elearnr » email http://elearnr.org ...elearning links, resources, and guides. Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:50:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Getting to grips with the school email system http://elearnr.org/2008/11/05/getting-to-grips-with-the-school-email-system/ http://elearnr.org/2008/11/05/getting-to-grips-with-the-school-email-system/#comments Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:59:42 +0000 admin http://elearnr.edublogs.org/?p=47 Using an email system instead of a paper-based one has many advantages, not least the money-saving aspect and speed of communication. Our school needs to have every member of staff using the new Microsoft Exchange-based system instead of the previous Azzuri one ASAP.

Check out the guide below to get started:

You can use an application called OWAnotify to check your emails on a regular basis:

Click on the icon above to go to the site to download the application. I suggest saving it to the following location:

You should configure the settings as follows:

If you have any problems with this, please ask either Jason Spooner or myself (Doug Belshaw) for help! :-)

Remember that the address for accessing your emails outside of school is http://exchange.ridgewoodschool.co.uk

]]> http://elearnr.org/2008/11/05/getting-to-grips-with-the-school-email-system/feed/ 1 Creating a homework blog in 3 simple steps using email http://elearnr.org/2008/09/22/creating-a-homework-blog-in-3-simple-steps-using-email/ http://elearnr.org/2008/09/22/creating-a-homework-blog-in-3-simple-steps-using-email/#comments Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:12:54 +0000 admin http://elearnr.edublogs.org/?p=24 Posterous has been mentioned a couple of times before on this blog. First, Phil Rowland set up a blog using the service for his BTEC Sport students (although he’s now extended it to include all his PE groups). Next, our librarian, Angie Dickson, set one up. Both have been impressed by how easy Posterous is to use.

Here’s how to get started (taken directly from Posterous‘ official guide):

Yep, that’s it! It really is very easy. No signups, and pretty much everything can be done via email. You can, of course, create a blog post via logging into the site itself, but most of the people I’ve spoken to about it like the ability to create them by email. :-)

Anything that you attach to an email to Posterous will be dealt with ‘intelligently’ and added to the blog post. For example, here’s an email I sent to my Posterous blog:

 (click to enlarge)

and here’s how it turned out:

  (click to enlarge)

It really couldn’t be any easier to set up a blog! The only things I would recommend you take care over are:

  • Set the name of your blog, it’s address, and decide who can comment: login to your Posterous account and then click on ‘Manage’ at the top right-hand corner of your blog. Clicking on ‘Edit my posterous’ allows you to change the site name, where it is on the Internet (e.g. mrbelshaw.posterous.com and choose who is allowed to comment on your blog posts.
  • Set an avatar: an avatar is a small icon representing you on the Internet. I always use my little South Park character. There are many sites you can use to create something similar, including faceyourmanga.com, a South Park character generator (unfortunately blocked on our school network), and the Simpsons character generator on the SimpsonsMovie.com site! :-)
  • Add some information about yourself: it doesn’t need to be much, but students and interested visitors need to know they’ve found the right blog and not someone else with the same name as you…

Here’s the Posterous-powered blogs so far at our school. I hope to add many more in the near future!

  1. Mr Belshaw (History – also links to GCSE History student blogs)
  2. Mr Rowland (PE)
  3. Mrs Dickson (library)
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