Monique Adams's List: Credible Connections Assignment

• Respect others and their opinions. In online learning students from various backgrounds come together to learn. It is important to respect their feelings and opinions though they may differ from your own.
• • Consider others’ privacy. Ask for permission if you want to forward someone’s email messages to third parties. Keep in mind that all private email mail is considered copyrighted by the original author.
• Pick the right tone. Since we depend on the written word in online learning, it is especially important to choose the right words to get your meaning across. For example, sarcasm is harder to detect when you read the words rather than hearing them.
• Avoid inappropriate material. Distribution of pornographic material will result in disciplinary action
• Be forgiving. If someone states something that you find offensive, mention this directly to the instructor. Remember that the person contributing to the discussion might be new to this form of communication. What you find offensive may quite possibly have been unintended and can best be cleared up by the instructor.
• Think before you hit the send button. Think carefully about the content of your message before contributing it. Once sent to the group there is no taking it back. Grammar and spelling errors reflect on you and your audience might not be able to decode misspelled words or poorly constructed sentences.
• Brevity is best. Be as concise as possible when contributing to a discussion. Your points might me missed if hidden in a flood of text.
• Stick to the point. Contributions to a discussion should stick to the subject. Don’t waste others' time by going off on irrelevant tangents.
• Do not type in all caps. Typing in caps is considered shouting or screaming online. Various studies on the topic reflect that it is more difficult and takes longer to read text that is typed in all caps.
• Frivolous email. Don’t forward jokes, "chain letter's" or unimportant email to other students without their permission. Not only does it fill up their mailboxes but may offend people who do not share the same sense of humor or who are tired of these types of email.

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• • Respect others and their opinions. In online learning students from various backgrounds come together to learn. It is important to respect their feelings and opinions though they may differ from your own.
   
• Tone Down Your Language.  Given the absence of face-to-face clues, written text can easily be misinterpreted. Avoid the use of strong or offensive language and the excessive use of exclamation points. If you feel particularly strongly about a point, it may be best to write it first as a draft and then to review it, before posting it, in order to remove any strong language.
• Pick the right tone. Since we depend on the written word in online learning, it is especially important to choose the right words to get your meaning across. For example, sarcasm is harder to detect when you read the words rather than hearing them.
• Keep a Straight Face. In general, avoid humor and sarcasm. These frequently depend either on facial or tone of voice cues absent in text communication or on familiarity with the reader.
• Consider others’ privacy. Ask for permission if you want to forward someone’s email messages to third parties. Keep in mind that all private email mail is considered copyrighted by the original author.
• • Avoid inappropriate material.
   
  •   Be forgiving. If someone states something that you find offensive, mention this directly to the instructor. Remember that the person contributing to the discussion might be new to this form of communication. What you find offensive may quite possibly have been unintended and can best be cleared up by the instructor.
• Think before you hit the send button. Think carefully about the content of your message before contributing it. Once sent to the group there is no taking it back. Grammar and spelling errors reflect on you and your audience might not be able to decode misspelled words or poorly constructed sentences.
• • Test for Clarity.  Messages may often appear perfectly clear to you as you compose them, but turn out to be perfectly obtuse to your reader. One way to test for clarity is to read your message aloud to see if it flows smoothly. If you can read it to another person before posting it, even better.
   
  •   Brevity is best. Be as concise as possible when contributing to a discussion. Your points might me missed if hidden in a flood of text.
• • Stick to the point. Contributions to a discussion should stick to the subject. Don’t waste others' time by going off on irrelevant tangents.
   
  •   Frivolous email. Don’t forward jokes, "chain letter's" or unimportant email to other students without their permission. Not only does it fill up their mailboxes but may offend people who do not share the same sense of humor or who are tired of these types of email.
• • Read First, Write Later.  Don't add your comments to a discussion before reading the comments of other students unless the assignment specifically asks you to. Doing so is tantamount to ignoring your fellow students and is rude. Comments related to the content of previous messages should be posted under them to keep related topics organized, and you should specify the person and the particular point you are following up on.
   
