Email for Middle School Students

I would like to begin using more Web 2.0 tools in my Middle School Technology program. However, very few of my middle school students have email accounts. This is a problem because without e-mail there a very few resources for them to use such as blogs, wikis, twitter, etc. Is anyone supplying there middle school students with email accounts? Are there any hurdles in doing so? Are you using in house accounts or are using providers such as gmail.com or hotmail.com?

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Permalink Reply by Norman G on October 28, 2009 at 11:25am

Brian, we are using Google Apps exclusively at our two schools. I am the administrator and am loving it. We use Gaggle.net to archive the email of staff and admin. Recently I created accounts for our middle schoolers and am introducing that next week. The suite of tools Google offers is ideal for student's digital workspace. Gaggle.net is provides the filtering for the student accounts. We have been using Google Apps for two years and am constantly thankful I don't have to manage an email server.

So many features for $0 , priceless.

Norm

Permalink Reply by Diana Pendleton on April 5, 2009 at 10:01am

Eric - we too are looking more towards next year. We plan to start in the fall with full scale implementation of technology. This year a group of us are attending technology conferences to learn all we can, and are piloting student email, blogs, eclassroom, epals, etc. as well as Smartboards, Interwrite pads, and personal response systems. Our in-house email accounts are being provided through SharpSchool.

Permalink Reply by Kathy Strathman on April 25, 2009 at 5:56pm

I am in the same boat with my junior high students. Thanks for asking the questions, and thanks to all of you who gave responses! Now I have a few things to check out!

Permalink Reply by Pat Dailey on April 26, 2009 at 7:34am

Eric
Have you checked out the gaggle.net site? I use it all the time in my classes. It has limited features, but great filter and teacher control. It is definitely web based, free, and at least allows students the opportunity to learn the proper ways to use e mail.
Pat

Permalink Reply by Diana Pendleton on May 1, 2009 at 7:30pm

We just signed up two classes of eighth graders in epals so they could join in a multicultural online project and they love it!

Permalink Reply by Greg Garner on May 5, 2009 at 9:55pm

I love this idea and would be thrilled to implement the same thing. For right now, it's not viable, especially in the age of AUP's and social networking security. The main limitations I see with gmail, gawab, hotmail, and others are that there is no mediation or oversight through the school unless you create their account and know their password, which they could change. There used to be email accounts that you could set up as a "parent" and then you had admin rights over their account, but I haven't see/heard anything from them in years.

The one promising idea would be some form of in-house email client. Our district uses First Class (which is really a work productivity suite) and since there is major oversight available, might be possible down the road. I would love to see my kiddos with email, but for right now, more time (for us) needs to be focused on online security/safety. Someday, though!

Permalink Reply by Fran Lo on June 11, 2009 at 6:59am

I have the same issue. About half of my 7th graders have email, 3/4 of 8th graders have email. But the school doesn't offer email and doesn't want to get into all the issues of monitoring school email. It's a conservative school with conservative parents, and if a parent doesn't want their child to have email, they don't have it. This gets in the way all the time. I wish web 2.0 developers would find some other way, because the gmail workaround takes so much work - when you have 100+ students - that I just don't want to bother. This means a lot of great resources just aren't available.

I have thought about collecting student emails and then generating the gmail pseudo accounts (my name+student name) for the students who don't have email, and this may be what I do next year.

My admin just doesn't see the point of student email accounts, and given all the viruses we collect via email, I can see their point. That's not a battle I can win, and I have more important battles to put my energy into...

Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on June 11, 2009 at 9:55am

Fran, Do you want email to correspond with your kids? Or do you want to give them info for assignments, etc--? Decide what you need the 'email' for and maybe there is a work around. Moodle? Ning?

Permalink Reply by Klista Lawyer-Reynolds on June 12, 2009 at 6:49am

We use Gaggle for all of our students 3rd through 12th grades. Gaggle is very safe and flags inappropriate language, phrases, etc. Check it out at www.gaggle.net