I’m just going to come out and say it: this semester was a doozy. And by “doozy,” I mean I barely hung on by my finger tips. A lot of this had to do with the sheer number of students I had, and the sheer number of assignments (written and otherwise) they had—all of which equated to an an almost daily torrent of of emails which not only took far more time than I would have liked to sort out (thereby taking precious time away from other things—both academic and personal), but became a source of incredibly irrational stress (one night a couple of weeks back I actually dreamt that every time I answered one email, three more spawned in its place.).
The end result is that, for the first time ever, I’m very seriously considering developing a formal electronic communication policy. When I say “electronic communication,” I’m not only talking about email, but other channels like IM and Twitter (both of which I use extensively to communicate with my students). I’ve never even considered something like this before. I’ve always had a very “student centered” email policy—and by that I mean I’ve always prioritized responding to student emails above almost all other tasks.
But after this semester, I simply cannot afford not to have some sort of formal policy that governs how I interact with students over email (and other electronic channels), and how I expect them to interact with me. Given this, here is how my electronic communication policy is shaping up (call it a pre-alpha build at this stage):
Schedule
I’ve found that one of the most stressful things for me are students who expect an immediate email response. Even more stressful are students who email less than 24 hours of their original email saying something like “I don’t know if you got my last email…” As many of us know there is an expectation that an email requires an immediate response—something which is rarely possible. The other issue is that these “please respond immediately” emails are often asking for answers to questions which are well within the power of the student to answer themselves—with a simple Google search or a review of the course materials (website, syllabus, etc.)
In order to address this, I’m planning on enacting a two part plan that governs the schedule of communication. The first part of this plan speaks to the window of communication. In this, students shouldn’t expect to get a response from me for 48 hours. If I get to their email before the 48 hour period, great. However, they shouldn’t expect me to respond before then. I’m hoping that this 48 hour period will encourage students to try to figure out the answer to their question themselves. The second part of this plan is a blackout period. I’ve decided that unless there is some dire emergency (more on that later) I simply will not respond to emails over the weekend and after 9 pm or so. This may seem harsh, but I’ve got a family (and I like to spend time with them), and answering endless emails on the weekend isn’t conducive to a personal life at all. The flip-side to both of these parts of my schedule plan is that students should be encouraged to send another polite email after a certain amount of time has passed (I think I’m going to go with a week). This way, if I accidentally missed the email or deleted it in error, the student can bring it back to my attention, and I can address it. There will undoubtedly be cases of when students need to get in touch with me via email ASAP—in cases of an emergency. In order to signal these types of emails, I’m going to ask students to put [Emergency] in their subject line. I suspect it is going to become very important to impress upon students the severity of using the [Emergency] tag when there really isn’t an emergency involved.
Required Message Contents
There is nothing worse than getting a one line email from a student saying something like “when is the paper due?” You have no clue which class the student is talking about, which section of the class (if you’ve got multiple sections), which assignment, or even who the student is (beyond their email—which is hardly a good identifier). This is to say nothing about how disrespectful that these kinds of emails can feel. In cases like these, I’ll either send an email back to the student asking them to clarify, or I’ll use their email to look up which class they are in so that I can infer what assignment they are talking about. I rarely (if ever) say something about not appreciating the confusing brevity of the message.
So, what to do? Well, in my shiny new Electronic Communication Manifesto (apparently, I’m calling it a “manifesto” now), I’m going to require that students have the following elements in all emails:
- Email should open with a salutation (Ethan, Professor Watrall, HRH, whatever)
- Body of the Message should open with something like “I’m in your HST250 class, section 001″
- Email should close with the student’s full name, Student ID, and class name and; section (if they didn’t already put that in the body of the message)
What happens if they don’t? Well, I haven’t quite figured that out yet. One option is to say upfront (both in the first day of class and on the course website) that these types of emails will simply be deleted, and I won’t make any effort to find out who they are, what class they are in, or what assignment they are talking about (for example). The other, less harsh, option is to have a boilerplate response which tells them that their message didn’t meet the class requirements and that they should review the electronic communication policy and resend. The problem with this approach is that I’ve got to take the time to write something out (or, at the very least, copy and paste something from a pre-written document). The alternative (that I’m very seriously considering) is to use TextExpander—a handy little Mac app designed just for this purpose. [Look for a ProfHacker post on TextExpander soon! —Ed.]
The Bottom Line
The key to this (or any) electronic communication policy is that students are well aware of it going into the class. Any policy must be talked about in detail on the first day. It should also be front and center on the course website. Students should also be reminded periodically of the policy throughout the semester. I’m also fully aware that any policy that I do end up enacting will most likely go through significant changes, and I’m cool with that.
So, do you have an email policy (or a broader electronic communication policy)? If so, what does it look like? Have you chosen not to have a policy? Why?
