General Suggestions

Below are some general suggestions that will help you make the most of Gaggle.

Encourage personal email by your students

Email is a fun an exciting method for interpersonal communication. There is no reason why students should not be emailing with each other. It's a great way to get them to practice writing and develop effective email skills.

If there is ever a problem, the school has the ability to review the students email activity and hold the student accountable.

Do not impose too many restrictions on message content and recipients

It is impossible to predict what topics your students will want to discuss and with whom they will want to correspond. If your Blocked Text list and Blocked Domains list are too long, you will become inundated with blocked messages.

We suggest that you use a limited set of blocking lists. Instead, we recommend that the teacher remind the student frequently that they are expected to abide by the school's acceptable use policy. Most student's will stay within the guidelines. Occasional spot checks of student accounts can ensure student cooperation.

Email etiquette

Good email etiquette is an important skill. Explain to your students that using all capital letters is considered to be shouting in email. Also explain to your students the importance of proof reading their messages and keeping the messages short and to the point.