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Boise State University now offers an email account to all registered students. To access your BSU email account go to BroncoWeb. Click on the link to access your student email account. There is no other direct access to this account. Your login will be your first and last name with no spaces and your initial password is your student ID number. You will want to change your BroncoWeb password immediately. Changing your Broncoweb password will also change your BSU email password. After the administrative tasks have been taken care of, spend some time exploring the capabilities of your email account.
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With this account you can manage email by:
A Couple of Notes about WebAccess Spell Check Timing Out Forwarding Email You can also stay organized by using the calender, address book, and other daytimer-like capabilities built into this account. |
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Below is a list of some sites that offer free email accounts. |
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Below is an overview of the various topics and skills necessary in order for you to get the most out of your email account, no matter who the carrier is.
Topics and Skills:
Parts of an email address
Attaching files
Opening attached files
Email Viruses
Address Book (groups)
Looking Up Unknown Addresses
To: CC: BCC:
Spell Check
File Management
Saving Sent Messages
Settings/Options (security)
Email Etiquette (netiquette)
EmoticonsEmail addresses are made up of 3 main parts. Look at the sample email addresses below:
Jane_Doe@hotmail.com or JaneDoe@Boisestate.edu
- Jane_Doe is the user name
- @ signifies that it is and email address (not a web address or URL)
- hotmail.com or boisestate.edu is the domain name.
Email addresses often give a lot of information about where they are coming from. The extensions (.com) are the same as those we looked at on page 7 of your text for lesson one (for URLs) and can tell you if the email is coming from educational institution, an organization, the government, etc. In addition, the domain name may indicate that it is coming from a k-12 school (.k12), the country or state it is coming from (.id.us), and other information.
Looking up Addresses
What if you don't know the email address of someone you want to write to? You may be able to look it up online! Hotmail provides a resource for looking up addresses. Click on the directory button in the column on the left side and follow the directions. Some other resources are:
WhoWhere
http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/
Internet Address Finder
http://www.iaf.net/
Bigfoot
http://www.bigfoot.com
AnyWho
http://www.anywho.com/
Your addressing options include these three boxes:
To: is who the message is going to. You must fill in this blank for the message to send correctly. There can be more than one person entered into the to box.
CC: stands for carbon copy. This is when you have written a message to one person and want another person to know you sent it. For example, you might send an email to the parents of a student in your classroom. You could cc the principal so that he/she is aware of the information you sent out, even though the email wasn't written directly to the principal. Both parties know that the other received the copy of the email.
BCC: stands for blind carbon copy. It works the same way as the carbon copy, except that the person you sent the message to doesn't know that it was sent to someone else. Using the cc example, if you blind carbon copy the principal, the parents wouldn't know that the principal received the message.
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Spell Check
Use this tool! Hotmail and Outlook Express both have buttons to check spelling on messages you are sending out. Some email programs do not. If your email program doesn't spell check, you can type your message in Work, spell check, then copy and paste the message into your email.
Attaching Files
Email is a wonderful way to transfer electronic documents and other files quickly. In an email message, click the attachment button. It will open a box asking where the file you wish to send is located.
Type in the file location or hit the browse button to look for the file. Click on the file and hit open. The file should appear in the message box, then hit attach to attach it to the message. Hit done to complete the process. The file is listed on the email message after Attachments:
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Opening Attached Files
In Hotmail, you simply click on the hotlink to the attachment to open it. Hotmail asks you to download the file. Some email programs will let you set your mail to automatically open the file when you click on it, others want you to download it. You also have the choice in the download box to open from the current location or to download it onto your computer. Keep virus protection in mind when opening files from other people!
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Email Viruses
You have probably all received a message at some point telling you not to open an email that has a virus that will wipe out your hard drive and give you a terminal illness. Can you get a virus from an email? Unfortunately, it is now possible to transmit virusses even if you only open the email and don't download an attachment. Be very careful about opening mail from people that you don't know. Always check to see if there is an attachment (if possible) before opening something from somebody that you do not know. Some email programs can be set to automatically open attachments when you open the email, and if the file opens can unleash the virus. Most are set to give you the opportunity to choose whether or not to open the attached files. (See the attachments part of this lesson).