Follow Profhacker through your favorite RSS reader: 
28 Responses to Developing an Electronic Communication Policy
drnels - April 30, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Ethan, you’ve given us lots to ponder. I am thinking of getting more formal with my guideliness myself, especially about how to use instant messaging in Gmail and Facebook, which I want students to use with me but only under certain parameters.I do require my students to read this version of “How to Email a Professor” at the start of each semester.http://mleddy.blogspot.com/2005/01/how-to-e-mail-professor.html
ethan_watrall - April 30, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Nels – thanks for the link…didn’t even know that existed. I think I’m going to have my students read this as well.
jcmeloni - April 30, 2010 at 3:03 pm
I will be revamping my electronic communications policy before next semester as well, so thanks for this. I wrote a blog post last year about Asking Questions the Smart Way (in tech), which contained information I encouraged students to read as we entered a more technical portion of the class. In the comments to that post, Jason Jones mentioned he uses Merlin Mann’s guide to writing sensible e-mail messages. Now, all of those things have to do with the content itself…the “schedule” aspects of the policy are something I have to work on. Given my own work habits–answering things at all hours of the day and night because that’s how I work–I don’t model what students should expect, so that’s certainly not their problem. What I mean is that if I tell students “don’t poke me for a response until it’s been 24 hours” but I always reply to them within 12, they’re going to start poking me at hour 13. So, I have to figure out a way to make myself follow my own policy.
jcmurphy - April 30, 2010 at 3:06 pm
This is wonderful, thank you so much. I have often informally enforced many of these same things (don’t expect to hear from me over the weekend, give me at least 24 hours to respond, please identify yourself, etc.), but have never codified it. Your post makes me think about the good possibilities for this. My initial reaction is, of course, that I do not want to commit to a policy because then I am committed to that policy. In other words, if I have a family emergency or something and cannot get to my email, have I set up a reciprocal expectation and then let them down? Are we bound on the other side to honor some kind of policy that encourages the students to expect something in particular? Without an official policy, my willingness to answer emails as soon as possible without a guarantee makes students happy. But if there were a policy, would they expect more? It sounds like you (and probably many of the people who read this post) are already very committed to communicating with your students and helping them, but this is not always the norm. Is there a good balance?
ethan_watrall - April 30, 2010 at 3:17 pm
@jcmurphy – For me, it is all about necessity. I was in far worse shape without an official policy than I (suspect) I will be with an official policy. And, like I say at the end of the post, I suspect that I’ll have to change things…and I’m cool with that.
billso - April 30, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Good post, and the links in the comments above are helpful as well. I do remind students to use meaningful subject lines and to tell me which section they’re in… but there are always some students who see email as an informal communication tool. This still surprises me, because I teach graduate-level courses.
billso - April 30, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Here’s a long blog post I wrote about this issue: http://billso.com/2008/04/22/email-is-still-broken/
billso - April 30, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Here’s a long blog post I wrote about this issue – with a usable link: http://billso.com/2008/04/22/email-is-still-broken/
philosophy - April 30, 2010 at 5:09 pm
You’ve inspired me to bring this issue up in a meeting Monday, planning for the fall with colleagues. I’ve not been plagued with a superabundance of emails, so thus far I usually respond within 1 to 6 hours.My initial idea of a policy (as an old-timer) is: I do not do tweeting or texting or facebooking; I will communicate only in person, by phone, or by email. That’s it.
mdzehnder - April 30, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I am not a professor (yet) but I currently work in an email-based customer service/IT support environment and encounter many of the same issues. Customers continually send emails requesting support but providing the barest paucity of information regarding the problem they are having, the software application they are using (my company supports several) or even identifying information regarding who they are (beyond an email address or phone number). Additionally, people continually contact me to request information or assistance that they could easily (and often more quickly) obtain themselves through our training materials, or they get upset that we are unable to rush or expedite a request in order to correct a problem that their own negligence created in the first place. I think a policy is essential, if only to deal with that percentage of your clientelle (size of that percentage can vary) who expect everything to be handed to them and who take no responsibility for their own situation. The type of contact referenced above is extremely disrespectful, in my opinion–the general attitude underlying it is that that person’s problem is the only one of importance, indeed the only one that exists, so that they should have to put forth minimal effort and information and expect maximum return. That said, this type of disrespect is often more or less unintentional, due to ignorance, laziness, or stress. A policy can go a long way towards establishing expectations, giving the students something to live up to, and in general improving the working relationship.
czaima1 - April 30, 2010 at 5:25 pm
I write and maintain campus administrative policies and procedures, so this article piqued my interest. I think students should have been taught e-communications etiquette before arriving at college (i.e., added to grammar school curriculum and continued through high school). Otherwise, by the time they get to college I’m afraid they have been hard-wired to expect instant responses/gratification. Faculty should not have to request that students respect and abide by a e-comm protocol, though I appreciate that they do in order to have any semblance of a private life (and sanity). What ever happened to “patience is a virtue”?
