected with their families and their college.

SOLUTION: Use ConnectTxt to Stay in Touch with and Provide Real-Time Support for Students
In her role as E-Learning Manager at MKC, Rosie Douglas had the task of guring out how students would be able to stay in contact with the college and their families whilst travelling to Kenya. When she rst heard about the project, the organizers planned to let parents know when the students arrived in Kenya and provide periodic updates throughout the trip. I thought we could do something different, Douglas said. Texting seemed to be the answer.

Photo courtesy of Karina Hodges, MidKent College

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Working with the ConnectTxt team, Douglas quickly devised a way to route texts from students into her email inbox. Initially, I thought of it as a way for us to take messages and make sure parents got them, but then we realized we could do more, she said. Because of the reciprocal nature of SMS, the students could text back to the UK, creating microblogs of their experiences. By simply adding the keyword KENYA to their texts, students could ensure their messages were routed to Douglass inbox, where she could easily forward them. With ConnectTxt, MidKent officials created a unique means for students to stay in touch during their trip. Using the shortcode, a specialized keyword, and customized Inbox rules, Douglas used ConnectTxt to collate incoming texts automatically and forward them to other educators. She even posted students messages to College digital displays, so that the entire community could hear the students stories. Parents could also submit encouraging messages to their children, which were immediately forwarded to their phones. While the information exchange that ConnectTxt facilitated was very useful, no one could have foreseen the profound effect that these messages had on those who were sending and receiving them.

When the students reached the communities where extreme deprivation was the norm, their experience was very dramatic, and ConnectTxt allowed the students to share that impact instantaneously. All of a sudden, I saw a flurry of texts come in, and you could feel the distress in these texts, Douglas said. They were seeing things in an environment that was so foreign to them. They were visiting homes built on rubbish pits, homes where ten AIDS orphans were living with a grandmother; and the unbearable smells. What they found was, by sending those texts, and receiving encouraging texts in turn from parents and college officials, they had a lifeline that helped them get through that experience. Serving as the liaison with the students allowed Douglas to help them cope with what they were experiencing. Because I was receiving these messages in my email, it was easy for me to respond by email, which they received as SMS, said Douglas. I told them we were proud of them, to hang in there, that they were doing very well. We had constant two-way communication. Because she was sharing the messages, the broader school community was also able to get a sense of the challenges these students were facing, sharing their experiences as they were happening. Going forward, MidKent educators are expanding the Kenya project to students outside the carpentry programme, and they plan to continue communicating via ConnectTxt an integral part of the project. The descriptive texts certainly engaged people, said Douglas. Without the texting, I cant think of another way the students could have shared their experiences whilst in those circumstances. Not only did it help them get through, it was the catalyst to help them share those circumstances with a wider audience. For more information on the Kenya service program, visit www.melonafrica.org.

RESULT: Students Instantly Shared Life-Changing Experiences with Families and School Ocials
A total of 14 students took part in the project. Even before reaching Kenya, the excited students were sending messages. After arriving, they began sharing their first impressions. Their rst messages were very descriptive, about the area, or meeting nice people, or the food, Douglas said. Because the messages were short, and because they were coming into my e-mail, I posted a page on our VLE with a link so people on campus could get an update, and also added them to an RSS feed. The whole story was unfolding in front of peoples eyes, in real time, about what was happening in Kenya.

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