What is a class email list?
A class email list is a single email address that's set up for a particular class. For example if you were teaching the third section of Business Administration 101 (very unlikely at Carleton) your class email list address might be:
busa101-03-w01@lists.carleton.edu
If you or any of the students in the class sent an email message to this address it would be received by everyone in the class.
Why would I want to use one?
It provides an easy way to send an email message to all the students in your class without having to look up and type in each of their email addresses. It can be useful to alert students about syllabus changes, remind them of important due dates, or cancel next week's exam. Also, since students in the class can send to the list it can be used not only for one-way communication (from you to them) but also for more general communication among students in the class.
When a class email list is created it automatically includes all the students currently registered for the class. Every night the list is updated to reflect the registrar's most current information about who is in the class. Thus, as students add and drop your course the class email list is automatically updated.
Keep in mind that not all students read their email on a daily basis. So if you're going to be using your class email list to send out important or time-sensitive messages you'll want to make sure your students know beforehand. It would also be good to let you students know whether or not you'd like them to use the list, and if so what sort of messages would be appropriate for your course.
Why would I not want one?
Consider using Moodle, Carleton's course management system.
A class email list can be very useful but it is not the end all and be all for electronic communication with your students.
While conducting out-of-class discussions via computer can be a very effective teaching technique, a class email list is not necessarily the best tool for this purpose. Email based discussions are often hard to follow with a large group. Caucus, our web-based conferencing system, provides a little extra structure that makes this sort of activity much more effective.
If you want to share files (Word documents, pictures, etc) a class email list is not the right tool. In theory you could send files as an email attachment to the list. In practice this is very problematic. Every student will have to decode the attachment which can often lead to confusion. Then they'll have to store it somewhere (which if they were just doing a quick email check as they passed through the library can be problematic) Also, attachments sent to many people can overwhelm an email system. To prevent this messages with large attachments sent to class email lists will be automatically rejected.
Instead use the class folder that is automatically created on the COURSES server. It's much less confusing for mobile students and much more efficient for the computers.
If you need more information about either of these options, or deciding which one is right for your class, just contact your computing coordinator.
How do I get one?
Class email lists are automatically created for each class with an assigned professor. If a class you will be teaching has been listed as "staff," then contact your computing coordinator for assistance.
How do I use it?
All you need to do is send email to the list address. The list address includes the official 4 (or 2) letter departmental abbreviation used by the Registrar (e.g BIOL, SOAN, FRST, ENGL, CS), the course number, the section number (e.g 00, 52, 01), and a 3 letter abbreviation indicating the term (f, w, s) and the year (99, 01). It will take a form like this:
frst123-00-w01@lists.carleton.edu
It's important to note that you'll need to use the whole address which includes the "@lists.carleton.edu" part. Anything shorter will not work.
What is a list administrator?
As the instructor in a course with a class email list you are automatically the list administrator. You will access all of your mailing lists using your Carleton netid and password (the same as what you use for your e-mail.) As list administrator you can control many features of the list (which we'll cover later) In most cases you won't have to do anything special as list administrator. However, it's possible that a situation may arise where using the list administrator features will be important. Here's the URL: https://lists.carleton.edu
If it's more appropriate for your particular course your coordinator can arrange to have someone else set up as the list administrator. That person will receive any administrative messages, and will be able to make any of the administrative changes described below.
What wonderful things can I do as list administrator?
As a list administrator you can enter the list administration web site. The web site has an address like:
https://lists.carleton.edu/admin/busa123-00-w01
Note that the last part of this address is the name of the list itself. You'll need to substitute the name of your list in place of "busa123-00-w01" to get the correct address for your own list. When you connect to the page, you'll need to log in with your standard netid and password.
In the list administration web site you'll find a large number of options controlling your class email list. Most of these are already set appropriately and can be safely ignored. However, there are a few features you may find useful. We'll cover these next.
How do I add/remove people from the list?
From within the list administration web site (see the previous question) you can add and remove people from the list. Keep in mind the course instructor (you) is automatically on the list, as are all the students registered for the class. And since the list is automatically updated as students add and drop you should only need to add/remove people from the list if they our outside the normal class registration process. (e.g. students assisting with the class).
Starting from the main page of your mailing list web site click the "Member List" button at the left of the web page. This will take you to a page which lists all the members of your list. If you don't see the Member List button, you may need to log in by clicking the "Log In" button at the top of the page.
To remove someone from the list, check the box next to their name and click the "Delete Selected Email Addresses" button.
To add someone to your class email list enter their full email address (e.g. sfox@carleton.edu) in the text box at the top of the page and click the "Add" button. You can add multiple people to your list at once by entering each address on a separate line in the text box.
Why do I get emails that say "Message to be approved "?
If someone who is not a member of the list sends an email to the list address (or you've changed the list so that only you can post messages to it, more on this later) the list administrator (that's you in most cases) will get an email message indicating that there's a "Message to be approved ". Keep in mind that if students send email to your list from email accounts outside Carleton their messages will require approval even if they (or more accurately their Carleton email address) is on the list. You'll get a reminder email message each day about any email messages waiting for approval. To stop these messages you'll need to follow the instructions in the message or visit the administrative request web page.
How do I use the administrative request page?
When an email message is waiting for your approval the administrative message you get will include a web address where you can approve the message. You can either go directly to this web page or click the "Admin" link in the upper right of the main list page and look for the "Moderate" link.
The Administrative requests page will show each message waiting for your attention -- click on the message subject to see the entire message. For each message, you can Distribute it (which will pass it on to the list), Notified Reject the message (sending an explanation to the sender), or Reject the message (with no explanation to the sender).
Can I make a list that only I can use?
If students start sending inappropriate things to the list, or if you'd simply like to ensure the list is used only by you there is a way to block students so that only the list administrator can send messages to the list. Click the "List Settings" tab on the Admin page. Choose "Sending/Reception." The first option on this page is a menu that controls who can send to the list. Choose "Moderated" and click the "Update" button at the bottom of the page. At this point only you (as the list administrator) will be able to send directly to the list.
If anyone other than you sends to the list their message will be held pending your approval and you'll get an automatically generated administrative email indicating this has happened and that there is a "Message to be approved". You can deal with this as described above.
What if I deleted a message I meant to save?
All messages sent to a class list are archived on a class list web site. So if you or one of your students wants to reread an old message that they didn't save they can do so. Go to the list page and click on the "Archive" button (you'll need to be logged in).
What if I want a list for something other than a class?
This system of email lists can be used for other purposes. If you'd like to setup an email list for something other than a regular class, click on the "Create List" tab at the very top of the list management pages. Note that unlike the class email lists these lists won't have people added to them automatically. You'll need to advertise the list and ask people to "subscribe" to it individually.
What happens when the term is over?
Class email lists, like course folders, are kept on the server until two weeks into the next term. If you'd like to keep a list past the normal duration for some reason contact your computing coordinator before the end of the school year to make other arrangements.