Student Email is Coming to the District
The 2010-2011 school year will usher in an exciting new District initiative. All students in grades 6-12 will be given their own District email account. This new service will be provided through Microsoft’s Live@Edu package.
Live@Edu provides a highly secure environment for students with a proactive email filtering to block spam, malware, and other inappropriate content. In addition the system will block emails containing recognized bad words and provides anti bullying features as well.
The email account is set up similar to Microsoft Outlook. It contains a calendar, contacts, tasks, etc. Students can also access email from smartphones and even have the system send text messages to any cell phones for calendar reminders, email notifications, or other events.
The Live@Edu suite offers far more than just an advanced webmail client including:
- Skydrive – This is an online file storage system. Each student is given 25 gigabytes to store any files that are accessible from anywhere via the Internet. No more usb drives necessary! All of this space is backed up as well ensuring no assignment is ever lost or corrupted.
- Office Web Apps – This feature allows users to create Microsoft Office documents such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in a web browser without having to download any software. Students will have basic functionality anywhere there is an Internet connection without worrying if the software is installed or not.
- Live Spaces – This feature allows students to create their own blogs and web pages for personal use or for group events or projects. The spaces tool provides a way to easily collaborate on assignments and link to documents stored in the Skydrive.