Although I’m not one of those advisers who worries about trading cell phone numbers with my journalism students, I can still see the many benefits of using Remind.

Remind, formerly Remind101, is a method of communicating with your students via text message without sharing cell phone numbers. It’s free and simple to use.

Remind allows you send messages to the entire group (staff) or to select members (perhaps just editors). There’s even a chat feature, which is especially useful for teachers whose school’s frown upon teachers having their students’ cell phone numbers.

So what’s the benefit if you already have your students’ cell phone numbers? There are two: 1) Once it’s set up, you can easily send just one message to the whole group, even if you have a large staff. No worry about exceeding group limits. 2) And there’s no worry that some staff members won’t get your message because their phones “don’t get group messages.” As long as everyone signs up, everyone will get your messages.

Just go to remind.com to sign up. Then give your students the code they need to sign up. It’s so easy. And it’s safe.