Announcements vs. Email in Carmen

You probably know that you can communicate with your students in Carmen either by sending them an email using the CarmenCanvas “Inbox” or by posting an announcement.  But which one is better?  Best practices in online communication with students say that general class information should be shared using the Announcements tool where all have access to it at any time, and the instructor should make clear from the beginning of the term that the onus is on the student to check the course announcements regularly (perhaps daily).  Emails can get caught in a spam filter, be misdirected, or simply ignored. Of course, information of a more private nature which is intended for an individual student should be sent by email to that student, and ODEE’s recommendation is that we use the student’s lastname.#@osu.edu email address. They also recommend not sending FERPA data (such as grade information) via email but to instead keep it in Carmen and tell students where they can look for grade data and feedback.