Ever Want to "Unsend an Email? ;) Now You Can

Yes, it's possible to get future emails back!

Gmail has enabled an option for users to get sent emails back (at least for an amount of time). Your Gmail account can be set to send your email up to 30 seconds after clicking Send...giving you time to cancel the send and revamp your message with that new thought.

You can enable "Undo Send" in your Gmail/ Google Apps mail under the general settings panel.Find that panel under the "gear" icon toward the upper-right of your inbox.

Shew!! Glad this is finally out there ;)

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Do not Use Password as your Password!

Recently my Pinterest account was hacked and "I" started posting unusual items to Pinterest which, in turn, posted to my Facebook page. This brings up the topic of using passwords that are hard to hack. Evidently mine was not. Security software Splashdata recently released its list of the worst or most vulnerable passwords. Unremarkable, the number 1 offender is "password" but included in the list are yjesus", "ninja" and "querty".

According to a ZDNet article, "research from Norton indicates that nearly half of Internet users do not use a complex password", making them vulnerable to attack. They say to avoid using passwords that follow a simple pattern or are a word. Also, use some capital letters and some lowercase to deter attacks. Read the rest of the passwords not to use in the article, Top 25 Common, Attackable Passwords.

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Email and the angry student

Angry, frustrated, upset students. We have all had them both in the classroom and online. It is SO tempting for both parties to respond emotionally in this anonymous setting. Here are a few thoughts provided by Victoria S. Brown of Florida Atlantic University in the January 2011 edition of Online Classroom together with the collective personal experiences from our Butler Online staff.

• Do not respond immediately. This is the online equivalent of taking a deep breath and thinking before you speak.
  
• Wait at least an hour or two before crafting your response. But by all means, do respond. Write your email, and then pause and reread it carefully, maybe out loud, before sending.
• Use a professional tone. While email seems impersonal, the person reading it will react very personally. Be careful that your language is neutral and free of sarcasm, condescension, and other unintentional but negative undertones. While students may get upset no matter what you say, it is better to err on the side of caution.
• Address the student by name. Beyond the positive defusing power of using a person’s name, it will help to remind the student that this is not an anonymous situation, that a real person is listening and responding.
• Limit your response to only the issues at hand. Be as brief as necessary.
• Close “Respectfully, [your name]
• Finally, make sure you keep a copy of the original message and your response(s)

Do you have any thoughts or additions? Let us know.

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