For more information on viruses and virus hoaxes see http://www.gerlitz.com/virushoax/
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Address Book
Your email address book is simply a listing of email addresses and personal information of the people you email. You can go to your address book and select people to mail to so you don't have to remember their email address!
In Hotmail you can add people to your address book in a couple of ways. First, if someone sends you a message you can add them to your address book by clicking on the "save address" link on the message. Second, you can click on the address book and "create new". You will also see options to edit information of your contacts.
Another benefit of the address book is creating groups. This is a list of people that you frequently mail the same information to. For example, I have an EDUC 594 group in my address book that has all of your addresses in it. When I send out an email to the class I only have to select one address and I can mail to all of you. (Saves time!) To create a group in Hotmail, go to the address book and click on the tab on the top right that says groups. You can enter the name of the group and the email addresses of the people you want in the group.
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File Management
This skill is very important, especially in an online class! Many people are overwhelmed to find 80 new messages in their email, so knowing how to deal with them is important. First, create folders for the mail you need to save. You should have a folder for this class, and can move all your messages relating to this class into it. Access folders in Hotmail by clicking on the folders button on the top of the Hotmail screen. You have the option of creating new folders and looking at what is stored in each one. Some email programs let you create folders within folders, similar to Windows Explorer. Practice your file management skills with email to prevent an abundance of mail from being overwhelming!
Another helpful feature of email programs is the ability to direct incoming messages into folders automatically. For example, you could direct any message that has 594 in it directly to your EDUC 594 folder instead of your inbox. In Hotmail, go to Options, then click on the filters link. It will ask you what you want to filter for and where you want the mail to go. Information about filtering in Outlook Express can be found on p 157 of your text.
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Saving Sent Messages
When taking an online class, having your email program save a copy of the messages you send is very important. You have proof of what you sent and when, and have a backup copy just in case something happens. Hotmail has a "Save Outgoing Message" box on top of messages you are sending out. If you click on the box it puts a checkmark in it and Hotmail will automatically put a copy of your message in your Sent Mail folder. Some email programs automatically save copies of sent mail, others you need to set up in the properties (see the text p. 150).
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Settings/Options
If what you are looking for isn't obvious, look under settings or options in your email program. In Hotmail, your settings include your security settings (you can block messages from people you don't want to receive mail from), change your password, add an electronic signature, etc. If your email messages are wider than your screen, you can change the width under the preferences link. You may want to spend a few minutes looking at the options available in your email program!
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- Email Etiquette is a part of netiquette, the expected courtesies of Internet use. I will highlight a couple of important things to remember when taking an online class.
- DON'T TYPE MESSAGES IN ALL CAPS. This is known as shouting in a message, and is considered rude. Then again, if that is your intent....
- Always include a Subject, and make it relevant, especially in an online class. The subject should reflect what the message is about. If you are getting 80 messages a day, you want to be able to know which are important by looking at the subject line.
Remember this is a method of communication that leaves hard copies around (similar to letter writing). Provide enough information for the receiver to know what you are talking about, and use spell check!- Remember that as with all forms of communication, the author and the reader may interpret the writing differently. People are often unintentionally offended by email messages!
- Some email programs have limited memory capacity. Don't send large attachments that will fill up the receivers mailbox. Hotmail has a memory limit, if you send someone a large file and fill the memory, they won't be able to receive mail until the file is removed. It is annoying to have a fun program that your friend sent you and to miss all the emails about class because your email is full!
- Chain Letters and other fun forwards can be a problem during an online class. They are impersonal and tie up precious email time and space. Don't send them to the listserv. Many of these are also hoaxes, if you aren't sure it is true, don't send it out! For fun see the Ultimate Urban Legend and the Ultimate Email Virus. Some sites that may have information about an email being legitimate are: Don't Spread That Hoax! and Symantec AntiVirus Research Center - Virus Hoaxes.
- Additional resources for netiquette are: Email Pet Peeves and Netiquette - FAQ
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Emoticons
Emoticons are a way to show emotion that is often given by voice inflections when speaking. For example, you have probably all received a smiley face :). There are a lot of different emoticons, more are developed all the time. Keep in mind that you can overdo the graphics and make your message difficult to read! Some sites for emoticons are:
http://www.muller-godschalk.com/emoticon.html
Emoticons-Email Moods
Unofficial Smiley Dictionary
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