As more learners transition to using technology to communicate with peers and teachers, it is becoming imperative that all learners are well-versed in the acceptable communication techniques and norms that are commonly known as netiquette. Most of us know not to type an email using caps unless we intend to yell at the recipient. However, as the worlds of online learning and social media expand, the rules of conversing and collaborating are also becoming more complex. The new Common Core Standards include aspects of netiquette within the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing, which means it now needs to be prioritized as a required skill for students to learn and for educators to teach.
At Allied National High School students participate in discussion board forums with classmates on subject specific topics in each course. As a participant in this collaborative online environment, students are expected to be respectful of one another, use proper grammar in posts, and provide original and constructive responses to one another. These norms are expected of all students and each forum has netiquette rules posted. In addition, the Allied National High School student handbook has a code of conduct that sets expectations for students to interact with their instructors in a respectful manner during all correspondence, which includes email, phone, Blackboard comments, and in real-time sessions. These are good examples of netiquette in action.
Have you ever read the comments section of an article posted online, and been bothered by the disregard for grammar, respect, or purpose in some of the posts? Many of us have. This is an example of what a lack of netiquette looks and feels like. Those that do not exhibit proper netiquette may have difficulty communicating their perspective to others, which is why it is such an important skill to teach.
The difficulty in describing and teaching netiquette is the fact that it is a gray area. It is not always a written rule, and proper netiquette changes with the setting. For example, you might write a funny quick comment to a friend on Facebook that you would never send in an email to your boss. Another aspect of this invisible norm set is how familiarity with the audience changes your netiquette. For example, many people send emails to family members of co-workers without proofreading the email. How many of us would do the same if we were emailing a Senator or a company with a complaint? This is our natural netiquette instincts at work.
The task for educators is to take make the unwritten rules written for our students and teach them to communicate efficiently and effectively, both online and in-person. They will need these skills to be heard in the future.
