Gmail+for+Student+Accounts


 * __Gmail for Student Accounts__ **
 * __2014 Update:__ **// Adding additional “sub accounts” was deprecated a few years ago in a product that was called Google Apps standard edition. With the advent of Google Apps for Education and the integration of G+, the method described below no longer can be applied. //

The problem that many teachers face when having students create user accounts for web applications is that most applications require a valid e-mail address to create the account. There is a solution that I learned from [|Alice Mercer] about harnessing [|Gmail] to create "//fake//" accounts that applications will recognize as legitimate. Create a legitimate gmail account at [|http://mail.google.com/]. (e.g. username@gmail.com ). Then, you can use that base account to "trick" web applications that require e-mail address to create user accounts. The way it works is that you add a + and a student name/alias after the gmail user name (e.g. username+sara@gmail.com, username+tom@gmail.com, username+chris@gmail.com, etc.) The web applications will recognize those addresses as //real// e-mail addresses, but students never see an inbox. They cannot send nor receive e-mail because you haven't actually created an e-mail account for them; they don't have a password to sign into Gmail. Any e-mail (i.e. registration confirmations, etc.) that are sent to the username+name@gmail accounts will be delivered to the Gmail inbox that only you can access.

Here are those instructions as steps:
 * 1) Create a legitimate ** Gmail account ** at [|**http://mail.google.com/**]. (e.g. username@gmail.com ).
 * 2) Add a ** + ** and a ** student name/alias ** after the Gmail user name (e.g. username+sara@gmail.com, username+tom@gmail.com, username+chris@gmail.com, etc.)
 * 3) Or use a +1, +2, +3, etc. (e.g. emailaddress +1@gmail.com; emailaddress +2@gmail.com; emailaddress+3@gmail.com)
 * 4) Start registering students for web applications
 * 5) Check the inbox of your Gmail account periodically