A few months ago I got a tip about a new calling service called Phonevite. Fellow online teacher and edublogger, Cory Plough sent out a tweet about how this tool allowed him to contact multiple students at a time. I wanted to learn more so I signed up for an account.

Like most applications there is a free version and a paid version. The free version limits the user to 25 calls at a time. No big deal unless you have hundreds of students!

The first step is to sign up for an account. Make sure you have immediate access to the phone number from which you wish to send your messages from. Next you need to add phone numbers of the people that you would like to send messages to. I have added students and parents. (You might not want to send Phonevites to parents at work since the calls are automated.)

Phonevite allows you to record your message on a phone or directly on your computer. You can send the message right away or set it to go out at some time in the future. I think the best feature is the ability to ask the recipient to record a message at the end of the recording. The message goes directly to your Phonevite account.

You can also see which called have been successful and how long the called listened to the message. If any calls were unsuccessful you have the option to send them again.

I have used Phonevite to remind students and parents about important dates like parent teacher conferences. We will also use it at my school to send messages to students if school is cancelled. (We only have 40 students.) I will use it sparingly so it does not lose its effectiveness. Afterall, students don’t like it when we nag them!