Mass Notification for Higher Education

Emergency notification systems (ENS) have become essential security features in higher education since the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. Most emergency notification systems communicate via multiple electronic devices, such as phone, email, instant messaging, text messaging, fax, BlackBerry®, PDAs, and pagers with the order of delivery to specified groups and devices customized to fit the user’s priority list. This article identifies essential considerations for choosing a notification system, as well as a checklist of pros and cons for specifice kinds of devices.