Notification Systems and Students

How electronic Notification Systems help Students.

By: Greg Kocher

Notification Systems and Students

Notification System saves student

Missing Indiana Student Tracked Through Parent Notification System

• Rossville student was missing for over a week before he was found.

• The town used traditional measures trying to find the student until days before his reappearance.

Notification System Continued

• The school district changed their notification system to SchoolReach (a phone and text message notification system).

• One of the school member asked if it would help to send out a message to see if anyone has seen the student.

• “Within minutes of recording and sending the personal message, the family's telephone began to ring with tips on sightings of the young man. Shortly after that, the marshal was able to locate the boy and bring him home.”₁

₁Schaffhauser, D. (2009, March). Missing Indiana Student Tracked Through Parent Notification System. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from T.H.E. Journal: http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24110

My Thoughts

• I think that it is obvious that this notification system is very helpful for this community. It seems to me that the police did everything correctly, but they couldn’t find the boy. When they used the system, the family received many tips from people that had seen the boy. Eventually the boy was found. I think if another student goes missing that this should be their first step of finding the person.

Jag Alert

• Jag Alert consists of many different ways of contacting IUPUI students about emergencies on campus grounds.

• The top two notification tools are text messaging and emails.

• Other notifications are: Outdoor Sirens, Jag TV, IUPUI Website and Local Media stations.

Jag Alert Continued

• Each Friday at 11:00am the sirens andradios are tested.

• Emails and text messaging are tested once during the semester and it is encouraged only to email back when you received your notice.

The Trustees of Indiana University . (2009, January 8). About the JagAlert system. Retrieved April 20, 2009, from IUPUI Emergency Preparedness: http://www.iupui.edu/~prepared/informed/jagalert.html

My Thoughts

• Students have to go to the website that I have hyperlinked (the title of this section) to receive these special notifications.

• Since signing up, I have received about 4 messages (due to weather and a students complaint of being stabbed)

• I think that everyone should sign up for the notifications because it is FREE and you will be safe too.

Purdue Alert

• “Purdue is a large and complex institution, and people move agout our campus freely….there is no way to reach everyone instantly with a single message. However the multi-layered approaches we have in place will help spread the word quickly based on the circumstances.” –Purdue Alert Website

Purdue Alert Continued

• 2 ways of notification– Sirens– Alarms

• Sirens- All Hazard Emergency Warning means to get inside as soon as possible.

• Email, Text Messaging, Purdue Website, Resident Halls, The boiler Television Emergency Alerting System and Facebook can warn students of emergencies on campus

Purdue University. (2008). Emergency Warning Notification System - Purdue ALERT. Retrieved April 20, 2009, from Purdue University Emergency Preparedness:

http://www.purdue.edu/emergency_preparedness/warning_system.htm

My thoughts

I never realized that Facebook could be a way of getting information about what is going on at school. That was interesting to learn that students with a purdue.edu email address can get alerts if they joined the group Emergency Notification.

Since I don’t live on campus at IUPUI, I found it interesting to see how they dealt with the resident areas. The resident assistants, signs and phones help these students. The only questions I have are what do the signs look like and are they easy to point out for visitors.

Overview

• I think that campus wide notification systems are important today. I am sad to say this but it is because there are too many school accidents to not have one in place. They are a quick way to notify defenseless students of danger.

• Last Sunday I was notified that an IUPUI student was stabbed. Although it was false, I really liked that I knew what was going on at campus even though I wasn’t on it at the time.