Communication between teachers and students is very important in the educational process. There are many ways for educators to communicate with their students using Internet communication tools. The most popular method of communication by Internet is email. According the Pew Research Center, 94% of adults use the Internet for email. Students and educators can use email to communicate, share files and receive responses quickly and efficiently. According to the Department of Education, the use of email in the classroom allows students to "use language to understand, develop and communicate ideas and information and interact with one another while learning about other cultures".
Email in education provides for many things. It provides greater access to student. It gives voice to more reserved students. At times it can encourage thoughtful responses. It can encourage collaboration among students and non-students. Also email can create a virtual paper trail.
Almost all colleges and universities use email as their primary source of communication with the university’s students, faculty and staff Syracuse University is one of them. Syracuse University gives each registered student and active faculty and staff member an official Syracuse University e-mail address. All official University email communications will be sent to the assigned Syracuse address. This includes but is not limited to communications from faculty to students registered in their classes and from administrative personnel to students. The University expects that students, faculty, and staff will receive and read e-mail in a timely manner. Failure to receive and read University communications delivered to the University e-mail address in a timely manner does not absolve recipients from knowing and complying with the content of the email.
Hi Bart:
ReplyDeleteThank you for this very efficient summary of the beneficial educational use of email. I think it is great that you mentioed the SU email policy that states, "Failure to receive and read University communications delivered to the University e-mail address in a timely manner does not absolve recipients from knowing and complying with the content of the email."
This is a policy that has led to a number of faculty-student conflicts on campus. It is hard for a number of new students to internalize that they are accountable for reading their syr.edu email in a timely manner and on a regular basis.
Also, it should be noted that it sometimes takes faculty members 24-48 hours to respond to a student's email. An instant return response from a professor is sometimes not possible due to the student class size and the sheer number of return responses that the faculty member has to make to each individual student.
e-mail has changed how universities function, before instant communications such as e-mail, an emergency announcement could take hours to reach students. Now it is assured to reach the students as soon as the emergency is declared. When you think about weather issues in Syracuse such as Snow and Ice, E-mail has probably saved lives.
ReplyDeleteHi Bart, One of the most effective ways in communicating people is email. I work in 2 campuses and usually travel a lot and the best way to contact me is e-mail. I agree that email has an important role to play in education especially to fill the gap of communication.
ReplyDeleteE-mail is an excellent tool for communication between teachers and students, as well as between students and other students in the educational world. More importantly,I think this tool is more protected and convenient to use for every type of communication nowadays.
ReplyDeleteHi Bart,
ReplyDeleteLove your stats. I imagined a high number of adults use e-mail but didn't think it would be 94%. (At least that's the way I took the data.) Yikes. And, I thought your note on failure to read and comply with e-mail sent to one's organizational address is no longer an excuse for "not knowing" or "acting" as advised.
Good point.
Mickey