Tuesday, January 8, 2008

E-mail Netiquette

A few salient points of productive e-mail protocol :
  1. Use only your SFU account for e-mail to the course Lecturer. All other e-mail is blocked by whitelist.
  2. E-mail (indeed, all communication) between Lecturer and student is a formal and professional exchange. Accordingly, proper salutation and closing is essential.
  3. Business e-mail is courteous but, of professional necessity, concise and direct. It rejects roundabout or ornate language, informal diction, and any appearance of what is termed in the vernacular, 'chat.'
  4. Customary response time for e-mail to the Course Lecturer and Teaching Assistants is two weekdays. E-mail on weekends will ordinarily be read the Monday following.

In general, course e-mail is dedicated to essential matters of Course business and avoids questions about lecture material, course reading, assignment criteria, or deadlines, which are all reserved for tutorials and office hours. Missed classes and deadlines do not need to be reported by e-mail: if a medical or bereavement exception is being claimed, the supporting documentation is handed in, along with the completed assignment, either in person or to the Tutorial Instructor's mailbox outside the Department Office.

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