TIPS Volume 3, No. 1
September, 2002

     Grade Level Key 
     = Elem,  = Middle
     = High, = Teachers

Remember last spring when the Exchange Global Distribution Lists served as a forum for a discussion of the new calendar then under consideration by the School Board? It was a little awkward, wasn't it?  This year we have provided a new capability specifically designed for email discussion, with several improvements over distribution lists: 

• You can decide whether to participate in the forum. You can join at any time, and leave at any time, and receive emails only if you've joined.
• You can determine how the discussion is delivered to you - one email at a time, or one email weekly with everything in it!
• All messages are archived - forgot to save that wonderful instructional idea? Send a note to the list server, and retrieve it later!

For a more complete discussion of the nature of the new Fayette County Schools Email Discussion Lists, see http://listserv.fcps.net - in particular, look at the link "Exchange distribution lists versus Mercury mailing list" to understand how email discussion forums work.

This capability is available for educational use - in the classroom, for school faculties, or other organizations in FCPS. As a pilot, the discussion forum "FCPS-General-L" has been set up as a general discussion forum for all employees of Fayette County Schools. To join, you must send an email from your FCPS email account (sorry, nothing from outside FCPS) to 

maiser@listserv.fcps.net

In the body of the email, put 

SUBSCRIBE FCPS-General-L <your first name> <your last name>.

Replace <your first name> and <your last name> with the appropriate data. If you do things correctly, you will be asked for confirmation, and then receive a "Welcome" email. If you wish to establish your own email discussion forum, full instructions on how are on the list website . If you wish further information or support on the use of this medium, contact Jeffrey L. Jones. 

As teachers, we use email every day! Should your students be using it? Absolutely! Are there ways of integrating its use into instruction? You bet! (See Technology Training's Flat Stanley Project for an example). Is it legal? Yes - as long as the student has an AUP on file.( By law, students are not allowed to use other email systems besides ours in school.)  How do I get my students signed up for email accounts? If you're a high school teacher, then your students' accounts already exist, and are handled by your TRT or LAN Service Technician. If not - student email accounts are now handled centrally. Here's the story:

• All requests for student email accounts must originate from the school STC. No requests will be accepted from teachers or other interested parties.
• All students must have an AUP on file.
• Submit requests to Sam Conder at sconder@fayette.k12.ky.us. 
• All passwords will be, by default, the student's social security number. The tech office hopes to implement the ability to change passwords, but, currently, passwords can only be changed by hand by Mr. Conder.
• Submissions must be in the following format, which can be obtained from an STI query (see your school STI security officer for help). It must be saved as a tab-delimited text file. SSN should have no spaces or dashes.