Avoiding the 10 Deadly Sins

 

Email and Discussion Blunders

Depending upon your experience with email, chats, and discussion threads, you may or may not be familiar with the potential pitfalls of electronic communication. Here are a few practices of which you should be mindful when taking an online course.

1 When in doubt, press "Reply" instead of "Reply to all"

If you press "reply to all" when you mean to send a private message, you may accidentally send your email to many, many unintended recipients. Always double check the "To:" field when sending an email to make sure that only the intended recipients are listed. However, be aware that when you hit "reply all" in response to an email, you may be inadvertently including unwanted recipients. That's because any recipients who were sent a blind carbon copy ,or BCC (a copy invisible to other recipients), of the original email will also receive a copy of your reply to all, and you won’t even be aware of it.

2 Stay away from "flame wars"

Flaming means sending inflammatory or highly emotional messages that are likely to receive negative responses. Sure, you can get angry. But do not get into "virtual heated arguments" with your fellow students or, worse, your instructor. It's a no-win approach. Any problem you have can be dealt with dispassionately and in an adult manner.

3 Don't give your instructor a virus!

Neither your instructors nor your fellow students will appreciate you being the one that gave them a "social disease" that crashed their computers. Scan all of your papers and other assignments with a virus scan software such as McAfee or Norton. There are even many free products offered online. Protect yourself by scanning incoming files also.

4 Pause before hitting the "send" or "submit" button

Almost no platform allows you to recall your comments or email once you have sent them. Many of us handle so many emails and so much discussion that we forget to think about the reaction of others. One trick is to leave the "To:" line empty until you have reviewed your comments. People have lost jobs, lovers, spouses, and probably grades by making the mistake of sending an email too soon.

5 Don't pass around "forwards"

Most "chain email" warnings about what the author thinks is a real threat turn out to be about things that are not dangers at all, just scams and hoaxes. The other common forward is the funny story. Most people don't really appreciate (or have already received five times) the joke or story you find so funny or touching. Most important, your classmates and instructor may think you are a nut if you post lots of "warnings" and jokes. Stick to sending such forwarded emails to one best friend instead of to your class.

6 Don't be too casual

Spell-check your comments and emails if you lack confidence in your spelling. Some mail utilities allow you to check your spelling. Otherwise, you can write you comments in Word or WordPerfect, spell-check, then cut and paste to the discussion area or email. Watch your grammar also. Remember, you want to appear smart in an academic course.

7 Keep your comments short and on topic

Longwinded comments are hard on your instructor and fellow students. A paragraph or two should be your limit. If you must post a long message or email, put "LONG" on the subject line as a courtesy to your class. Never do so, though, unless you have read all the prior discussion—first see if someone has already said the same thing. If your instructor has a special discussion thread for "off-topic" comments, use it if your comment fits the bill. Otherwise, don't post off-topic material. Email it to your friends outside of the class instead.

8 Reset the subject line when you change the subject

Subject lines of email and discussion board comments help readers understand your short comment. Subjects also allow others to search (through email or message boards) for comments related a particular point. Too often an old subject line is used even when the topic has changed. However, you need not change the subject line when staying ON topic within a discussion board thread.

9 Make it easy for readers to place your reply into the context of the thread

In most programs, when a person replies to a message, the prior message is attached, often with ">" or other markings. Other programs strip the original message completely. You want to make sure that your reply includes enough of the prior message to give readers context for what you are saying, but you don't want to include so much that the message is cumbersome. You may want to include just a sentence or paragraph of the message you are responding to, so that a new reader can easily follow the discussion

10 Add your name to your messages

Many email programs and most educational platforms do NOT automatically add your name to the messages you send and post. It is frustrating to receive an email that says it is from "mountain honey" or "Big Joe," or a post from "bj3342." Some email programs will automatically add a "signature" to every email you write—this is one way to make sure your name and email address always appear. However, Blackboard and WebCT do not automatically add your real name in discussions. So, get in the habit of signing your name at the end of your comments—you probably type your name really fast anyway!