Improving Medical Student Engagement Using Text Messaging: An Applied Improvement Project

Abstract

The project involved an intervention involving fourth-year medical students. The local organizational issue at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences is the need for increased student engagement with the university’s resources. Vygotsky’s theory of student engagement was used to support the project. To address the problem and attempt to increase student engagement with university resources, medical students who agreed to participate in the AIP were asked to provide a valid phone number and receive text message communications from the medical college with valuable resources, advising links, and deadlines. Thematic analysis was implemented by gathering qualitative data via interviews and a brief open-ended questionnaire ( Braun & Clarke, 2006 ). Interviews and questionnaire feedback were transcribed and coded to discover themes. The purpose of the intervention was to determine if medical students would feel more engaged with the college after receiving text message communications for three weeks. Interview and questionnaire data indicated that students felt more engaged with text message communications than traditional email. These, such as a desire for deadlines and timelines via text, were prevalent, as well as receiving links that were easy to access on a cell phone.