Let’s Talk about Txt

The University’s Learning Lab has joined forces with education text messaging specialist Cy-nap Ltd to host a free one-day interactive conference at the Telford Campus.

The ‘Lets Talk about Txt’ conference on Tuesday, 24 March 2009 offers universities, colleges and schools the opportunity to find out more about the use of text messages to communicate with students, staff and parents.

The speakers are experts in SMS text messaging, and they will be sharing their wealth of experience and showing case examples of how mobile messaging has made a difference to recruitment, student retention and achievement.

The conference will focus on three areas - Learning and Teaching, Student Support and Marketing and Recruitment. The keynote speaker will be Mike Short, Vice President Research and Development at O2. There will also be ‘txt geniuses’ on hand all day in the common areas to give out expert tips and free text messages.

The event is aimed at people who already use text messages in education, and also those who are thinking about how best to communicate with students and parents, such as Principals, Heads, Department heads, Bursars, Student Service Managers, Marketing Managers, Quality Managers, IT managers, Tutors and Administration staff.

One of the speakers is John Traxler, Reader in Mobile Technology for e-Learning and Director, Learning Lab. He said: “Mobile phones are now universally available and accepted. They are transforming how students interact and with each other, with organisations and with ideas, and this is only the beginning.

“The technology is there but each university, college and school must explore and experiment with what it can do for them and their students. This conference is a great opportunity to think about what that means for education, and share experiences.”

Cy-nap developed Edutxt, which is used in universities and colleges in the UK to send and receive thousands of messages every day. Stephen McCann, Managing Director of Cy-nap, said: “This one day event is designed to give an insight into how educational establishments are utilising this simple technology to improve the way they communicate with their students and parents.

“You can learn from people who have been using this technology every day for years, look at practical useful examples and importantly see what developments are just around the corner. Don’t just take my word for it come and listen to the people who are ‘hands-on’ using this technology every day.”

For details about attending the free conference at Priorslee Hall at the University’s Telford Campus, contact Abi Redmond on 01902 322362, or email Abi.Redmond@wlv.ac.uk or Abi@learninglab.org.uk.  Alternatively visit www.learninglab.org.uk or www.txttools.co.uk

Further information

About the Learning Lab - The Learning Lab is a not-for-profit organisation, attached to the School of Computing and Information Technology at the University of Wolverhampton. The Learning Lab aims to advance the understanding and usage of e-learning technologies in the education and training sectors.

About Cy-nap Ltd - Cy-nap developed Edutxt, which is used in over 40% of the universities and colleges in the UK to send and receive thousands of messages every day. It allows the user to send, receive and track delivery of text messages to a mobile phone anywhere in the world. It is possible to send a text to one person or any number of people instantly.

For media inquiries, contact Vickie Woodward in the Press Office on 01902 322736 or 07973 335112.