Automatic Class Email Lists

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-w18@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.

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?

You need to request course lists for each course you wish to have one.  You an do so on the hub.  Detailed instructions can be found on the Faculty Course Resources wiki page.

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@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:  groups.google.com

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.

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).

You can learn how to add or remove people on this Google help page for managing groups.

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.

Various access permissions and how to change them are explained on Google's help page for view, post and moderation.

What if I want a list for something other than a class?

This system of email lists can be used for other purposes.  See this wiki page about creating Google Groups to create your own additional group.