Teens are usually fervent communicators who have grown up accustomed to sending instant text messages. Young people in schools communicate frequently with a variety of close people, such as friends and peers, coaches, parents, teachers, and institutions through text messages. From a young age, most youths own a cell phone that they can use to send a message to someone close to them. This establishes the culture of instant messaging as they move from one phase of life to another one.
Young people mostly come into contact with emails when joining higher learning institutions. At this stage, it is difficult to change their preference from text messaging to email. Thus, students mostly use emails only when it’s mandatory to receive communication. Looking at the nature of interaction and experience young people seek in social platforms, Pronto is a great platform to connect students and teachers via chat and videos. This makes it possible for students to learn faster, work smarter, and communicate seamlessly.
Consider the steps that someone has to take to send an email: compose a new message, type the address, type the subject line, write their intended message, and hit the send button. University students usually consider this to be too much work as well as very boring. They would rather type a simple message or have a video call with a teacher when doing an online class.
Young people dread emails because they are conduits for unwanted advertising content, a range of spam messages, and channels of attempts to scam and phishing. On the other hand, Most businesses have turned to email marketing, making email channels of constant adverts. Students also view emails as very formal because they are based on the rigid format of an office memo, with fields such as “to”, “from”, “subject”, and the message itself. This formality is not attractive to students and they, therefore, tend to stay away from it. This explains the reason why institutions should shift from emails to an attractive and interactive platform like Pronto for their communication with students.
Most students have devices equipped with instant messaging apps and this defines the whole text messaging experience. Emails are usually perceived as mediums of communication in relationships where one person is more senior to the other, such as a student and an instructor. However, instant messaging and video calling channels provide a communication platform for more intimate relationships.
In the current generation, students are looking for close relationships with their teachers and instructors. An intimate relationship allows students to ask questions more frequently as well as fall in love with their courses more easily. However, the formality offered by emails scares students away from their teachers. Emails are also asynchronous, which means that you receive and respond to them at any given time. This means that emails can easily pile up and make them overwhelming for students in schools and universities. That all disappears with a fast, personal, or even casual nature of texting and video calling offered by Pronto.
Effective tutoring requires open, positive, and easy communication between the teacher and students. Emails are not effective and efficient channels for having open and free communication between teachers and students due to their nature. When a teacher sends an email, it might take days before the student views the message, especially when their addresses contain a lot of unread messages. Think about the nature of Pronto, conversations stay organized and are easier to access. This allows teachers and students to establish clear expectations and lines of communication.
Now that you know the inefficiencies of emails and their fading popularity among students in schools and universities, let’s know how we can help you transition to a seamless communication hub. Unlike consumer chat apps, Pronto can integrate and has enterprise-level security, privacy, and administrative controls.