Here is your guide to efficient communication in an electronic age.
By Gwen Solomon
Jun 15, 2004 5:00 AM
URL: http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=21700267
(Used with the permission of Technology & Learning magazine.)
More tasks than ever are heading online these days-from student projects and field trips to virtual schools and electronic professional development. The big idea is that technology saves time and effort, focuses people quickly and easily, and commands attention in a world of too many demands, distractions, and delivery systems. So what are the keys to making the most of the e-resources at our disposal?
Design to Get Attention
To get people to read what you write or listen to what you present, the information has to be interesting, useful, and appealing. Being clear, concise, and to the point matters more than ever. According to Web analyst Jakob Nielsen, "People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences." E-mail newsletter readers also scan items and only rarely follow through for more information. As a result, electronic communications have to be presented so that busy people can pick up the information they need quickly.
Topics have to get and hold readers' attention, which means that titles and headlines must be meaningful. Articles should be clear and short and contain only one idea per paragraph. Organizing topics in a logical sequence helps people move along quickly. Bulleted lists help focus readers, and white space makes skimming easier. Adding images can make specific items stand out and hold readers' attention a little while longer.
The sound bite method of communicating-or chunking-is designed to catch our limited attention spans. Whittle a topic down to the basics and say it in as few words as possible. Then do the same with the next topic. This new writing style also borrows from journalists' inverted pyramid technique so that conclusions are first, essential information appears next, and details (for anyone who might want them) come later. People are used to idea surfing and tune things out fast.
To be effective, today's documents should have half the word count of conventional writing.
E-Mail
Because our readers often don't have time to pay much attention, technology can make a big difference. It's so much easier to shoot off an e-mail than to pick up the phone or draft a memo. We can send e-mail anytime and not worry if the recipient is at the other end; he will log on at some point and our words will be there waiting for him. Even better is that e-mail provides a written record so both sender and recipient possess a message trail.
However, e-mail has its downsides. It's easy to misunderstand someone's words without the nonverbal signals that occur when meeting face-to-face or the tone of voice that's clear on the phone. We interpret meaning from the words alone but often the missing context leads us astray. There are sometimes unintended consequences; it's so easy to write quickly and hit the Send button that we could offend someone inadvertently. Since e-mail provides a written record, it will be around when you want to eat your words later. Even worse is finding out that someone forwarded that message for others to read.
E-Newsletters
Everyone likes to be kept informed. With No Child Left Behind stressing accountability and parental control, it pays to be a transparent organization-or at least look that way. Sending out information regularly satisfies stakeholders that things are going well. Using e-mail helps keep the information timely and flowing regularly. E-newsletters help you get your message out quickly, easily, and effectively.
E-newsletters can serve different purposes. Some are strictly for public relations so that parents and the community will learn more and feel better about the district or school. Others are internal documents that highlight staff achievements and present directives and information. When planning an e-mail newsletter, decide what your purpose will be. Are you sending a newsletter to provide information or to get people to react in some way?
Some administrators use a business strategy called customer relations management. The lesson is to know your constituencies, understand their needs, and communicate intelligently with them to keep them happy, loyal, and productive. One way is to personalize the messages. Even if the information is basically the same, send a slightly different version to different groups. For example, teachers and parents look at many issues differently. Address them accordingly.
Another strategy is to treat the readers like professionals by including news or research with a link to more information. Whether it's something in the news or on your district's Web site, suggesting they will want to learn shows respect. Some systems let you monitor data about your newsletters; if yours is one of them, find out how many people open the message. If you provide links to more information, check to see which items are most popular. Then use these numbers to rethink what you say and how you say it the next time.
E-Publishing
You know that your district or school is doing great things, but who else has heard about it? As often as not, the media prefers to focus on the bad news, so making people aware of the good news is difficult. The only way to get the real story out there may be to tell it yourself and hope that someone will listen. The Web is a great tool to publicize successes. Teachers, administrators, support staff, and community members all have experiences to share, especially about technology.
Where do you go to find information about other districts' uses of technology and write about yours? Technology & Learning's Web site, techLEARNING.com, publishes articles by teachers, technology coordinators, administrators, researchers, and others in the education community. The articles present ideas, models, strategies, and information about the use of technology for teaching, learning, and administration. New articles appear each month, and everything remains searchable online forever. So as you follow the advice in this article, don't forget to write.
Gwen Solomon is director of techLEARNING.com.
Continued on the next page . . .
|
|
