Looking for an internet voice mail app for students

May 22, 2008, 8:32 am

Sorry for the light blogging, but I’ve been trying to cram in a bunch of work this week so I can take next week completely off. (Summer classes start the week after that.) Today I’m prepping for my summer calculus course, and I have a question for the audience about a particular web service I need but can’t seem to find.

The calculus class I am teaching this summer is in the evenings, and as far as I can tell all the students who are taking it are commuters. Normally, during the regular school year, I set up lots of office hours and have an open-door policy for students to come and get help when they need it. But since the class is in the evenings and I am staying at home with the kids during the day, and since the students won’t be on campus anyway except for my class, office hours are not really going to be the optimal way for students to get help. I’ll have office hours by appointment, but I can’t really be on campus for hours and hours each week.

So I have email and IM available for students to use, but students aren’t always around a computer when they need help. But they are around phones all the time, so what I’d really like is to have some kind of voice mail service where students could call in their questions, and then I’d get to them when I could. Of course I have a phone at work, but like I said I am not going to be in the office much, and if they leave a voice message on that phone I may not get it until it’s too late — and we have no way of checking our voice mail off campus. (Or at least, I have no idea how to do it.) And I’m a little reluctant to give out my cell phone number to students, and really reluctant to give out our Vonage number we use at home, just because I’m kind of private and paranoid that way.

What I am looking for is a service that:

Lets students call in and leave a voice mail message on a server somewhere, which…
…I then listen to via the internet, and then…
…publish a response to the question via email or a return call. And,
It needs to be cheap or free for me, and
Students should not need to sign up or register for anything — just dial a number on their phones and leave a message.

I thought that Jott might do this, but I think only if every student signs up for a Jott account. I’m not opposed to that, but students might be, and it adds an additional layer of complexity.

Anybody know of something out there that does all this? Surely the vast Web 2.0 application world has something that matches all these criteria, you’d think.

This entry was posted in Profhacks, Social software, Teaching, Technology and tagged jott, phone, Teaching, voice mail, web 2.0. Bookmark the permalink.

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philosopherP

Have you explored Vonnage’s website for an alternative… I wonder if you could set up a second phone number or something for a small price? Is there a way to forward your office phone to home?
http://tcmtechnologyblog.blogspot.com Maria H. Andersen

Maybe Google Talk? You can leave voicemail on that, of course, they would have to have a google talk account.
virusdoc

Robert wrote: “…students aren’t always around a computer when they need help…and if they leave a voice message on [my work] phone I may not get it until it’s too late.”

Call me cynical, but aren’t you just trying to cater to students who only study at the last minute? Why complicate your life for those students?

Anyone who is really studying as they go will have plenty of time to send an email and wait for a response before their question becomes urgent.
http://mathfest.blogspot.com Ross Isenegger

You could purchase a Skype-In phone number, likely a local call since you are in the U.S. for something like $5 per month. The number rings on your PC or goes to voice mail, which you can check on Skype.

I have used a phone number in St. Cloud, MN in the absence of Canadian phone numbers for over a year and am pretty pleased with the results (and most especially that the greedy, customer service challenged telcos have not benefitted in any way – except for an upgrade to my DSL service).
http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com Robert

@virusdoc: Actually I am trying to cater to the opposite kind of student — the one who has a question and *cannot* wait until just before classtime to get an answer. I want a student who, while they’re on their break at work or perhaps working late at night and encounter a question, can just call a number and leave a message.

How did you get that I was trying to cater to last-minute studiers? You know me better than that!
Phil

May not be exactly what you are looking for, but have you checked out GrandCentral? It was bought out by Google a little while back. The idea is that you can get a phone number from them (for free) and then enter the phone number(s) that it should forward to. If you don’t answer, it allows users to leave messages which you can check online.
http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com Robert

@virusdoc: I think I see your point now that I’ve read your comment a few more times. Bear in mind that we are cramming an entire 14-week calculus class — which moves at a very fast clip even in that time frame — into an 8-week format. We meet Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays for two hours at a shot, and we meet in the evenings in order to attract students who might be working during the day. So I can see a student for whom “working as they go” means that they are working on a homework set assigned on Monday night and trying to get it done before Tuesday night, but they have to work from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and maybe the only time they have to work is from 9:00-10:00 PM Monday night and on break at work. I want a student like that to be able to submit a question any time it occurs to them.

In other words, the sheer pace of the course is going to make some studying behavior that would look like procrastination in a 14-week setting be appropriately paced here.
Dave

I would also recommend Grand Central (www.grandcentral.com). It’s free and will provide you with exactly what you are looking for I think.
http://katherinefellows.com Katie Fellows

I’d like to recommend Grand Central yet again.