  •   Netspeak.  Although electronic communication is still young, many conventions have already been established. DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPS. This is regarded as shouting and is out of place in a classroom. Acronyms and emoticons (arrangements of symbols to express emotions) are popular, but excessive use of them can make your message difficult to read

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• Rule #1: Respect other participants

   

  Online interaction and in-person conversation both affect us personally. In online communication, it is easy to be misinterpreted and to come across to your fellow students in a way that you would not in person. Therefore we recommend that online students:

   
   
  • Be careful of informal tone
   
  • Avoid public ridicule of others
   
  • Allow others a voice
   
  • Only say online what you would also say in person
   
   

  Rule #2: Write What You Mean

   

  Because online interaction removes facial expressions and voice inflection, words and statements that would be understood as sarcastic or joking in person can be misconstrued as offensive and mean-spirited online. Try to avoid using sarcasm online by saying directly what you mean, which is also a good lesson to learn for all communication in life. If you must use sarcasm, or if the situation calls for it, try to use an emoticon (like a wink or a funny tag, such as a joke HTML tag , which means “close sarcasm”.

• Rule #3: Use proper punctuation and formatting

   

  Capital letters online are the equivalent of shouting in person. If you want to build good rapport with other online students, use proper capitalization and correct grammar. Using these two simple tactics will increase your voice online by showing that you are educated, value what others think of you, and that you value professionalism.

   

  Rule #4: Be honest and transparent

   

  The Internet is not anonymous. I repeat, the Internet is not anonymous anymore. This is especially true for online education courses, where you are required to use your real name. If you choose to use real-life examples, make sure that they are real and check out under a bit of scrutiny, because people will check and sometimes ask. If you are not honest and open, people will sense this and will not trust you.

   

  Rule #5: Contribute to the conversation

   

  Whether on Facebook, Twitter, or an online college forum, you should contribute to the conversation with relevant replies that show that you have read, processed, and taken seriously the ideas of others. Replying with useful information will encourage increased participation by others, and you will also gain the reputation as someone who cares about others and the ideas that are important to the entire group.

• Avoid language that may come across as strong or offensive. Language can be easily misinterpreted in written communication. If a point must be stressed, review the statement to make sure that an outsider reading it would not be offended, then post the statement. Humor and sarcasm may easily be misinterpreted as well, so try to be as matter-of-fact and professional as possible.

  2. Keep writing to a point and stay on topic. Online courses require a lot of reading. When writing, keep sentences poignant and brief so that readers do not get lost in wordy paragraphs and miss the point of the statement. Also, do not introduce new topics; it may just confuse the readers.

• . Read first, write later. It is important to read all posts or comments of students and instructors within the course discussion before personally commenting to prevent repeating commentary or asking questions that have already been answered.

  4. Review, review, then send. There’s no taking back a comment that has already been sent, so it is important to double-check all writing to make sure that it clearly conveys the exact intended message.

  5. An online classroom is still a classroom. Though the courses may be online, appropriate classroom behavior is still mandatory. Respect for fellow classmates and the instructors is as important as ever.

• The language of the Internet. Though still a fairly young type of communication, certain aspects of this form of communication are becoming conventional. For example, do not write using all capital letters, because it will appear as shouting. Also, the use of emoticons can be helpful when used to convey nonverbal feelings (example: :-) or :-( ), but avoid overusing them.

  7. Consider the privacy of others'. Ask permission prior to giving out a classmate's email address or other information.

  8. If possible, keep attachments small. If it is necessary to send pictures, change the size to an acceptable 100k.

  9. No inappropriate material. Do not forward virus warnings, chain letters, jokes, etc. to classmates or instructors. The sharing of pornographic material is forbidden.

   

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• Electronic communication can be tricky:  be respectful – and mindful that words really do matter.
• ubject headings are critically important. Why? 
   
• Emails are public documents. They are documents that may be retrieved at any time for legal purposes.
• Be conscious of your intentions at all times.

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