Webmail
Lost My Password!?!
27.August.2010 06:53 Filed in: Tech Tips
We cannot see your
password. We can reset it, though. Actually, you can
just call the Help Desk (847.934.8100-press 2), and
they can reset it for you.
...BUT... Your next step then is to go to a school Computer Lab, LMC Lab, or one of the silver teacher workroom iMacs, and log-in with your username (firstname.lastname) and the default password that the Help Desk will give you when your password has been reset. When you do that, you will have to create a new password, which meets the following requirements:
From there, using your new password, at home, school, or anywhere, you can use a web browser to access your email, calendar, and contacts at:
http://webmail.ccsd21.org
Likewise, this password can be used to access your home directory by simply logging in to an up-to-date/modern computer at school as well as for any wikis for which you are a member.
...BUT... Your next step then is to go to a school Computer Lab, LMC Lab, or one of the silver teacher workroom iMacs, and log-in with your username (firstname.lastname) and the default password that the Help Desk will give you when your password has been reset. When you do that, you will have to create a new password, which meets the following requirements:
- Minimum of 8 characters
- At least 3 of the 4 following types of characters: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and/or punctuation
From there, using your new password, at home, school, or anywhere, you can use a web browser to access your email, calendar, and contacts at:
http://webmail.ccsd21.org
Likewise, this password can be used to access your home directory by simply logging in to an up-to-date/modern computer at school as well as for any wikis for which you are a member.
From Staff Listservs to Mail Groups
26.August.2010 12:26 Filed in: Tech Tips
“Our servers should be younger than our
Kindergarteners.”
This adage is one that school districts aspire to achieve and maintain.
In our quest to provide the best possible tools for students and staff members within our existing resources, we have moved to the Enterprise-class Microsoft Exchange email, calendar, contacts productivity server. Rather than move everyone in a single, sweeping, over-the-weekend transition is as often-the-case with such a change, we have taken a different approach. We have slowly moved groups of people over during the course of the last three years. On Friday, August 27th, the last current CommuniGate user will be moved to Exchange (and celebrations will ensue throughout District 21)!!!
The CommuniGate server will be shutdown this coming Sunday evening, August 29th, after 7.00 PM. After that time, messages on CommuniGate will no longer be available to be retrieved. Most staff have had at least three months to clear these messages from the CommuniGate server in the event that they wanted to retain the messages.
From Listservs to Groups
With this move, we are also in the process of enabling the groups in Active Directory as Mail Groups. These function a little differently than listservs.
First, Active Directory is designed to control most functions within our school district related to computers for each student and staff member. It provides a map for each individual’s electronic life in CCSD21, connecting you with your files, your email, etc. When someone is hired, she is put in to Active Directory, and when she leaves CCSD21, she is taken out, and all of those permissions vanish with her!
Another feature of Active Directory is that we can make groups, and then, we can use that same group for multiple purposes. For example, each school has a Staff group, and that group has permissions on the school-wide staff wiki on the teams.ccsd21.org server and that group will now also be the school’s staff email group.
So, what do you need to know in order to use the new email groups?
With this change, all of the new teachers, who were only included in Exchange and never entered in to CommuniGate will start receiving school staff emails. So, beginning next week, the staff email group (Remember, it’s not a listserv anymore!) for each school should be complete.
Finally, as with all of the users in Active Directory, the group names are searchable in Entourage 2008, Outlook 2007 and 2010, and Outlook Web App, so you can look up a group if you don’t know its name. To make this transition as easy as possible, nearly all group names match those that were previously used in CommuniGate!
This adage is one that school districts aspire to achieve and maintain.
In our quest to provide the best possible tools for students and staff members within our existing resources, we have moved to the Enterprise-class Microsoft Exchange email, calendar, contacts productivity server. Rather than move everyone in a single, sweeping, over-the-weekend transition is as often-the-case with such a change, we have taken a different approach. We have slowly moved groups of people over during the course of the last three years. On Friday, August 27th, the last current CommuniGate user will be moved to Exchange (and celebrations will ensue throughout District 21)!!!
The CommuniGate server will be shutdown this coming Sunday evening, August 29th, after 7.00 PM. After that time, messages on CommuniGate will no longer be available to be retrieved. Most staff have had at least three months to clear these messages from the CommuniGate server in the event that they wanted to retain the messages.
From Listservs to Groups
With this move, we are also in the process of enabling the groups in Active Directory as Mail Groups. These function a little differently than listservs.
First, Active Directory is designed to control most functions within our school district related to computers for each student and staff member. It provides a map for each individual’s electronic life in CCSD21, connecting you with your files, your email, etc. When someone is hired, she is put in to Active Directory, and when she leaves CCSD21, she is taken out, and all of those permissions vanish with her!
Another feature of Active Directory is that we can make groups, and then, we can use that same group for multiple purposes. For example, each school has a Staff group, and that group has permissions on the school-wide staff wiki on the teams.ccsd21.org server and that group will now also be the school’s staff email group.
So, what do you need to know in order to use the new email groups?
- Composing an email--To send an email to the entire staff, just do what you’ve done in the past--send an email to the group. For example, in the screenshot below, I am sending an email to the iTech and Principals groups. If I wanted to send one to the staff at London, I would enter london_staff in the TO line of my email. Then, everyone in the London Staff group in Active Directory would receive the email.
- Replying to an email--This is one of the biggest changes from a listserv. Now, when you hit reply to a message that was sent to the entire group, it will only be received by the original sender of the email, not by the whole group. The benefit is that this eliminates the possibility of accidentally sending an unintended response to everyone, as so often happens! If you want everyone to see your response, you simply hit “Reply to All” instead of “Reply”.
With this change, all of the new teachers, who were only included in Exchange and never entered in to CommuniGate will start receiving school staff emails. So, beginning next week, the staff email group (Remember, it’s not a listserv anymore!) for each school should be complete.
Finally, as with all of the users in Active Directory, the group names are searchable in Entourage 2008, Outlook 2007 and 2010, and Outlook Web App, so you can look up a group if you don’t know its name. To make this transition as easy as possible, nearly all group names match those that were previously used in CommuniGate!
Checking Email without the MacBook
23.May.2010 20:50 Filed in: Tech Tips
How do I check my Exchange email when I don’t have my
Staff MacBook with me?
If you are without your laptop and want to check your email, calendar, and contacts, simply go to Outlook Web App (OWA), also known as Exchange Webmail. This is linked on the left sidebar on the Staff homepage, and can be found at:
webmail.ccsd21.org
There is also a PDF document that is available to help you navigate using OWA. To access this document, which is on the CCSD21 Exchange Support page, you will need to enter your Active Directory Username and Password.
If you are without your laptop and want to check your email, calendar, and contacts, simply go to Outlook Web App (OWA), also known as Exchange Webmail. This is linked on the left sidebar on the Staff homepage, and can be found at:
webmail.ccsd21.org
There is also a PDF document that is available to help you navigate using OWA. To access this document, which is on the CCSD21 Exchange Support page, you will need to enter your Active Directory Username and Password.
