Helping Students Become Organized Through a Text?

Over the past year, there has been a huge emphasis on using cell phones in the classroom across the country. Students are using cell phone aps to take quizzes, answer questions in class, and even practice their vocabulary.  More and more emphasis in the world of  Web2.0 is going to Aps.

Sites like Edmodo  have created Aps and features to catch up! One Edmodo feature will allow your students to send text messages to themselves when an important assignment is due. This has been a feature for quite a while, but I wanted to take this opportunity to revisit this great feature.

First of all, why even use this feature? Edmodo already has a Calendar feature that allows students to visually see when assignments and quizzes are due. I believe the question should be, why not use this feature? Creating expert learners is one of the goals of creating a universally designed learning experience. Although not appropriate or needed by some of our students, this is a great way for many of students to learn how to self regulate and use their time wisely.

There are individuals who may disagree with me and may say, they should use their planners. Why are we spending our money on planners? Well, hate to break it to you, but many of these planners are ending up in the trash can or lost. I don't think this feature should replace planners, because they have their place in our schools. How can a kid go to the bathroom? They are often used as passes.  However, it may an extra tool that some of our students can benefit from. Why not help our students regulate their study habits without even doing a thing on your part?