Mailing lists are a very easy way to send mail to a group of people. People "subscribe" to a particular mailing list and then any mail sent to that list address is automatically sent to everyone who has subscribed to the list. Instructors can use it to distribute important course information, but it's also a good way to get discussions going outside the classroom. (For example, the instructor for Gardening 101, might request that a mailing list named gard101-l be created. Once it is created, email sent to gard101-l@rice.edu is automatically sent to everyone who subscribes to the list.)
Note: Mailing lists are also referred to as "listservs" after the software used to manage lists.
As an instructor, you will have to request that a mailing list be created for your class. Once it is created, all of your students (who will have to have email accounts) will need to subscribe to the list. The students can subscribe on their own, or you can add the students to the list on your own.
1. Creating a mailing list:
To create a mailing list, fill out the form available at http://helpdesk.rice.edu/forms/MailmanRequest.html. There is a Help document available from that page, but if you're looking for something simpler, Ive' provided some suggestions on what to request. If you have created a course account, or plan to create one, make sure to use a different name for your mailing list. (That is, if you have a course account span999, you cannot use the same name for your mailing list. You might want to use span999-l.)2. Adding students to the list:
There are two different ways to add students to your class mailing list. You can require your students to subscribe themselves tou your mailing list, or if you have a list of names and email addresses, you may choose to add all the students at once by sending an email.Instructing students to subscribe to your list:
Once you have created an email list, you can instruct students to subscribe to the list. Tell your students to send an email message to listerv@rice.edu. They can leave the subject line blank. The body of the message should contain the following: subscribe listname.Subscribing students yourself:
If you have a list of names and email addresses of the students enrolled in your class, you can subscribe your students to the mailng list yourself, but this can be a little more complicated, since you need to know what their email program sends as their From address. (Their From address may be either user@rice.edu or user@domain.rice.edu.) To subscribe a student, send an email to listserv@rice.edu. Leave the subject line of the message blank (or use a space if your mail program forces you to include a subject). In the body of your message, add the following line for each student:add listname user@rice.edu FirstName LastName3. Sending mail to the mailing list:
Once you have created a mailing list, you can send mail to subscribers by sending mail to the listname. For instance, if your list is span999-l, simply send mail to span999-l@rice.edu.Note: Mail is only sent to the people currently subscribed to a list. New subscribers do not receive copies of messages previously sent to the list. (Just the way you don't receive past issues when you subscribe to a magazine.
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