I use it when I tutor larger groups of people or when I meet new people in classes who I don’t necessarily want to give a private cell phone number to just yet. You’ll be able to listen to voice mail messages online and all kinds of good stuff.
virusdoc

I understand better now. Thanks for the clarification.
http://void.by/ VoiD

yes, Grand Central is the best
Marie

I signed up with 101Voicemail, and all I can say is that works wonderfully. Get to maximize the one-time fee – flat rate for only $8.50! try going to 101voicemail.com
Carla

I was the same predicament as you. A web based voice mail service is your best bet. I’m using 101voicemail and it works like a charm. It’s cheap and has a flat rate for unlimited use.
http://twitter.com/Clarissasblog Clarissa

“I know, I know. No one should ever write about autism unless they are actually they are actually on the spectrum themselves — this was a point that was made in several of the comments.”

-It wasn’t the point I made, though. Why you decided to ascribe these strange ideas to me is a mystery.

“Those without ASD should all be mute and await instruction. ”

-There is absolutely nothing of the kind in my post, and I’m offended that you would suggest I ever said anything like this. All I said was that I found your recent post on autism to be boring. I made no generalizations about “those without ASD.” I don’t even know what this phrase means.

Please try to be more careful with the sources you quote.

tenured_radical

Quelle suprise. I thought you had “dropped” this bland, sanitized and utterly boring blog?

http://twitter.com/Clarissasblog Clarissa

Your post sent me a trackback. You don’t need to follow blogs to receive trackbacks from them.

It would be nice to get an acknowledgment from you that you ascribed statements to my post that I never made.

tenured_radical

Here’s what I said: “No one should ever write about autism unless they are
actually on the spectrum themselves — this was a point that was made in
several of the comments.” You weren’t one of the commenters. And you didn’t get a trackback from the autism post, because you weren’t linked in it.

Still bored?
anonytrans

(In response to the post directly above, which doesn’t have a reply option):
So why did you mention Clarissa’s criticism of your alleged loss of substance directly prior to saying that commenters told you not to talk about ASD? As a non-participant in this skirmish, I absolutely walked away with the impression that Clarissa criticized you for talking about autism at all.

sherbygirl

I’ve been thinking a lot about one of the issues Clarrisa brought up, that your posts aren’t ABOUT anything anymore. I’ve enjoyed them quite a bit for that reason (don’t get me wrong, I definitely think your recent posts are about something, and very interesting and important somethings). Blog posts aren’t necessarily op-ed pieces, but they can be and often are. I find myself increasingly using my own blog as a place where I can think “out loud” and reflect on an issue/TV show/cultural phenomenon/what’s going on in my class, not just argue a position on a certain issue. It’s one of the major differences between much academic writing, both the writing we teach students (I teach freshman comp) and even the writing we do ourselves: strong thesis, support, drive it all home in the conclusion.

Maybe moving to the Chronicle coincides with a more reflective, less “reactive” period. Perhaps the posts would be exactly the same over in TR 2.0, especially given all the change that you’re dealing with. But I think what remains the same are your observations and eloquent way of expressing them. Just because your eschew sticking to one style doesn’t mean that they’ve lost anything. Even over here in the BIg House.
lesboprof

I appreciate your post, TR, and I know we are both hoping that this move will be a good one. I don’t think connecting with the Chronicle has changed your style or the strengths of your posts. I hope it hasn’t changed my blog, either. I guess we will see how it affects our friends and readers coming by and posting regularly.

I do wish they would find a way to regularly update us with emails when someone comments. I miss having be notified automatically, instead of having to check the website all of the time. I feel like I can’t engage as quickly as I might have in the past.
susanda

Heh. I can’t post under the name I use on other blogs. So here I feel more anonymous, though in ways I’m less so…

tenured_radical

Well *that’s* intriguing. I think more than one regular commenter has name-switched. The other thing to think about — which is what I do — is to use the same name and password for multiple accounts. As long as you don’t use them for financials, university pw, and so on, it keeps things straight in your head.

susanda

My normal blog name isn’t available here…

historiann

Hi, TR: thanks for this thoughtful reply to my cranky missive. Once again, I think Roxie got to the heart of the matter exactly. Which gang will prevail: the treehouse or the living room? (And are the drinks better in the LR, I wonder?) I’m glad you’re starting to feel more comfortable in your new place–I think your comfort is key to your success as the host in your new space.

I will note that my irritation with the comments software here persists, and it sounds like it’s still an issue for others. Since she outed herself as someone who posts under another name on similar blogs, I’m pretty sure I know who susanda is, and will have to keep an eye out for familiar commenters here who might also have the same issue. I sort of have the same thing going on–I ordinarily capitalize my name, but for some reason the Chronicle disqus software persists in labeling me “historiann” with a small aitch. But this is small beer–I’ll continue posting here, but it’s really much easier if the damned blog software would remember me instead of periodically kicking me out and having to send me a new password, etc.

