I am just wondering if anyone uses the text feature to claim credit? If you do how long did it take you to implement and how did you implement it?
We are starting to use it for small conferences (10 or less people), but we would like to roll it out to large RSS sessions and live conferences. Ethos is a fairly new platform for us (under a year old) and getting people to update a profile and add a mobile number is our biggest obstacle.
Any feedback or tips and tricks would be appreciated!
Hi Julie,
we are doing this right now for our 80 some RSS’s: We hope to have this complete by the end of March which means it would have taken us about two months. We had an awareness campaign going on in our health system for learners to register accounts - we are just rolling out Ethos, so as learners register an account we ask them for the mobile number directly. In addition, we visit each RSS to introduce the platform, help people to register and talk about the credit claiming process through texting.
Each RSS has an admin coordinator from the department who is responsible for sharing the SMS Codes for credit claiming. We trained these coordinators separately so they would be able to answer first questions from their departments and be able to pull the SMS Codes from the system. Next step will be to get these coordinators to actually set up the sessions in the system themselves.
Happy to share more details, whenever you are ready.
We have received very positive feedback from learners as the texting reduces their effort for credit claiming tremendously compare to our old system!
Using SMS codes for RSS was an essential part of our rationale for its purchase. We’ve been doing RSS in Ethos since July 2015 and did many of the same steps that were outlined below, and have similar decentralized admin structure:
We did accelerated roll out for the RSS/SMS functions (we were developing our customizations over 15-18 months, and didn’t want to start a new new fiscal year without texting) Our customizations were only finished in May 2015, and we went live with RSS as of July 1 2015, learning as we went. We did some testing in June 2015 with a couple smaller RSS which helped us identify some steps/unclear instructions/settings that we’d overlooked. Half our RSS are year round, so tackled them on the personal level first; rest were Sept – June so we had a little time over the summer to catch up with them.
Pre-rollout announcements via RSS admins to get people to start to register
Provided Training Classes (in one of our learning centers with computers in front of trainees), with handouts which were also posted in an RSS learning Group
Personal visits/help during the first month or so at all RSS (even the ones at 6:30 in the morning) to help people with their accounts or text issues, answer questions, present on the system
One on one remediation as needed; retraining as needed; training the constantly changing set of departmental admins as needed…. Delivered either in person or via go to meeting type webinar;
We do all the set ups of series/sessions within the office (right now we have about 80+/- RSS), setting up “template sessions” with the right settings that the admins then go in and edit for title/presenter and date or location if a change is needed there. Not sure I would trust some our admins to do the set ups right… but it is a chore for the office every spring, shared among all staff.
For the most part, for RSS SMS has gone over very well: instantaneous credit/transcript vs prior process saving time/effort all across the university. and PARS is much easier! I have one Dept Chair who, ever time he sees me, pulls out his cell phone and tells me how happy he is with the system and how it works (even though its been over 2 years!). Some pushback from people who say the don’t have cell phones.
Jeanne G. Cole, EdD
Assistant Dean, CME
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at
Thomas Jefferson University
Twitter: @JeffCME
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I agree that Mayo Clinic implementation has gone well. You are right Jeanne, we get comments from people not wanting to use their personal cell phone or incur the charges of the text. We also have foreign visitors that do not have a US cell phone. Another option for them is to contact the Administrator for that RSS and they will enroll them.
Thank you for the information. It sounds like I am on the right path. We plan to work with planners, do testing, and make visits to RSS’s. I know a lot of people are looking forward to this (especially us on the back end), my big hurdle will be the ones who don’t have cell phones or just don’t want to do it.
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