ivorytower54 - April 30, 2010 at 5:47 pm
@czaima1: they could actually add this in primary school. they aren’t teaching cursive writing anymore, so they should have time to take this on.
ethan_watrall - April 30, 2010 at 9:56 pm
@czaima1 – I completely agree that many students never learned e-communication etiquette (and they really should have before they got to university). However, I honestly believe that it is just as much our responsability (as faculty) to teach ‘em. We can’t say “they should have learned this earlier,” and then wash our hands of the responsability.
tealledw - May 1, 2010 at 9:11 am
I understand about requiring information to identify the student. I regularly get emails with no reference to name or section or even the class. With assignments coming in from multiple classes I have no idea what the student is asking.You might want to rethink the requirement of including student ID in the message. Most messaging is not secure. Our school has a policy of using only final 4-5 numbers of the full id number for students. I don’t need to the full number to determine the student based on id and then they don’t have to give me their full id or send it around cyberspace.
chuffed57 - May 1, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I’ve had the salutation/course ID/signature rule in my syllabi for years – I grew tired of being cyber Sherlock Holmes and decided that is the least students owe me for my help (I’ve been sent many emails about courses I don’t teach.) If I cannot easily identify them from multiple sections, I reply, “Sorry – I don’t know who you are and need more information if you’d like me to help you.” which takes five seconds to type and send. For my online courses, the policy is: use the discussion board question forum unless it is personal and confidential. If they don’t get it right away, I respond by email saying, “This is an excellent question for the discussion board question forum – many other students could benefit from having the answer, too.” It saves me a world of time. I publish that I will respond in 24-48 hours. But I still need more policy, because you are right about families and weekends and boundaries.
ambouche - May 1, 2010 at 11:41 pm
I have 480 students in 3 classes (1 online, two face-to-face), and have an explicit communications policy covering all the points raised above. I used to get annoyed at being addressed as Hey. Then I realized that students often do not know their professors’ names, or are insecure about what form of address to use (Dr., Ms., Professor). This year I sent out a general explanation of how to address the various types of people and the various titles they might encounter teaching on this campus, including how to suss out what an instructor might prefer, and what to do if you aren’t sure. “Hey” has nearly disappeared from my mailbox, to be replaced by “Dear Dr….” or “Dear Professor…” I also model email behavior, always using a salutation and always signing myself “Prof. B___”, and I have made a real effort to avoid sounding snarky in my own emails to students–fatally easy when you are answering the fourth reiteration of the same question. I get about 1 egregiously offensive email a year, and maybe five or six annoying ones, but that isn’t bad considering the numbers I deal with.
ethan_watrall - May 2, 2010 at 10:06 am
@ambouche = I’ve got those kinds of numbers as well, and its nice to hear that when you instituted your policy, it worked. One of my worries is that when I do enact my communicaiton policy, I’ll have to spend an enormous amount of time (more that I would like) training students to ffollow the actual policy.
sweetbeba - May 2, 2010 at 5:44 pm
I’ve been imagining coming up with one of those “fill in the blank” screens for my students to use to email me – the kind I encounter on corporate websites. I haven’t the faintest idea how to do this, but the screen would require the student to fill in the (to me) necessary information – name, course and section & meeting days/times, a pull down menu with options to select regarding the kind of question it is (assignment, due date, clarification, grade-related, etc.) and a fill-in box for the student-generated content. Upon sending, the student would receive an autoreply on screen and copied to her/his email that the message has been sent, and can expect a reply no sooner than 24 hours (or more, not sure about this yet) in the future. I suspect such an interface could be on my department page, and I could state students are required to use it to correspond with me. Anybody out there already doing this? and if so, how does it work out with your department and students?
bphil - May 2, 2010 at 11:41 pm
@sweetbeba et al: If you want the “subject” line of an email to contain the information you need to sort the messages you get without having to rely on students to fill it in properly, try this: put up an html page (blackboard, your own web site, etc.) or send a message with a “mailto:” link with your email instructions. But then also include a “subject” field. Your link would look like this: <”href=”mailto:your.name@university.edu?subject=Student in PHILOSOPHY 1010″>Send Me a Message if you are in PHIL 1010″ being sure to open and close with “a” and “/a” in carrot brackets.
snwiedmann - May 3, 2010 at 9:51 am
My students are required to use their university email accounts (no Yahoo or other carriers). I explain on the first day that this is for the purpose of reducing virus problems. Any email coming from a private accout (e.g., sexystacker666@****.com — which was the actual return address on a student’s email a few years back) goes straight to trash. They are also asked to put their section information (course number and section letter) in the Subject line.
