A long standing question in my district is the issue of student email accounts. Are they a good idea, or not? Initially I was a proponent of having them. Students, teachers, and parents can collaborate, receive feedback, and ask questions. The instant communication is priceless. My entire perspective changed last year.
As stated in a previous blog, I taught on online course last year. I was able to use blackboard for most of the assessments and it saved me hours of work. In addition, feedback was immediate and I was able to keep an electronic version of all assignments. Everything was going well until about Thanksgiving. Students began to explore blackboard and figured out how to chat with each other. I dismantled that and they found the email capability. Before I had a chance to remove that as well a student emailed a threat to the entire class. May I add that this was very unusual for this particular student. The student was suspended and the email capability was dismantled, but not before this student received multiple inappropriate responses. All electronic communication ceased after this point and I closely monitored student activity through blackboard’s data collection.
My point in relaying this incident is to illustrate the dangers in student electronic communication. The ability has great possibilities, but I find it sad that the abuses occur so quickly.
Comments (1)
I agree with you about the dangers of student e-mail and chat. Especially in hormone prone High Schoolers
There are alternatives to Blackboard though if you are still interested in student emails. My school uses http://gaggle.net/
Overall, I’ve come to like Gaggle. While its interface is slow and alloying at times, its administrator features are great. While it can’t scan an email for contextually created insults, it can filter out basic threats and inappropriate language. If the filter flags an email, it automatically forwards it to an administrator.
On the topic in general, I do like having the ability to email a student. Last year, I used my Gaggle account to send out monthly emails individualized to each class. I didn’t get much feedback from them on if they even read it; however I did notice that specific due dates and various materials were forgotten less.