Sixty-six million Americans use e-mail at home or work, generating 2.7 trillion messages. More than half of our school district's employees currently have an e-mail account.
The school district provides free accounts and Internet connections for the educational use of all employees. There are also a number of companies that provide free e-mail accounts that include advertising. Many of them allow you to check any e-mail account via a web browser without having to reconfigure the computer.
As our schools and classrooms are connected directly to the Internet, e-mail will become an important tool for both you and your students. In many settings, e-mail is already a significant communications tool.
"Three out of four workers surveyed recently said they are overwhelmed by the number of messages they received each day" reports Jeff Titchenal of the Day-Timer Center for Productivity. "Misuse of voice mail, e-mail and other new communications technologies is robbing everyone of their time."
Whether you are a beginner or an overloaded e-mail user you can make more effective use of e-mail by adapting these tips and guidelines.
Use the subject line to describe your message in 5 words or less. The more descriptive you make it, the more easily the recipient can determine if the message is a priority to read.
Keep individual messages short, (one or two screens) and on the topic described in the subject line. Don't mix unrelated subjects in the same e-mail. You can attach a word processing file or other electronic document to your e-mail message when needed.
When a response is expected, put the recipient's address in the To: field, when the message is informational only use the CC: (Carbon Copy) field. The BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field can be used when the recipient list is large or you do not want other recipients to know who was sent a copy of the message.
Respond within a day or two. Once you have committed to corresponding via e-mail it is important to check your mail regularly. Try set aside a certain time of day to check for e-mail and write responses. If you need to research an answer, send a quick reply stating when you expect to be able to fully respond.
When replying to a message, include only enough of the original questions to put your answers in context. Select and delete the unimportant parts of the original quoted message.
Handle messages once -- file, delete or act upon them as your read them. You can create mail folders to store messages related to a particular topic or sender. Filters can automatically move messages into designated folders before you read them, helping to prioritize them. Filters can also be used to automatically delete unwanted junk mail from specific addresses.
Consider work related e-mail formal correspondence. Check your spelling and grammar. Avoid jokes and sarcasm, they often require facial expressions and body language to put the words in context. Don't write anything that you would not be willing to say in public. Personal attacks and angry responses do not belong in e-mail. Highly confidential information should not be discussed electronically. E-mail is often archived and could be forwarded without your knowledge.
Be considerate when forwarding messages. Public announcements are meant to be widely distributed but private correspondence should be not be forwarded without permission. Chain letters and pyramid schemes are just as inappropriate via e-mail as they are via U.S. Mail. There are many hoaxes that seem real, be sure the information is accurate before forwarding it. It is very easy to forge someone else's e-mail address.
E-mail can be a time, money and energy saver when used in a thoughtful and constructive manner. Over the next few years, it will become as important in education as it currently is in the business world.
Adapted from "The E-Mail Advantage Guidebook", part of the Taming Technology Series of the Day-Timer Center for Productivity Training.