by Unknown 9:33 PM 0 comments

Netiquette for Educators

E-mail and other forms of electronic communication have become important means of communication in our society. Educators must recognize this phenomenon and prepare their students and themselves for using electronic communication effectively.

Many people who use computers have never been taught network etiquette, or "netiquette." There are many practices that are considered standard in Internet circles. I also have my preferences that are based on my bias as an educator. Netiquette can apply to communication such as e-mails, listservs and newsgroups/web boards.

General Netiquette

The following points apply to all types of electronic communication:

• Make your messages concise.
• Be professional and courteous—you are representing the teaching profession.
• Set an example as an educator by using proper spelling, grammar and capitalization—even if this isn't always the standard.
• Don't use all capitals in your subject line or in your message unless you want to emphasize something. It is considered the equivalent of SHOUTING. If you want to make a point, try using *asterisks* or _underscore_ around the word or phrase you want to stress.
• Give your message a meaningful subject heading that reflects the content of the e-mails. It helps the recipient to sort them easily.
• Clip the content of the original message in a reply and include only the part that is pertinent, that way the reader doesn't have to scroll forever to remember what was said.
• Ask the original author's permission before forwarding his or her message to someone else.
• Be careful with humour and sarcasm. Without the benefit of body language or vocal inflection, your words can be easily misinterpreted. Try using "smileys" (http://members.aol.com/bearpage/smileys.htm ) or "emoticons" if you want to make sure the reader knows you are joking (but sparingly, because they can be annoying.)
• Use acronyms sparingly (for example: IMHO = in my humble opinion, BTW = by the way), as some readers may not know what they mean. A list of commonly used Internet acronyms and emoticons can be found at (http://www.pb.org/emoticon.html ).
• Never give anyone else your login identification or password.
• Remember that new users may make mistakes. Be patient.