On August 12th, a change was proposed with student e-mail accounts. First, do you support the change? Second, would you favor additional time for students to send and receive e-mail besides break period? If so, would 10 minutes during AEP work? Other ideas?
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14 responses so far ↓
Jason Larison // August 13, 2008 at 3:55 am |
I am in favor of the e-mail change… I think 10 minute break is and the last 10 minutes of AEP are fine. 2 times a day is plenty. If they want to communicate with teachers, they can still use Moodle forums, turn assignments in homework hand in, etc.
I AM STRONGLY OPPPOSED to there being only a limit between student to student and not the teachers and the outside world. If e-mail is turned off during the day for students then it needs to be turned off… PERIOD! Students can get e-mails from teachers when the log in just like everyone else…
I love email and the possibilities, but its abuse needs to be turned… if we give students a reason to be on email during class, they will be on it. The original proposal of no student e-mail other than 2 times a day and then after school is fine.
Tad // August 13, 2008 at 5:28 pm |
Email is here to stay and so is texting and the use of cell phones. WE can choose to try and “control it” or we can choose to embrace it and TEACH the kids how to use them as responsible individuals. With that being said, we would ALL have to be on the same page and it is very clear we as a staff are not all in agreement with how to handle this.
I am not opposed to limited access of email, but do think we need to look at the message we are sending. This may improve PR in the publics eyes, but it may also backfire on us too. It is worth a shot.
If we have to limit it, I would much rather the last 10 minutes of AEP than the first 10 minutes, personally I am in favor of 15 minutes.
To comment on limiting it for teachers too. I see the point, but also know how much email is used to communicate through out the day with other staff, I guess we could use iChat, but MANY don’t seem to want to use this either.
Joni // August 13, 2008 at 9:25 pm |
I like the idea of limiting email to break and the last 10 minutes of AEP. We can at least see how this works for a semester, then reevaluate, if necessary.
Karen Ford // August 15, 2008 at 7:05 pm |
I agree with Tad’s comments on this one.
Jackie McAsey // August 15, 2008 at 8:21 pm |
I like the idea of limiting e-mail time because we will keep kids more focussed in our classes and in AEP.
It will cut down on cheating as well. I plan to let my kids check e-mail at the beginning of AEP so they can go see the teachers if they receive an e-mail requiring them to do such.
Alex Bartel // August 15, 2008 at 9:23 pm |
If email is to remain I would vote for 10 minutes at break and 10 minutes at the end of AEP. I have heard ideas about allowing time lunch and I am heavily apposed to that. I understand Tad’s point but even us as teacher’s struggle with that same fact of freedom with our PLCs and CFGs so much that we have it as a part of our norms (to have the computers put way in order to focus our attention). So we are training our students that a communication tool, like email, should be checked twice in a 8 hour period, I think that is fair.
Lang // August 16, 2008 at 12:53 am |
I’m in favor of the limited email access. As far as ‘teaching students to use it as a tool’, I agree that there are countless good uses for email in the workforce, but is this even in question for students? Emailing is obviously second nature for most students, so what’s to learn?
There are examples of ways to use email to gather data (see who can receive an email from the furthest distance, or the most emails in 10 minutes) or other projects, but these seem to force the mode of email to a unrealistic situation. I could teach you how to bake a cake with a boot in it, but that doesn’t mean its a worthy use of our time.
Simply put, email is a tool to communicate and in the context of our school, there are numerous other ways to communicate with students that don’t open up the grotesque number of non-educational-related emails sent last year by students.
Jason Larison // August 16, 2008 at 10:13 pm |
I see Tad’s point entirely and agree on most parts… the reason that I still think we need to limit access is that we unfortunately saw many, many students that allowed “open internet” and email to get in the way of the other learning opportunities. It is unfortunate, but I think limiting is a “necessary evil” we need at this point for the whole building to get it under control.
Debbie Harshaw // August 18, 2008 at 1:50 am |
Reading other comments gives me more ideas. I agree with Tad on many points he makes. It won’t hurt to try this limited use of e-mail and evaluate it at a later date. I do know e-mail has been abused a lot in the past and gets in the way of education in the classroom. Something needs to be done…….
Carol Braum // August 18, 2008 at 4:13 am |
I believe we have tried many approaches to teaching “responsible use” for the past 3 semesters. E-mail is a tool, but it has definitely gotten in the way of learning. I support the plan to limit its use.
I have found that I stay better focused and get more done when I don’t stop what I’m doing to read every email immediately when it arrives. I think it is a good time management technique to teach students to check it a couple of times a day.
Susan Rhule // August 18, 2008 at 12:45 pm |
E-mail is a tool-we all use it, however….Whatever is decided, my hope is that all teachers will follow the same policy because without everybody doing the same thing, we might as well not have the policy.
Brooks Barta // September 4, 2008 at 1:56 pm |
I think the change in email has been a positive change. It is pretty obvious when kids use email in class and is pretty easy to stop them. However, i think the lack of access has limited the number of emails that they are sending at the end of classes, during lunch, etc etc. Therefore they are not wasting the whole AEP answer 30 different emails and reflecting them back exponentially for others to reply to them. I miss having email for class, but the outcome has been positive.
Tad // September 4, 2008 at 3:32 pm |
Like the discussions, and do see a point on time management with email use. I will say I am one of those teachers, who in the past HEAVILY relied on email to communicate with my sports tech and independent study students, due to the number of classes that I have operating at one time. With 3 classes going at once it does take more time for me to set up iCals or other forms of communication for the students. However I have started to think of ways I can just do a quick voice recording and have them listen to that, what I still don’t get is the quick response to answers of what I have students working on. My classes are so project based, that especially my independent study students are working with the community on things. I will just need to change and adapt the times and methods of communication for the situations we have. I am ok with that.
I do however think this is a problem that is in the workforce that is not going away anytime soon, and still not sure that the approach we took is the right approach, but like was said in previous comments it is worth a shot.
Now the Whitelist, that is a WHOLE different discussion…Maybe Alan can open up a discussion on that sometime. (:
Kurt Haussler // September 7, 2008 at 1:46 am |
I wanted to wait and observe my students in class before posting my thoughts on this new change with email. With 3 full weeks under our belts, I believe the limits placed on email have made for more focused students and more production during class time. I think it has been and will continue to be an adjustment for both students and teachers in the limits placed on email. I do also agree with Tad’s comments on the message we are sending and whether we are actually teaching students how to use technology appropriately or if we are “turning them off” to technology. I have heard on numerous occasions from many different students that they don’t know why they even have computers. Granted, much of this is probably frustration of moving from unlimited communication with this tool to very limited access. I am also sure that many of these comments are based on the WHITELIST issues we are all experiencing! Tad, I too would like to see a Whitelist Blog. I have some strong opinions on that and a proposal I would like to share. Alan, we have at least two now that are in favor of a Whitelist discussion…anyone else?