trvb72 - May 3, 2010 at 11:48 am
- An email policy is a chance to educate your students about something other than your subject matter. The following tips have worked well for me.- Equate yourself to a boss in their eyes (at least for this case). – I tell them that if “I have to look it up”, then they should look it up first. Example: “When is … due?” Since I don’t know off the top of my head, I’d have to go find the correct answer to email them. I also write a paragraph about my “aha” moment from the student persective. I remember in grad school asking the grad dean of our college about a deadline for a document (and there are a lot of deadlines in grad school), and he said “have you read the handbook?” a few times. From my perspective it was a simple question and was kind of annoyed. NOW I know why he did that. I write that entire story and relay that to the students, and I rarely get these questions anymore.- For Prof. Watrall, I recommend that rather than reply to insufficiently addresses emails with a boilerplate response that takes time to write, tell them that they will simply receive a blank email. Make that very clear and prominent up front in the semester. It’s fast, and lets them know you received it.- I also added a tip to my basic instructions recently, and it goes with my first point about equating me to a boss: spell my name correctly. When the recipient opens the email, the first thing they see is their name own name spelled wrong. Imagine how a prospective employer might view this.-My tips are for the 100 level community college courses that I teach, so the backgrounds of my students are all over the place. I think the tips have been successful.- I don’t have a strict policy about including student ID, etc. I just tell them to identify themselves and their class. If your standards are too exact, what are the consequences if they forget one piece of information? – Lastly, I write instructions for assignments and policies in a bulleted format just like this. Clear. Most important items first. I tell them that I’m doing it this way, too. Their emails are also now “most important first”.
ethan_watrall - May 3, 2010 at 12:59 pm
@trvb72 – the idea of a blank email is great!
mbelvadi - May 3, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Interesting that this is in ProfHacker, because I’m hearing lots of need for tech support. For instance, whatever email system your campus uses ought to provide some way for you to send canned responses, so that instead of ignoring an email or sending a blank reply, you should only be a couple of clicks away from a nicely formatted generic reply without special typing. In some systems it might be called a “template”.For the idea about forcing students to use a web form with required fields, your campus course management system (eg Blackboard, Moodle, Desire2Learn etc.) also ought to have this capability. If it doesn’t, ask your campus CS department whether there is some other “faculty web sites” type place where you can implement your own simple web form of this kind. Chances are that there is, and that it would be very simple for them to help you set up. You may even be able to have a “validation” requirement on the return email address to force them to put in an email that includes @yourcampus.edu in it – ask your techies!
jcmeloni - May 3, 2010 at 2:27 pm
mbelvadi has provided some good keywords for less technical folks to use in conversation with their IT support. Thanks for contributing!
trvb72 - May 3, 2010 at 3:25 pm
@mbelvadi – ProfHacker is for novices as well as experts – I learn all kinds of great tips, including yours. Good idea with a template reply. I didn’t know you could do that in a reply email. However, depending on the volume of email or number of students enrolled, it’d have to have a keyboard shortcut or is found in two clicks.
mkhoward1999 - May 3, 2010 at 9:57 pm
I developed an electronic communication policy several years ago. Students are required to put their full names and their five-digit class numbers in the subject line. They were told that email not containing this info would be deleted–I teach at a junior college and typically have 100+ students each quarter–and I follow through on that. The policy is in the syllabus and posted on Blackboard under Syllabus and on the Annoucement page, which is the first page students see when they open Blackboard. This quarter I added an additional note on Blackboard reminding students that (a) professors are not their peers, (b) their communication should be professional at all times and (c) I would not respond to email that was more suitable to their friends and families; i.e., no punctuation, emoticons, abbreviations, etc. For many of them it is a rude awakening, but it seems to be working well.
tccraven - May 4, 2010 at 11:06 am
There are a lot of good ideas here. I will add one: virtually every mail program includes the option of canned responses in the form of signature files. I have one signature that specifially includes my office number for those too lazy to look it up and will write back to request it when I tell them to meet me.
niolonra - May 9, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Great article! I’ve been in admin positions, and learned to respond to some emails with boilerplate statements in effect saying –”this is a good question to ask your advisor” –”that’s more complicated than a simple email can answer” –”since you are not replying to my previous email about this, I’m not sure exactly what this is about”–”this is something better directed to the Department Manager…”I did not make templates for this, but instead used AutoHotkey (http://www.autohotkey.com/) – a free TextExpander alternative for Windows.It also is great for quick abbreviations that expand to posting the link to some online form students commonly need bu cant find, that insert common phrases like “Student Handbook” and “Advanced Practicum Seminar” when you type only a few letters, and that insert different signatures for different kinds of emails.Rich