Technology Tip of the Week - April 11, 2006

E-Mail Delivery Confirmation

Have you ever sent an important e-mail message out and then wondered if it actually got delivered? Well, by using the "Read Receipt" option in Pipeline you can be assured that your message went through. When you use this option you'll get e-mail notification that your message has been opened (note that this doesn't mean the recipient actually read the message - just that they opened it).

To set this option:

Log in to your Pipeline account and open your e-mail

Click on the Compose option to start a new message

Type in the e-mail address of the intended recipient(s), the subject and then the text of the message

Under the Message box there are three options. Click in the box next to the third option, which is Request Read Receipt.

Click on Send.

That's it! Now when the recipient opens your message a confirmation will be sent to your e-mail account. This is a great feature for your peace of mind, especially when a message is important and/or time-sensitive.

Note: this feature is also available in your Microsoft Outlook account. When you open a new message in Outlook, click on the Options button for the message and click in the box next to the Request a Read Receipt for this Message and then click on Close to get out of the options dialogue box and back to the message. Type in your address, subject and message and then press the Send button. You will now get an e-mail notice when the message is opened.

For more help with this feature, please contact one of the faculty mentors - Tony Basilico (abasilico@ccri.edu) or Luis Malaret (lmalaret@ccri.edu) or one of the IT Instructional Support team (Norm Grant, Gene Grande or Linda Beith).

Website of the Week

Exploring WebCT E-Packs

E-packs are a fast, easy, and flexible way to deliver high-quality, media-rich online content. WebCT e-Packs consist of publisher-created digital content that is ready to use in WebCT. Not every textbook has this supplementary content but the list is really growing so it's worth a check to see if one is available for you and your students. One of the strengths of these e-packs is the multimedia content and variety of ways material is presented. This allows you to easily engage a broader range of learning styles without doing all the extra work. Not all e-packs are created equal as they depend on the author and the publisher for their quality and content. With this in mind, it is a good idea to check out an e-pack before you decide to adopt it. There is also a charge to students for some e-packs ($5 to $40 depending on the book) but some are free. This is something else to find out when evaluating an e-pack.

The summer is a great time to browse e-packs. To look at key features of e-packs to help in evaluation see the tips at: http://www.webct.com/content/viewpage?name=content_key_features

For steps to get started using an e-pack, read: http://www.webct.com/content/viewpage?name=content_getting_started_v4

To watch some online video seminars on different facets of e-packs click on the website:

http://www.webct.com/content/viewpage?name=content_seminar and browse through the list of archived presentations. You'll hear and see these presentations.

Feel free to post your thoughts or opinions of this site in the Teaching Forum message board.

These tips are provided by the Department of Information Technology instructional support team. If you have any questions on these tips, or wish to offer your own, please feel free to contact Linda Beith at lbeith@ccri.edu or call 825-2487. View an archive of past technology tips at http://it.ccri.edu/Training/Tips/tip_week.shtml.