With phone.io, it sounds like I can set up a voicemail box on any of my course websites and then call in to leave messages for my students. Not individually, but for the class as a whole, so if I'm on the road and see something they should all check out, or (worst case) have an emergency, I can make one phone call that will live in one easily accessible place for every student to hear.
I'm trying it out below in a test drop. (*Home internet issues are making work difficult today!)
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
This is not a substitution for mass emailing or posting to the course weblog, but I like that, if this work as I hope it does, it's a neat solution for last-minute change of plans, sharing on the fly, and, as Byrne points out in his own use scenario, making sure students don't have that whole "the substitute teacher didn't tell us that!" excuse; with this, I can conveniently leave explicit instructions in writing and audio.
I'll keep you posted.
~mrc
UPDATE–
Or do I need to install a widget that reads the RSS for the latest phone drops to be updated on the site? Going to try embedding the RSS feed of this drop in a Gadget on the blog sidebar.
UPDATE 2–
Yup, that did it. Not sure if this is the best practice as recommended, but it works for me. If I come across an improved method, I'll share. As of right now, though, I have a setup where I can call a phone number and leave a voice message for any of my classes. I'll need to create custom phone numbers for each class, and as far as I can tell, I have no control over the extension for each number (which is basically one more random password to remember) but I'm going to experiment with this this fall.
Other ideas for using phone.io in the classroom?
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