I think really all web email sites should be unblocked as most of the time they’re used for productive uses anyway, and if they are used unproductively, then as to would the school email address.

On a similar note unblock gmail and google docs!

In a very similar situation to you. All our staff/pupils are given a school email account when they join, this is entered into their Moodle profile/etc & where all school communication goes.

However, the vast majority of our students favour another email service & good number of our staff also use something else now. Gmail is by far the most popular option, and staff in particular (including me) have their school accounts setup to forward all their mail on to Gmail.

For us, the thing to look at was why aren’t people using the school web mail? The answer is actually pretty simple, it’s no way near as good as any of the other offerings. Limited storage, organisation, etc, etc. With all this in mind, switching our school mail service is probably a major step towards getting it properly used. But even if we did this, would I choose to use it rather than forward everything to one single point?

So, do we help users with setting up the mail to forward somewhere else? Some simple instructions on that process solves the problem of students entering personal addresses, and certainly with Gmail you can also get your replies to appear as though they come from your school mail account too.

My other thought on privacy and personal addresses. If you do decide to allow users to enter their personal emails into Moodle profiles why not just hide all the email addresses by default & get rid of the option where users can change this? That way only admins would ever see the contact details.

Personally, I don’t think I have any huge issues with using personal addresses for this. The goal after all is to make sure students actually get the content going out, do it in the best way possible. The important part is that policies are carefully constructed so staff are aware of what communication is appropriate.

Thinking forward, I think as a school we should always be able to provide email addresses for students, but should be open to the mail we send out going to wherever is most convenient for the user.