Loading Profile...
EMPLOYEE
I'm a teacher. How can I get my students logged into a wiki when they don't have e-mail addresses?
I’m looking for more thoughts
9 people like this idea
I like this idea!
Tell me when this idea gets some attention.
The more people who like this idea, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who like this idea, the more it gets noticed.
The best points from the company
-
Hi, this is Janet Yu, Senior Product Manager at PBwiki. I'd love to talk through our proposed design for supporting classroom wikis in 2.0. Email me this week at janet[dot]yu[at]pbwiki[dot]com if you're interested.
I’m excited!
The company thinks
this is one of the best points
-
If you *really* didn't want to let the students have emails (and assuming you have a Gmail account), you could just sign each one up with a variation of your own email address.
Here's an example:
Teacher: iteach@gmail.com
Amy (student): [no email account]
Tim (student): [no email account]
So sign each student up and when it asks you for their email address, put iteach+amy@gmail.com and iteach+tim@gmail.com - now, when we send the verification emails out, they will go to your iteach@gmail.com account and you can use filters to sort the mail accordingly.
I’m happy
The company and 9 other people think
this is one of the best points
-
Inappropriate?Use this as a teaching opportunity. You're already teaching them awesome skillz by showing them PBwiki, so why not take it one step further? Free e-mail services like gmail are a great resource for students learning how to navigate the web.
-
Inappropriate?If you *really* didn't want to let the students have emails (and assuming you have a Gmail account), you could just sign each one up with a variation of your own email address.
Here's an example:
Teacher: iteach@gmail.com
Amy (student): [no email account]
Tim (student): [no email account]
So sign each student up and when it asks you for their email address, put iteach+amy@gmail.com and iteach+tim@gmail.com - now, when we send the verification emails out, they will go to your iteach@gmail.com account and you can use filters to sort the mail accordingly.
I’m happy
The company and 9 other people think
this is one of the best points
3 Comments Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
So does that mean I need to sign up for a new gmail account for every student that doesn't have an address? Or is there a way to add the students to my account? This doesn't seem to make sense when I tried. Please help. -
No Hillary. Scroll down to see my answer.
-
Thanks Clif! I may sound a bit challenged...but can you tell me in detail how I go about doing that since when I tried to create another Gmail account using the ImaTeacher+ technique, it tells me that it won't accept the + symbol in the username. Thanks for your patience.
-
Inappropriate?That's a really nifty trick. I thought I knew everything about Gmail, but apparently I have much to learn! I might use that trick when I have to sign up to read things online. Then I'll know who's spamming me.
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
-
Inappropriate?As a teacher if I sign up students for google mail or any other system that can be spammed, I'd hate to be the person responsible for any inappropriate materials that arrive in their teacher provided email accounts. If you still want to provide emails for your students there are more secure alternatives. I don't use this, but I've read some good reviews. www.gaggle.net, it promises "safe email for students." I'd love to hear what you think about it. :)
Roberto2 Comments Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Hi Roberto- thanks for the great suggestion. One of the nice features about the above trick is that you're not actually creating email addresses for your students, these are just variations on your own email address. So students will still have access to PBwiki, without actually having an email address.
-
I've been using gaggle for two years now and find it's benefits exceptional for enhancing classroom communication; there is a free version -- we opted to have students pay the $4.25 subscription as part of our technology fee at the start of the school year. The difference is that the subscription is sans pop-ups and runs faster. It is very difficult for students to do bad things on gaggle -- even in other than English languages!
-
Inappropriate?If you need a little help with Paul's suggestion to use the "+" feature in Gmail. I've got an FAQ with detailed info here:
http://help4all.pbwiki.com/AddingMult... -
Inappropriate?I don't have a GMail account but will look over the suggested naming convention. This might work if the account can only be used by me.
Anyone see any problem in this? Do I have to put time in every afternoon and evening monitoring that account for the kids to accomplish day-to-day activities on the wiki?
As a public school fifth grade teacher in a semi-rural community with less than 1/8th of my students having access to a computer -- and certainly even fewer students with their own e-mail -- if I set up a independently-usable e-mail account for a student without a carefully worded signed letter from the guardian/parent, I'd run the risk of serious reprimand. Parents are scared of this for their kids. My Principal is already worried about my having a wiki at all.
Any way to use IDs in systems like Moodle? We don't use that yet so I don't know tech details for their servers, messaging protocols, etc.1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
"with less than 1/8th of my students having access to a computer"
Where is that? Zimbabwe? Iran? Get some donated to the school if it really is that bad. Maybe Oxfam (cough..just kidding). Microsoft, Dell, any local business that might be throwing out old machines, weathier schools in nearby towns etc. Retailers sitting on worthless old stock, Libraries which might intend to upgrade. Many possibilities. Might find some of the parents whill be so shocked that they'll club together and get some for you.
Just explain to the parents that they must find the courage somehow to move forward. The 19th centruy is really not so bad. Then when that is swallowed they can try the 20th and 21st. Facebooks all round guys! -
Inappropriate?If you’ve ever done a workshop that requires teachers (or students) to use GOOGLE, you know how chaotic things get because most teachers come into the workshops without Google Accounts. And you lose valuable class time setting them up.