I tried to correct the spelling of my name, but it claims there’s another “Historiann” out there. As if!
Guest

Claire,

A few words in your defense.

I never heard of your blog and only came to see your writing because you were on the chronicle. It sounds as though the old blog was preaching to the choir, and a rather cantankerous and closed-minded choir at that. I think it’s great that you came to the Chronicle and attracted other readers.

Having a disqus account is great. Your critics need a nice tall glass of STFU.

I don’t know why anyone would say your work is boring. It’s the only blog I enjoy reading anywhere on the web.

The blogspot circuit is always a bit cliquish, which undermines the intellectual growth of whoever is on the circuit. You’re where you were supposed to be.

According to Tim Groseclose’s political test, I scored an 11 on the conservative/liberal spectrum, making me more conservative than any Republican politician other than Michele Bachmann (a perfect 0 on the scale) and Jim DeMint (10). Nancy Pelosi scores a 100, Barack Obama somewhere in the 80s. In other words, I am a far-right nutjob. But I have to admit your column has brought me closer to the center on a number of issues, because I can tell you are smart and nothing gets a person to rethink things like a counterargument showing unmistakable clarity and intelligence. So God has plans for you elsewhere, not in a comfort zone where you’re a lunchroom monitor for a tired debate between the 85s and the 95s on the liberal scale — you belong here where you confront the dark forces of evil, like me, and slowly get us to admit certain things we don’t wish to admit (like maybe invading Iraq was problematic and gay couples can raise children without becoming child molesters). Stay here.

Best,
Bobby

historiann

Now, this is the kind of comment that makes me re-think my earlier comments. R.O.P. Lopez doesn’t consider that TR’s old blog was a community with a history. He doesn’t consider that there are any other uses for the blogosphere beyond political and intellectual Mortal Kombat. I appreciate his comments about the value he finds in Tenured Radical 3.0, but he doesn’t consider that there are many of us who use the blogosphere in an effort to connect with likeminded people because we are pretty geographically and/or intellectually isolated in our everyday working lives. No, he says we’re just a “cantankerous and closed-minded choir” and tells us to have a “tall glass of STFU” for daring to complain about the technological interface here versus the easy and hassle-free comments section at TR 2.0.

So, I’m starting to re-think Roxie’s opposition of the treehouse versus the LR. Not all, but a lot of us in the treehouse had much better manners and engaged in a lot fewer mansplanations than many in this particular living room, as the post I wrote last month suggested. Along with Clarissa’s typically clueless and hostile comments above, I’m still wondering if the living room is really worth it. Or rather, perhaps we should re-imagine the treehouse as the speakeasy, and the living room as a rather motley crue trying to bust up the party.

In short, I’m not really sure how “sivilized” this living room is, as it turns out, and I’m still waiting to be impressed by the quality of the conversations here.

altoii

I’m a long-time reader/lurker. I read TR, Historiann, Roxie’s World, and a host of other higher-ed blogs in a feedreader (Google Reader). So I don’t actually go to the blogsites themselves, unless I want to read comments (or post a comment).

I have noticed no real difference in TR’s postings since her move to the CHE’s blog platform. TR’s eloquent and insightful writing keeps me reading. The platform means a lot less to this reader than the content, and if the CHE’s platform helps keep TR blogging, all the better. If TR does feel constrained by the platform, she can always go back to the tree house. Just as long as she keeps blogging.
mnellsmith

Roxie’s Typist, sneaking in by way of mnellsmith’s CHE subscription, because I’m just too lazy to figure out the techno-logistics of commenting under my pseudonym. Hey, somebody, pour me a refill on my glass of STFU, will ya?

Thanks for this long reflection on your transition, TR. I deeply appreciate it and am tickled pink to have a nice big fat block quote in it. Historiann, don’t go blaming that tree house/living room binary on me — I’m quite sure I stole it from you. In any case, as we all know, sometimes folks behave really badly in living rooms, which is why I remain committed to bringing tree house values of irreverence and comradeship (which have nothing to do with cliquishness or closed-mindedness) into this space. I’m ready, as TR puts it, to hold hands — er, paws — and make the leap. Transitions are tricky. Border crossings are fraught with risk. But winter’s coming, and it might get a little chilly up in the tree house. Let’s see if we can’t get comfy in this living room, ‘k?
physioprof

“Similarly, Bitch told me when we met at one of those prestige-pig
blogging panels at an Ivy League university, that her blogging life had
led to a real writing life, and I’ve heard that from other bloggers as
well.”

The people who tend to quit bloggeing are those who use bloggeing as a replacement outlet for one they wish they had access to in their “real” life. Those who persist are those for whom it is either a fun and rewarding hobby or for whom it *is* their real life (i.e., they make their living doing it).

As far as your move to the Chron, I find your blogge more entertaining here, mostly because I enjoy reading the loontastic ravings of outraged fuckewitte commenters.

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