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Creating Learning Networks for African Teachers

UNESCO PROJECT (Contract No. 408.302.9)

Home | Computer Literacy | Common Applications | Pedagogy & Internet | Infrastructure Guide

Background

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Common Applications
Presentations
Spreadsheets
Databases
Word Processing
Html Editors

Pedagogy &
Internet

E-mail
Listservs
WWW
Collaborative Projects

Managerial use of ICT
Mail Merge
School Budget
Grade Book

Infrastructure Guide

PEDAGOGY AND INTERNET

E-MAIL

Email is one of the most powerful Internet technologies because it involves two-way communication. It is very fast, cheap and global. You can attach any computer file to an email message. You can send things like scanned images, assignments, sound and video clips etc. Sending an email to the other side of town or to the other side of the globe costs the same.

What do you need for email?

  • A computer connected to the Internet
  • An email account (personal or for an organisation). You can get an email account from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or a free Web-based one from some sites on the Internet.

  • Examples of sites which provide free email addresses include
    Hotmail.com (https://www.hotmail.com)
    Yahoo.com  (http://mail.yahoo.com)


    Free Email (http://sitefreenet.virtualave.net/free_email-a-c.htm)
    Free email address is waiting for you!!.
    Choose from over 200 different free email servers.

    Access any of the above sites and fill a registration form for your free email addresses

  • An email address of somebody you want to communicate with.
  • You may need an electronic mail software (eg. Pine, Eudora).
  • A reliable telephone line and a fast modem if you are using  a dail-up connection to the ISP.
  • Communication software TCP/IP. This software lets your computer "talk" to other computers on the Internet.
Parts of an email address

Email addresses typically have three main parts:

Example : dmusoke@yahoo.com

READ AS: dmusoke [AT] yahoo[DOT] com

   The top-level domain indicates the purpose of the host.
 
Top-level domain name Purpose of host
.com
a business or commercial enterprise (trying to make money)
.ac
 an academic instutition or a university
.edu
host is an educational institution
.org
a non-commercial organisation
.mil
 military
.net
for network(ISP)
.gov
government

For email addresses outside the United States, there is often a [DOT] followed by two letters representing the country.

Example :   dmusoke@macos.ac.ug
READ AS: dmusoke[AT] macos [DOT] ac [DOT] ug
 
 
Country-codes Country
.ca Canada
.au Australia
.nz New Zealand
.ug Uganda
.uk United Kingdom
.za South Africa

Why would a teacher want to use email?

Email allows teachers and students to:

  • Exchange personal communication with friends and colleagues throughout the world who are working on the same topic and share strategies, ideas, insights and even frustrations.
  • Share text files such as lesson plans, lesson notes, examination papers, marking schemes, schemes of work and syllabi. These files are sent as email attachments.
When teachers and students use their international connections, the teaching and learning content becomes current and goes a long way breaking the professional isolation inherent in our schools.
  • Communicate with subject matter experts (SMEs) and professionals in virtually any field. Not only can such communication provide answers to questions that may be beyond the realm of teacher's knowledge, but it provides students with practical examples of how their learning in the classroom applies to the real world.
Ask an expert
    Email gives you an opportunity to contact people who specialize in certain curriculum or topic areas.
    Web sites offering e-mail links to Subject matter experts engaged in field work or research.
     
    Allexperts.com
    https://www.allexperts.com
    Ask any question!. Allexperts.com is the oldest and largest free Q&A service on the Internet
     
    Ask an Expert
    http://njnie.dl.stevens-tech.edu/askanexpert.html

    This is a hotlist of several experts that you can ask about many different topics.
     
    Ask Maths Questions
    http://mathforum.org/dr.math
    Submit your maths questions to Dr Maths.
     
    Community Learning Network's Ask an Expert Hotlist https://www.cln.org/int_expert.html
    Connecting your students to an expert in the field is an excellent way of expanding their horizons, supplementing the curriculum with current information, and integrating Internet resources within your classroom. The sites on this page are links to experts in K-12 curricular related topics.
  • Subscribe to mailing lists (listservs) to engage in debates and discussions related to educational subjects.
    Details on Listservs

  • Access webpages through email
    (highly recommended especially for educators with poor connectivity).

  • www4mail  is a free service that allows you to navigate and search the whole Internet via electronic mail (e-mail), anywhere at any time free of charge.

    How to use www4mail?
    It is simple. Within the body of an e-mail message to: www4mail just specify the internet "address" of the web site(s)/pages you want to retrieve.

    To get help on how to use www4mail; send an email:
    To:     www4mail@wm.ictp.trieste.it
    Body:    help

    Telecollaboration is communicating and working on a common project with other people in different locations of the world using technologies like email. Projects addressing problems of global concern like "street children", "children with AIDS", "Wetland management", HIV/AIDS are addressed.


    Collaborative activities widen the scope of learning for students. Students learn to explore different topics of interest with other students all over the world, learn how to use technology, learn how to share and exchange their ideas and hence enrich their learning experiences. In the process, they learn communication skills, work cooperatively, respect cultural differences and see themselves as part of the world community. All of which are skills needed for the workplace.

    Teachers seeking other teachers for international & intercultural classroom partnerships for primary and secondary school levels.
    http:/www.iecc.org
     

    Online resources

    Email Netiquette: https://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Next: Listservs
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