Gaggle Email is a controlled email system that allows the user to create an email address for regular and internal use, and to instant message and chat with those in their gaggle group. It is useful in a classroom as the teacher who can set the class up with individual email addresses can view and restrict what is being sent from student to student. The teacher can restrict what is being sent by highlighting certain words, and any emails containing those words would be sent directly to the teacher. The option of the teacher being able to read what the emails students are sending to each other is valuable to view what the students are discussing.
I would use Gaggle Email in the Life Transitions 20 classroom, specifically in the optional Module 7 – Community Issues and Ethics. Throughout this module, and the class in general we would be discussing and examining various topis including:
- crime and the law (i.e., alcohol, tobacco, youth, vendors and the law)
- drinking and driving
- eating disorders
- family (i.e., dysfunctional families and changes in family structure)
- relationships
- school
- sexuality
- smoking as the leading cause of premature death
- suicide
- teen pregnancy
- violence (i.e., dating, school, spousal)
From these topics and our class learnings and discussions of them I would encourage students to use their Gaggle Email to email or chat with any of their peers in the class to further comment on a point they had made in class, or continue discussion. I would require students to send at least four emails to a peer throughout the semester. As I would have access to their accounts I would be able to monitor and review what they sent each other. If possible, at one or two points throughout the sememster I would host an online chat occurring after school hours! This would be for bonus marks and held in a study group style fashion just to get students interacting online.
As Gaggle Email is free to use it is probable that I would use in other classrooms if applicable. The students would benefit from the ability to interact with their peers in a confident manner through email as they may not feel comfortable discussing issues face to face, or in a classroom discussion. Plus it would get them online for some school related discussions.
