Another session I attended was about getting your district ready for student email. Since we are just getting started with ePals, I thought it would be a helpful discussion. It turned out to be specifically about Gaggle.net, which was a little unfortunate, but he did present some good things to think about with student email.
We are going to be discussing some of those same ideas next week at the ITS meeting. Things like filter levels, access levels (who will students be allowed to email), content monitoring, etc. Plus, there are potential concerns about abuse, overuse, harassment, etc., to consider.
But email can be a powerful literacy tool. Students will be reading, writing and typing with email. Any time we ask students to convey their thoughts into words and sentences we are helping improve their literacy. Plus, there will be opportunities for peer review of work and collaboration between students across classes, grade levels, campuses, and potential across the world. Emailing takes the benefits of having a pen pal to another level since the information exchange is almost instantaneous rather than separated by weeks of waiting. And email opens up the possibilities for contacting experts with questions or to request information. There are definitely some concerns, but I think there can be considerable benefits.
What are your thoughts on student email accounts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment