Good communication has always been an issue at DVC, but now, with a new student email program, the administration is hoping to improve it.   

The new student email and online program from Microsoft, called Live@edu, allows students to have better access to emails, blogging tools, shared calendar events, and more. Rather than sending school information out to a student’s personalized email address, the district office and top administration agreed to a one-stop email account for all students.

It has not been a smooth transition for students though.  Many have had trouble setting up their accounts and have missed important information from their classes.

“Out of 32 students in one class alone, only two students read important emails I sent,” said Bruce Cook in an email, Department Chair of the Music.  “My students have missed assignments and important preparatory information about quizzes and exams.”

Chrisanne Knox, the director of marketing and communications, hopes the new program will provide reliable communication to the students.

“Popular email companies like Gmail can always have technology issues,” Knox said, “but now, we’re responsible for this email account. If it goes down, we know it and we can fix it.”

The new program will have many features including a web-based Microsoft Outlook Live email account with a 10GB mailbox that students can keep for life, a 25GB password-protected online file storage with Windows Live Skydrive, and shared online documents where students can create, access, and share project files using Office Web Apps.

Currently, students are still able to receive emails for their personalized email accounts. By the end of the semester, though, there will be no need to.

“We are hoping to give students the best communication possible while they are here,” Knox said.

The program has barely been out a month, though, and is already facing some issues. Emails were sent out to students informing them of the new program. Still, the sign-in rate has been low.

“I think [the email program] should have been initiated earlier rather than in the middle of the semester,” said Maureen O’Leary, English professor.

Teachers have had heated email exchanges over the matter, many citing issues with communicating with their students and having problems with online classes.

“The biggest problem is trying to get students to sign up,” Knox said, “The students don’t know why they need to use it, so they won’t.”

That is exactly how some students feel. Ivan Roliz, a student at DVC, questions the necessity of the new email accounts.

“WebAdvisor takes care of most of our needs,” Roliz said, “It substitutes our need for a DVC account.”

Though Roliz admits it’s a good idea, he wonders how practical is will be.

“Not many people looked at their personalized email accounts before,” Roliz said, “I’m not sure these new email accounts will make them.”

Other students, like Sabrina Chaparo, have already signed onto their new accounts.

“It just seems more professional to me,” Chaparo said, “I really think it’ll help communication for the students.”

Though the new program is already out for students to use, Chrisanne Knox hopes people will take advantage of it.

“It really is a great program” Knox said, “We understand students don’t always check their emails. We think of this as student development. Out in the business world, students need to check their emails every day.”

The new email accounts can be accessed by students now.

“It is the hope that this is a seamless experience,” Knox said.

Opinions editor Sean Wilkey contributed to this artcle.