Time for a change of address

Students at Austin Community College do not currently have school provided e-mail accounts, but that may soon change.

According to the Student Government Association's Director of Communications Brad Burnett, the organization has been lobbying for students to have an ACC e-mail address. Because the present college system is so disorganized, he said - with teachers relying on students to enter their personal e-mail accounts on Blackboard - a new system would help to improve academic communication.

In addition to improving teacher-student communication, SGA hopes that an ACC student e-mail system might serve as a way for the administration to contact students regarding cancelled classes and other campus-related issues.

Richard Smith, associate vice president of Instructional Resources and Technology said that while SGA has been pushing for all students to have e-mail accounts and has brought the issue up before the Board of Trustees, creating an in-house system has been a challenge.

Discussions are ongoing about the college partnering with Google to provide students and alumni with Gmail accounts free of charge. The primary function would be communication between teachers and students, and blanket e-mails would be "used judiciously."

Smith said that in studies comparing Google and Microsoft's free e-mail accounts, more institutions have been satisfied with Google. The University of Texas-San Antonio and Northwestern University are two colleges that have recently switched to the e-mail provider.

"If ACC provides student-assigned e-mail addresses, that would be great," said Assistant Professor Heather James-Biagas. "This provides consistency college-wide." But James-Biagas is skeptical about students actually checking those accounts, because, she said, "instructors already have issues with students using personal e-mail accounts and students not receiving or replying to e-mail messages sent."

Chef Shen Womack of the Culinary Department said he wishes that students were required to have their correct e-mail address updated in Blackboard, to make it easier to reach students. He finds that the present e-mail system is not user friendly, and he rarely uses it.

Student Solange Bevel said that if an ACC e-mail account could be "linked with our other e-mail," it might be a good idea.

Other students think it is a good idea to have separate accounts for school and personal use.

"I think it is advantageous for schools to provide email addresses so it can allow people the opportunity to separate school and their personal life, keeping them both in check," said Brian Potter, a recent graduate of the University of Central Florida in Orlando. UCF assigned Potter and other students an e-mail account at orientation.

Some universities, like the University of Texas at Austin, do not assign e-mail addresses to students, but simply make them available. If students use multiple e-mail services but want to receive all of their mail in one location, they can forward their e-mail to another server.

Lola Cowling, a librarian at the Eastview Campus and a graduate of the University of Texas-El Paso, said that UTEP's alumni have the option of having their school-provided e-mail account roll over. She thinks an advantage of having an account from the school is that it is more professional for students and graduates when looking for jobs.

ACC plans to have a pilot program of 100 to 150 students to test out the proposed student Gmail accounts, eventually transition to a larger scale program. They are hoping to have the system in place by January of next year.