Distance Education

Distance conveys a degree of anonymity, and as a result, many people feel less inhibited in online situations than in their everyday lives. This lessening of inhibitions sometimes leads people to drop their normal standards of decorum when communicating online. Become familiar with the following guidelines regarding both online discussions and email messages.

• Use appropriate language. Excessive use of “chat” or “instant messaging” jargon is not acceptable for Blackboard discussions.
• Read existing follow-up postings and don’t repeat what has already been said.
• Inappropriate and/or offensive language, especially comments that might be construed as racist or sexist, are not appropriate and will be dealt with on an individual basis.
• Be careful with humor and sarcasm. One person’s humorous comment can be another person’s boorish or degrading remark.
• Do not use all caps in an online environment. Using all caps is considered SHOUTING.
• Use proper spelling, capitalization, grammar, usage, and punctuation. Utilize the Spell Check feature.
• Remember that there are other human beings reading your postings, so treat everyone with respect. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t be willing to communicate face to face.
• Be sure to include relevant information in the Subject line of emails.