As a student you will have an online relationship with almost everyone of your professors, teaching assistants, graduate assistants, teachers, etc. You need to make all of them positive relationships. This will benefit you and the professor, TA, or GA on the other end of the media device. By using the correct “etiquette” or Netiquette is key in society today. Netiquette is etiquette for online. For example an email. You need to have a proper greeting at the beginning of your email, such as Dear ____, then a clear concise body in your email, and a closing, such as Thank you, your name. The subject of your email should be clear, short and concise. Some professors will prioritize their emails by the matter of subject. If your subject is not clear and concise, it may get over looked.
I am pretty sure that now every email service has spell check. You should always use this tool before you press the send button. Then after you have used spell check, make sure you have proofread your email at least once. Once you are confident about the message you are trying to convey then you may proceed and press the send button.
There is more than just emails at hand when creating positive relationships. Discussions boards are used in online courses. These places are important for you to be concise, grammatically correct, and spelling should be accurate. Multiple people will be reading these, and you never know who will be next to see them in your class. One wrong mistake can make an impression on someone, and you do not want that.
Study groups can be used in the college atmosphere also. Some classes have these in a discussion board style way. Anyone can post on them, and then anyone can respond to the post also. Make sure to read these over also. You DO NOT want to make a bad impression in this area.
Notes to remember for making online positive relationships:
1. Netiquette
2. Grammar
3. Spelling
4. Proofread
5. Be Concise
This advice applies to all types of online communication, such as; online group projects, group chats, discussion boards, emails, and more.
Cheyenne Koubeck
Cheyenne, you’ve provided some important tips for communicating via email. I completely agree that proofreading is an important step. One must be careful with the spellchecker. It is a great tool, but we can not trust the spellchecker to do all the work. Several years ago, I watched an incident unfold where a coworker sent an email in which the spellchecker changed every instance of “inconvenience” to “incontinence.” It was amusing but somewhat embarrassing.
Thank you for these tips on creating online relationships through good communication. I look forward to reading your future blog posts.