• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
ClassThink

ClassThink

School Technology Guides

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • HOME
  • LATEST
  • Featured
  • School App Search
    • Search
    • Dashboard
    • Directory Login
  • TEACHER GUIDES
    • Microsoft Teams
      • Microsoft Teams Teacher’s Hub
    • Microsoft OneDrive
    • Microsoft Stream
    • Microsoft Office
    • Microsoft Edge
    • Microsoft OneNote
    • Microsoft Office
    • Microsoft Outlook
    • Microsoft Windows
    • Microsoft SDS
    • Google Classroom
    • Google Meet
    • Zoom
  • REVIEWS
  • NEWSLETTER
  • ABOUT
    • Contact Us
    • About ClassThink
    • Support ClassThink
    • Write for ClassThink
    • Advertising and Sponsorship
You are here: Home / School Management / Why we use a .com domain name for our school email

Why we use a .com domain name for our school email

5 August 2014 by Karl Rivers 1 Comment

Everyone I know hates their school email address, so we set about changing that by getting informal.

School domain names are a strange beast. If you’re a college or university you can pull out .edu or .ac.uk, but if you’re a school chances are you’re stuck with an email address like  “myname@schoolname.county.sch.uk”, or if you’re from the US “schoolname.k12.sc.us”. Neither of these addresses have any meaning to students, and for teachers they’re simply one more thing to forget.

For schools these addresses denote authority, it’s immediately clear to any recipient that the email they just received is genuine, and if you’re using the same domain name for your school website it also gives a way to validate the address. This thinking is so rampant that in the UK the government even recommends the format of email addresses that schools should use.

The problem is that more online services require students and teachers to login with their email address — Google Apps is a great example. If you want to login to Gmail or Google Drive, unless you use a very specific link which completes the domain name for you, you’re going to be typing your email address again, and again, and again. The same is true if you’re using Chromebooks, try getting 25 students to all accurately remember a 30 character string when you’re under pressure — it’s impossible.

For me this seemed completely unreasonable so I started to look for alternatives. I considered .ac.uk or .edu domains, but these are near impossible for secondary schools to aquire, instead we chose to go the simplest route possible, the good old .com.

“Schoolname.com” is simple to remember, easy to type, and cheap to buy and manage. Admittedly this isn’t an ideal solution, going with .com doesn’t have any of the officialdom that comes with a local government sanctioned address but everyone understands it and users aren’t scared from using their school email account. Teachers and students can still switch to use their official school email address, but their Gmail accounts all default to @schoolname.com.

How do you deal with domain names in your school? Are you stuck with a domain name that takes a week to type? Let me know in the comments.

You might also like...

Filed Under: School Management

This page contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on the links to these products. For an explanation of our Affiliate Policy, please visit this page.

About Karl Rivers

Karl Rivers is a Director of IT who has worked in education for more than twenty years. He won the Naace Impact Award for Supporting School Services.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jamie Thompson says

    08/06/2014 at 8:41 am

    We’ve done exactly this. As well as a .beds.sch.uk address, every one of our mailboxes has the equivalent .com. The .com is what we use for Google Apps. We’re lucky in that our school name is pretty unique: schools named after a saint or a town may have a harder time finding a snappy domain name.

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

You might also like...

Popular School Apps

  • Bromcom Computers Plc

    Bromcom Computers Plc

    MIS/SIS System

  • CleverTouch

    CleverTouch

    Classroom Screens & Projectors

  • Capita SIMS

    Capita SIMS

    MIS/SIS System +3 Parent Communications, Parent Portal, Parents Evenings,

  • Wakelet

    Wakelet

    Learning Platform +1 Social Bookmarking,

  • BKSK

    BKSK

    Assessments +1 Educational Games & Quizzes,

Latest Edtech News

Virtual breakout rooms for Microsoft Teams – everything you need to know

Download the free OneNote for Team Collaboration eBook

New Surface Laptop Go Announced

Featured

Best Chromebooks for students in 2021

Create beautiful infographics for your classroom

Record online lessons with Camtasia

Naace Impact Awards Winner

Footer

Recent

  • Best Chromebooks for students in 2021
  • Create beautiful infographics for your classroom
  • Virtual breakout rooms for Microsoft Teams – everything you need to know
  • Record online lessons with Camtasia
  • Download the free OneNote for Team Collaboration eBook
  • New Surface Laptop Go Announced
  • Managing Windows 10 in schools with Intune and Autopilot
  • How to stop students unmuting themselves in Microsoft Teams
  • How to spotlight students & demonstrations in Microsoft Teams meetings
  • How to record a PowerPoint presentation as a video
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Recent Forum Topics

  • Using VPN App in Apple or not? Not a big deal!
  • JvFHf5vfJ HyVSv2mpZ
  • Use VPN Security
  • How less is more with application development
  • How Much Does it Cost to Make an App like Uber
  • Microsoft Team class not appearing for teacher but is correct in Teams admin
  • FCM Test Notification!!! message in Microsoft Teams
  • FAQ: Can students begin a meeting in a private channel in Microsoft Teams
  • Microsoft Lists for Education
  • Benefits of hiring a ghostwriter

Most Popular Posts

  • How to turn off chat for students in Microsoft Teams
  • How to delete a video from Microsoft Teams
  • How to stop students muting and kicking others in Microsoft Teams video meetings
  • How to restore a deleted team in Microsoft Teams
  • How to record a PowerPoint presentation as a video
  • Best webcams for schools, classrooms, and assemblies in 2020
  • How to annotate and share a screenshot in Microsoft Teams
  • How to enable Large Gallery view and Together Mode in Microsoft Teams
  • How to repair a smashed Chromebook screen in 3 minutes
  • Where are assignment files stored in Microsoft Teams?
  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2021 · ClassThink.com · Affiliate Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Here's the secret · Log in