Communicating online is a central part of course delivery and can be an exciting and unique experience. However, there are certain rules and codes of conduct (often grouped together under the heading netiquette) we should try to adhere to:

What? 

Netiquette is a term frequently used when discussing online learning, but what does it mean? 

Put simply, netiquette = rules of good online behaviour.

CC0 Pixabay

The following list relates both to what you and your students might say out loud and/or write. 

Speak/write with empathy:

• Practice patience and understanding when interacting with students, peers and staff.
• Be respectful of others views and opinions and pause before sending an instant reply.

CC0 Pixabay

1. Engage with other people:

• Adopt a friendly and informal tone, not too informal though.
• Please, no SMS abbreviations and no swearing. 
• Do not SHOUT!!! (Using all upper-case letters is equivalent to shouting).
• Respond to other people's requests if you are able to help. 

2. Avoid causing potential offence: 

• Re-read your message before sending and only send it if you would be com­fortable saying it to person's face. Consider how it might sound to someone who can't see your face or who comes from a different background to yourself.
• Don't jump to conclusions!! That message may not have been intentionally offensive, simply careless, clarify the meaning with the sender if necessary.
• Don't use discriminatory language (racist, sexist, homophobic, etc).
• Don't get personal! Keep any negative personal opinions about other people or groups to yourself.
• Be careful when expressing disagreement or other strong feelings. It helps to preface such statements with "I feel" or "In my opinion", or "I believe".

3. Be considerate: 

• Keep your messages short (no more than 1 screenful) .This also improves your chances of getting a response. 
• Gauge the length of your response to the question being asked. Some students will leave longer postings than others, but regular over-long postings can be off-putting, making other students feel that it has all been said and that the "floor" has been monopolised by one person. Staff must learn how to politely manage these situations so that all students feel encourages to post.
• When responding to someone who has asked more than one question, quote the relevant question so the person knows what you are referring to.
• Make sure the subject line of your contribution is relevant to your message and corresponds to the relevant discussion thread. This saves readers time when opening messages. 
• Remember, discussion posting can be read by many others. If you want to say something private, send an email instead.

In some modules/units, you may ask your students to relate theories/learning resources to personal examples. Please be aware that such questions may be triggering for them or others reading the public posts. 

While students should be encouraged to participate and contribute as much as they can, ask them to be mindful of their word choice and positioning of sensitive information. 

If the personal information is quite emotionally taxing for students to write/post, it may be emotionally taxing for others to read too. 

• Try to have your camera on for every session as non-verbal cues are a great way of engaging with your students and peers. Encourage students to have their cameras on if it is appropriate.
• If you can't have your camera on, make sure that you have a photo of yourself in the icon space; this adds a personal touch and provides students with something more than a blank icon to look at, enabling them to envisage you as you speak.
• Hands up/Thumbs up: encourage the use of the hands up function for questions and thumbs up for responses.
• Encourage the students to use the microphone or the chat function to communicate questions or queries, allowing others to respond appropriately.
• Ask students not to use the chat function for casual conversation during the session. This will help them to stay on topic. 
• Keep mics muted when not participating, as background noise may distract students or staff who are speaking.

Dos and don'ts: Discussion boards

• Posting on the discussion boards is exactly that: a discussion.
• Imagine the discussion taking place in a classroom, face to face with a myriad of different people and differing opinions. Be mindful of these differences, even when online. 
• Writing in all caps ("ALL CAPS") comes across as shouting so please refrain from doing this. 

Social media: A word of warning

However, if your students choose to take part in any informal student groups, remember they can impact on their own and other students' wellbeing.

These groups should be seen as motivational tools if students do join, as supporting their peers can support their own learning journey. 

These tools should never be used to ask about assignment tasks. Sharing understanding of assignments or resources could lead to students submitting similar assignments, which in turn could lead to claims of academic misconduct. 

If students want to ask about assignments, please direct them to use the discussion boards on their modules, or email their tutors directly. 

If you discover that being in a student messaging group is adding to a student's stress, remind them that they can leave the group chat, or mute it. 

Boundaries

Working and studying from home can blur work/life balance - remember to separate the two. 

1. Time: 

Remind students that they don't expect to be contacted late at night or during holiday breaks-the same applies to staff (and that replies may take longer if staff are contacted during these times). Different platforms have different reply times. 

Staff have a 48-hour window to reply (excluding weekends and holidays).

Note: Some staff work part-time so indicate to students that in this case, staff may take longer to respond.

2. Expectations: 

Staff should discuss with students that assignments, deadlines, or feedback can elicit strong emotions. However, this should not lead to accusatory/emotionally charged emails from students to staff. Encourage students to step away, take a break and calm down before communicating with peers or staff under these circumstances.

For both staff and students, sometimes requesting a Webex or face to face meeting is better than sending a long or emotionally charged email. Ask yourself: "what is the best way to discuss worries/concerns?"

Ask your students to consider the following pointers when composing emails:

1. Specify the related module, subject or PAT-specific request in the subject line
2. Start with an appropriate greeting 
3. Keep the message short and concise
4. Be consistent with font/lower case
5. Close with action/request meeting
6. Have an appropriate end