Even if you create a “public wiki,” the new PB wiki now models a behavior similar to Google. The moment workshop participants try to edit a page, it throws everyone onto a page that requires them to log in or create an account.
But the wise people at PB Wiki left a work-around that saves the day!!!!
It’s called MAGIC URL. If you go into wiki settings and click on “SHARING”, you will see a very long URL. I took that URL and converted it to TINY URL. Then, I pasted it on the opening page of my workshop wiki.
When it came time for teams to write on the wiki, I simply had them click on that URL. It gave them immediate access without ever having to create a PB Wiki account.
This tip could save your day!
Remember, however, this will leave no paper trail on who did the editing. So it's best used when participants will only have one-time use.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonus Tip:
I create a lot of wiki "templates" for my workshops. Each team is assigned a page that they can write on. They can also click through the other team pages to see how others have responded. If I want to give the same workshop a month from now to an entirely different group, I simply revert to the last revision I made before the workshop started. And in an instant, I get a clean slate!
Anne
I’m confident
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
2 Comments Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
How do you go into wiki settings?
-
Click the 'Settings' link in the upper-right hand corner of the wiki.
-
Inappropriate?Please keep in mind that MANY schools and districts block their students (and sometimes teachers) from accessing email accounts like yahoo, hotmail, and gmail. Students do not have access to email accounts at all where I teach, nor are there plans to allow this anytime soon (actually are considering tighter restrictions).1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Our school board also blocks ALL email accounts, so there is no option for students to have an email account. Is there a work around this problem? If no, the benefits to having a collaborative wiki for my students have just been erased...
-
Inappropriate?My school has used Gaggle for the last 3 years and we love it. The e-mail gets filtered for inappropriate language (although all of the "acid" rain projects got filtered. They also have pornography filters and digital lockers and blogs. Teachers have access to their students files.
I’m happy
-
Inappropriate?I have the same problem. Our students do not have email addresses. Our school does not issue student email.
I would really like to have the ability to add students with a user name. -
Inappropriate?Thanks for adding your comment TechTeach. We will be working on features that will make adding students much easier. I can't promise you when this will be available, but you can keep an eye on our blog for announcements.
http://blog.pbwiki.com
I’m happy to help
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
As I just mentioned in a different thread, PBWiki needs to be sensitive to the realities of K-12 schools -- many schools PROHIBIT use of email for or from school; doesn't matter whether it's gmail or not. Teachers are being put on probation and worse for using work arounds such as the GMail idea posted in this thread. CIPA, COPA, FERPA, and other alphabet soup laws strictly restrict what teachers can expose students to. If you're serious about K-12, and even 13-16 where FERPA is still an issue, you need to be very sensitive to these issues.
-
Inappropriate?Hi WillDoane,
The discussion above is not about us denying anyone access to PBwiki if they don't have an email address. It's about the requirements for using v2.0 of PBwiki.
PBwiki has been offering our free wiki hosting services to educators and non-profit organizations for nearly 3 years now. Hundreds if not thousands of educators and students use PBwiki every day.
We are sensitive to the email issue. In fact, you can still create a v1.0 wiki that allows students and teachers to log in without using any email other than the one email address required of the wiki owner.
Our requirements for teachers using PBwiki have not changed. Only access to 2.0 wikis requires everyone to use email. The 2.0 wikis needed to have stricter security options that 1.0 could not offer.
Students using PBwiki 1.0 can log in using the wiki invite key, any email address and their name.
Let me clarify the email address at login I just told you about. Any email address that you enter will work when logging into a v1.0 wiki. It does not have to be a real email address. I believe in many cases, the teacher assigns a standard email address for the students to enter into the login page. Whether or not it's an address that truly exists is up to the teacher. Only a wiki owner needs to have a real email address.
There is no work around needed to invite students to a PBwiki 1.0 wiki. Simply share the wiki Invite Key with them and tell them where and how to log in.
Creating a 1.0 wiki is essentially unchanged and only requires that you use your email address for verification and uncheck a single check box at step 3. Go to http://pbwiki.com to get a free wiki so that you can see for yourself that we still continue to offer a great free service.
If you need help or advice on using PBwiki for classrooms, please visit our Educators wiki at http://educators.pbwiki.com.
Is there anything else you need clarification on?
I’m happy to help.
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
2 Comments Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Really, Clif, I didn't need clarification on any of that, either. I already participate in the educators wiki, I actively use v1.0 with classes and groups, and historically I've been a strong proponent of PBWiki for educators. Unfortunately, the direction y'all seem to be going in with v2.0 makes that version of PBWiki unusable for many educators.
..........
You're welcome to make security as strict as you want. In the process, as I tried to suggest, you're making the new PBWiki model unusable for a vast number of educators who are in federally and/or district mandated lock-down situations with respect to new technologies. All I'm asking for is a demonstration of sensitivity to those issues, if you intend to keep courting the education community.
..........
Comments from staffers like "use this as a teaching opportunity" and "if you *really* don't want them to have email addresses..." (as if it were the teachers' _choice_ to work in a restrictive technological environment) demonstrate an insensitivity to those issues.
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE