Distance Learning Resources

Communication can be ambiguous or confusing in the absence of face-to-face presence. In online communication, it is very important that you write messages clearly and effectively. The following are some of the message design principles that you may consider:

• Is the message title or email subject descriptive of the content?
• Are you going to put a certain designator in the message title to categorize student replies to the message easily?
• Are you going to ask students to put certain designators in their messages to you? This can be helpful in sorting students in one section of a class from another section.
• Are your file names descriptive and easy to keep track of and organize? Are you asking students to use particular file names and folders to keep items organized? For instance, using the title of the assignment for the document, instead of their own name or "Untitled."
• Are you using formatting options (e.g., font styles, colors, or shades, paragraph styles, indentation, etc.) to make the email message or assignment posting easy to read or highlight important information?

This guidance is adapted from UNC-Charlotte's Center for Teaching and Learning.