You’ve got grades

Anxiety is written all over Raymond Alburo’s face. It’s been a week since the third-year commerce student at the University of Cebu (UC) took his final exams. He can’t wait to find out whether or not he passed.

Raymond isn’t alone in his anxiety. In her boarding house, Apple Mesias, a junior accounting student, can’t focus on her chores. She keeps going over her answers in the finals, trying to guess how she fared. While listlessly strolling in the mall, Raymond sends a text message to 700UC1. Apple does the same thing. After a few seconds, they receive an answer. Apple breaks into a big smile and heaves a huge sigh of relief. Raymond gives a loud whoop. They passed!

Apple and Raymond are only two of more than 650 students who regularly make inquiries about their grades via the text messaging feature on their cellular phones. The service, dubbed UC SMS Care, is a partnership between the school and the contact center subsidiary of Smart Communications Inc., I-Contacts Corp. (I-CON). The service enables high school and college students of UC to access updates on tuition payments and their periodic examination grades. Through UC SMS Care, students are also able to make other inquiries, complaints and even suggestions.

"I use the service mostly to find out the results of my midterm and final exams. I can tell my parents my grades immediately, unlike before," says Apple, whose parents are in Leyte. Raymond, on the other hand, finds that the information soothes his anxiety. "It’s very convenient. I can get my grades even when I’m not at school."

Other students have found other uses for the service. Accounting major Elizabeth Baquiller, for example, did not fret much about enrollment schedules for the current school year. Through UC SMS Care, Elizabeth received text broadcasts about enrollment even while she was in North Cotabato during her summer vacation. Elizabeth said she also uses the service to access her midterm and final grades. "Aside from that, I also want to be updated about the school’s calendar of activities," she added.

UC is one of the first universities in the country to fully implement SMS Care. Developed by I-CON, the service is a text-based, customizable customer and employee relations management service for corporations, agencies, schools, and even individuals who need to maintain open communication lines with their customers, employees and constituents.

SMS Care enables Smart, Addict Mobile and Talk ’N Text subscribers to gather, send, receive and move different forms of information to and from different entities using the Internet and their mobile phones.

In addition to UC, many other schools throughout the country have availed themselves of the SMS Care service of I-CON. These include Holy Angel University, Asian College for Science and Technology, Mater Carmeli School, Our Lady of Lourdes, Informatics Computer Institute, Fulbright College, FEATI University, Global City Innovative College, Philippine Women’s University, University of the Philippines Open University, Laguna College of Business Administration, Manila Business College and Development Academy of the Philippines.

Aside from providing students access to grades and accounts, these schools use the service to receive feedback from the students, conduct polls, and disseminate information about the school, the courses it offers, and school events.

These services are made possible through SMS Care programs like SMS SPEAK!, a text-based message forwarding and response management service; M-Pulse, an automated question-and-answer, self-managed survey facility; Mobile Web, a service where registered users can create their own textsites; Targeted SMS Delivery System (TSDS), a message delivery service that enables the school to send to specified mobile numbers; and Personalized Corporate Text Box, a text-based and customizable corporate mail system.

"We were already thinking of ways of applying SMS technology to better serve our students. Then Smart and I-CON came to us and offered SMS Care. Getting information is now easier on the part of the students," said Dr. Cesar Go, director of programs at UC. The school started offering SMS Care in November 2003 to the more than 39,000 students at its four campuses located in the towns of Main, Mambaling, Banilad and Lapulapu-Mandaue. More than half of UC students have cellular phones, and about 60 percent to 70 percent are Smart users, he said.

James Perez, head of operations and business development at I-CON, said SMS Care is very easy to use. Its features include quick and uncomplicated activation, easy modifications and customizations tailored to the client’s specifications. "It’s a pioneering service. We even give the software away for free," he said.

Go observed that about 80 to 90 percent of the students are now aware of the service, thanks to the school’s information campaign. Since it was first offered last March, the service has so far generated 72,879 SMS hits.

Using the service is as simple as keying in a query. A student only needs to key in ASK GRADES, plus his college, exam period and ID number, and send it to a designated number. Messages sent to SMS Care via the access numbers are charged P2.50 each. The proceeds from the service are used to subsidize the breakfast of UC’s less fortunate students, said Go.

With the service, students and even parents may now conveniently access grades and tuition payment updates anytime, anywhere. They may also receive announcements or information from UC, such as enrollment schedules. "The service is convenient and affordable. It also declogs the university from tons of calls from students and parents," said Go.

He added that UC is now encouraging more students to use the service, and is currently working on a service that will let students register through SMS. "When we launched the service, students could use the service freely. There was no need to register. Lately, we restricted it to protect the confidentiality of information. We require them to register first before they can use the service," he said.

Go added that Smart also encourages the students to register for the service so they will be aware that they will be billed P2.50 per message for inquiries sent or for announcements received via SMS Care. "But we know the students are willing to pay (for this service)," he said.

Because of the restriction, hits have gone down to about 600 a day from the pre-registration high of 1,500 to 2,000 hits daily. The figure, however, still totals about 14,000 hits a month. Go is confident that the service’s usefulness and convenience will still encourage more students to register in the future.

(Reprinted from Smart Connect Magazine)