Email has become one of the primary methods of communication between students and their lecturers at third level. It has the potential to set the whole tone for a module. And yet because it is such a spontaneous experience, one that many students engage in on their tablets while on the go, messages can be sent without much thought. Examples include attachments with no accompanying explanatory content, fragmented sentences tapped out in text-speak or simply no response at all if the lecturer has sent feedback. This is symptomatic of a generation that is constantly texting, constantly tapping and constantly ‘on.’
The skill of email-writing, which fosters a spirit of professionalism and partnership between students and their lecturers, is one that students tend to first learn in the workplace, as evidenced by the confident emails of our graduates returning as guest lecturers. So, why not learn it sooner?
This paper reports on an intervention in a first year ‘Writing for Digital Media’ module. Students were given lab classes at the start of the semester on email etiquette and they were encouraged to take ownership of how they communicated with the lecturer throughout the module. Feedback on their email etiquette was provided on an ongoing basis, in real time where possible, throughout the semester.
Students welcomed the opportunity to take charge of their email content. A number of them explained that they hadn’t in the past replied to messages from their lecturers simply because they didn’t think that they were expected to. Learning the necessary rules and conventions of email writing put them in control of their messages and over the course of the module, their confidence as communicators grew.
From the outset, the relationship between student and lecturer felt more like a professional partnership; a practice run, you could say, for the reality of communicating with prospective employers and future clients and customers in the ‘real world.’ It also, in some cases, seemed to give students a greater sense of pride in the work that they attached to their emails.
Topics: Assessment and Feedback in a Digital Age , Topics: Students as Partners
