Wired Magazine’s How To Wiki Blog recently posted an article on how to Write a Perfect EMAIL. As educators are flexing their fingers for work after resting this summer, this is a perfect article to kick off the school year.

Here is the annotated list:

• Be Brief
• Put your message in context
• Make your requests clear
• Include a deadline (if appropriate)

Dale Basler and I recently presented The Basics of Online Communication to NSTA’s National Science Congress. We’d add a few more tips:

• Use bcc (blind carbon copy) for multiple addressees
• Trim unnecessary ‘fat’ on forwards
• Choose function over form (i.e. avoid fancy formatting)
• Don’t use e-mail for everything (not good for chatting, etc.)

You can see the video and powerpoint of that presentation at Zentation (below):

The Basics of Online Communication 44:27 Maintaining successful and effective communication in the digital world.