The Gaggle system offers more than just web based email. Gaggle is a complete communication and collaboration system with many special safety features. The features listed below are all part of the free version of Gaggle unless otherwise noted.
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- Automatic content monitoring of student email with questionable messages redirected to teacher accounts.
- Automatic monitoring of incoming and outgoing mail against an approved list of addresses and domains.
- Anti-Pornography Scanner (APS) that automatically detects and blocks embedded pornographic images as attachments, as well as those in attachments, zip files, as linked images or on web sites included as URLs in the message body. The scanner is exceptionally accurate and in most cases it can detect the difference between pictures of students in bathing suits and pornographic images. Please note that Gaggle.Net is the only student email provider to offer an automated system that blocks inappropriate images from reaching your students.
- Online file storage and file sharing is available through Gaggle.Net's Digital Locker feature. Each user has 50 megabytes of space that can be used for either email or online file storage. (Free users are limited to 2.5 megabytes of storage per account.)
- Blogging Tool with built in student safety features such as: block outsider access, allow commenting, hide full names and email addresses, allow html, allow images, block offensive text, block pornography, blog entry approval required and other safety features.
- Message Boards customized for the District, Schools and Classrooms. The teacher created message boards are automatically filtered for content with access granted on a per user basis. Each teacher may create up to 5 message boards for use by their students.
- Free end user technical support provided from 8 AM CST to 6 PM CST Monday through Friday via 800-288-7750. Support is provided to district staff, teachers, and even students. Customer Service is provided in evenings, on weekends and holidays, via email, with an eight-hour maximum response time.
- Built in Language Translation feature supporting 13 different languages including Spanish, French, German and Chinese. There is no limit on the size of text that can be translated and the language translation feature can be turned on or off for specific users and schools.
- A controlled chat system with text filtering and reporting of inappropriate chat. Teachers can establish specific chat rooms with specific topics and control which students have access.
- 50 Megabytes of storage per account starting July 2006. (Free users are limited to 2.5 megabytes of storage.)
- Mail Forwarding to another email account such as your district address. You can choose to forward your students' blocked mail or all email. Forwarding of blocked messages to the teacher's district email account makes for easy monitoring of their students' activity. Forwarded blocked messages include links for unblocking and deleting the messages without logging into the Gaggle website.
- Advanced Virus Protection. Each message is scanned twice for viruses. The first scan is performed upon receipt of the email and a second scan is performed before the user downloads the attachment. Gaggle's virus definition libraries are updated every hour.
- Built in SPAM Guard feature with suspicious mail automatically directed to each user's SPAM folder.
- Advanced Spam control includes a proprietary RBL blocking list that has an additional 100,000+ blocked spammer IPs beyond what SpamCop, SpamHaus, and ORDBS offer.
- The system allows educators to check off and unblock multiple messages in a single click for easy administration.
- Gaggle maintains exceptional insurance coverage with $2 million in General Commercial Liability Insurance and an additional $3 million in Professional Technical Errors and Omissions Insurance.
- Blocking EXE's, SCR's, VB scripts etc. is easy via Gaggle Blocked Attachment Type feature. The district can set policies to block specific types of attachments or strip out certain types of attachments from incoming email. This feature can be applied to both teacher and student accounts. In addition, the district can choose whether or not the Blocked Attachment Types apply to the Digital Locker.
- The Blocked Word list can be customized at the district or school level so that each school can decide exactly what words and phrases are inappropriate for their students' message content.
- Visual display of the reason for blocked messages with offensive words shown in red text.
- The Blocked Address List can be customized for each school. This feature offers a very fine degree of control. As an example, schools can block mail from all .com addresses but allow mail from aol.com. The school can further decide to block mail from a specific AOL address. Any blocked messages are simply rerouted to a teacher to review.
- The ability to integrate via Gaggle.Net's SIF agent for integration to SASIxp or other School Information Systems. The Gaggle.Net SIF agent makes creating and managing accounts automatic for the district administrators.
- POP3 and SMTP access to email accounts for access using Outlook, Eudora, Lotus Notes, etc.
- Integrated on-line spell checking is included with the subscription version of Gaggle.
- Easy web based administration of email accounts at the district, school and classroom level.
- Web hosting via FTP access and Gaggle.Net's new Web Profile Page system. Teachers and students can create their own user profile pages with capabilities to share documents, URLs and also list information about themselves. Profile pages include security and access by outsiders can be restricted.
- The ability to integrate with other sophisticated web hosting/portal services your district may already use, such as Edline and SchoolWires. Gaggle can integrate for cross authentication of users via one login account.
- Secure password protected login via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) at https://www.gaggle.net.
- Twenty-two different user access levels including District Master, School Master, Teacher, Student, Send to School Only and Suspended.
- Ability to mass import users into the system using Gaggle.Net's software tools for creating user accounts.
- Ability to create as many custom home pages with login capability as needed.
- Address groups/distribution lists that support an unlimited number of address entries.
- One click access to message headers so that staff can easily track down the source of offending messages. The Gaggle.Net system automatically stamps the network IP address on every message sent from the servers.
- Customizable footer message for each school on the system. The bottom of each email can include a non-disclaimer from your district as well as an address to contact in case of email abuse.
- Customizable signatures for all users on the system. Each user can have their signature automatically added to each outgoing message.
- Distribution lists are suppressed by default for readability, but can be viewed easily via one click access.
- Exploding address groups that allow access to the Gaggle Distribution lists without logging into the web site. Educators can send mail to user sets based upon access level criteria or to custom address groups.
- Selectable website color schemes which can be set on a school wide or individual basis.
- Secure your own custom domain name for your email accounts. This is a free service when purchasing 3,000 or more accounts. For smaller schools and/or districts, see our Optional Features and Customization section.
- Gaggle's Max Recipients per Email is one of the methods used to prevent students from sending mass emails to the entire student body. Each outbound message can be restricted to just 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 35, or 50 recipient addresses.
- The Max Messages per day allows schools to limit how many messages per day each user may send.
- Directory Access restrictions can be applied to an entire school or to specific users in order to control which user addresses your students can view. Students can have district wide directory access turned on or off. Even within the students' own school the directory can be limited to just students, just teachers or no access.
- Unlimited User Groups: Students can belong to multiple groups, which you define, such as 5th period English, Student Government, Football Team, Math Faculty, Yearbook Staff, etc.
- A graduation year can be set for each student so users can be better organized and graduating students can be easily purged at the end of the school year.
- A Student ID number from your SIS can be set for each user account so it is easy to identify users and better integrate with your other school management systems.
- Optional Parent Accounts that can be linked to students at multiple schools.
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