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Project Boost is a personalised, SMS-based experience designed to help students engage more with their studies. Whether or not you feel confident about your unit, these SMS messages will provide you with useful information, helpful reminders about upcoming exams, and proven tips to help you boost your studies.
Need to know
- You and your Supporter (if you’re asked to nominate one) can opt-out at any time during Spring Semester 2019
- Not everyone will be asked to nominate a Supporter, or receive texts, this Semester, as this helps us work out what works
- Everyone enrolled in the participating units who signs up in Week 1 goes in the draw to win $1000, if you sign up in Week 2 you're in the draw to win $500, and if you sign up in Week 3 you go in the draw to win $250. So get in quick!
What is a Supporter?
Nominate anyone in your life who cares about you. This could be a friend, parent, sibling, grandparent, work mate, boss or coach – you name it! They don’t need to have been to university or understand what you’re learning about, it should just be someone you feel comfortable talking to.
A Supporter can be anyone, as long as they're not enrolled in the same School as you at Western Sydney University. So far, 40% of our students' Supporters are their partners, 30% are parents and siblings, and 20% are friends.
Research shows that texts about your unit are more effective when both you and a Supporter receive text messages. We will send your nominated supporter a weekly text message, prompting them to ask you questions about the unit you nominated.
You'll always know what your Supporter has been texted about every week, because you will receive a text with the same information. The purpose of the messages is to start a conversation between you and your Supporter about the unit you nominated. We will never send them any information about your grades or attendance at uni.
Here are some examples of the messages your Supporter might receive:
- "Alex has a multiple choice quiz coming up. A great way to help is asking him to explain complex topics, for example..."
- "What is the most interesting thing Alex has learned about the following topics..."
- "Ask Alex how she can apply what she is learning to her life outside uni..."
We will not nominate a Supporter for you. You should nominate a supportive person in your life who:
- You feel close to, or who brings out the best in you, or
- You have gone to or would go to for advice, and
- They are over 18 and can read written English in an SMS
If you want to talk to your Supporter about Project Boost before they receive any messages you will have until the Tuesday after you sign up to do so. Your Supporter can opt-out at any time if they don't want to receive messages.
The scientific evidence
Having a Supporter who receives weekly text messages has been found to improve class attendance and achievement in English and maths. In the UK, this resulted in 25% more students passing their course. To read more, visit the Supportive text messaging to encourage student success blog.
If this sounds great you can sign up to Project Boost now.
Who's behind Project Boost?
We’re the Behavioural Insights Team, a social impact organisation comprising psychologists, economists, policy specialists and designers, and we’re passionate about education. We have successfully delivered a version of Project Boost to dozens of UK further education colleges. We’re now partnering with WSU to see whether Project Boost has the same benefits for Australian university students.
If you’d like to learn more about our work, feel free to visit the Behavioural Insights Team website.
