There are three things every professor can do to help students get connected to the college, to the class, and to their peers. It involves getting students to install three apps on their mobile phones. First, install college email/Outlook. Second, install the Blackboard mobile app. Third, consider using GroupMe, a group texting app, to create a community of learners for your class..
Install Outlook / College Email
Professors often lament that students do not check their college email. But consider it from the from the student’s point of view. If a student does not have a personal laptop, when is it convenient to check college email, especially if logging requires using two-factor authentication and typing an ID and password three times?
The solution is to get students to install college email via Microsoft Outlook on their mobile phones. Their phones are always in their hands, and students are conditioned to check notifications from the apps. Microsoft Outlook can be found in the App Store on any smartphone. Students install the app and log in with their MyMC credentials. Because the app is college-supported, the IT service desk will provide technical support to students if needed.
Install the Bb Mobile App
In a post-pandemic world, almost every course at MC uses Blackboard in some form. Get students to install the Blackboard Mobile app on their smartphones so that the course site is always close at hand, enabling students to quickly check course mail, discussions, review assignments, and even complete quizzes.
The Bb Mobile app only requires logging in once with college credentials. From that point on, tap and the app opens. Note: Course Mail is found under Course Content.
Getting students to install and log in to the Bb App is a good start. The next step is to get them to use it.
First, use the Bb App Help page video to create a quick Think-Pair-Share or Jigsaw activity where students explore the app and share what they find. This kind of activity can be done in 10 minutes in class, for homework, online in the discussion area, or using Flip to have students create a short 30-second video.
Second, consider creating polls using anonymous blackboard surveys, creating short quizzes that students can complete on their phones before or during class, or using an Exit Card strategy such as minute papers where students post their thoughts in a discussion forum, making it easy for the professor to compile their responses on one screen to quickly review.
Use GroupMe to create a network of their peers.
GroupMe is a group texting app. All messages go through the app so no one has to reveal their private cell phone number. The purpose of using GroupMe is to teach students to assist each other. Since texting is their preferred mode of communication, using GroupMe places direct contact with 25-30 of their peers at their fingertips.
When a student has questions about an assignment at 11 p.m., instead of emailing the professor and perhaps waiting until the next day for a response, the student can use GroupMe to reach out to all of the students in the class with a good chance that other students are awake and able to assist in real-time. For instructions, go to the GroupMe Help & Learning page and click Get Started.
Some alternatives to GroupMe are Piazza, which has a built-in LaTeX editor, or MS Teams. Discord is also an option, but it’s used by gamers, so it may offer too many distractions. GroupMe serves its purpose clearly and simply, that is, by creating a network of 25 or 30 classmates as a lifeline whenever students have questions.