Student Usage Rate

   Nearly 100% of UW Madison students use e-mail. All UW Madison students should have a Wiscmail account. A majority of 2004 student respondents (87%) use their WiscMail e-mail address.

A majority of students in 2004 (59%) reported wisc.edu as the domain of their primary e-mail account.

(http://www.doit.wisc.edu/about/research/2004/2004Student.htm)

E-mail Basics

E-mail is the technology that everyone can be expected to know. If you are a professor or TA, students will assume that you have e-mail, and that they can reach you via e-mail, unless otherwise notified. Likewise, as a professor or TA at UW Madison, you can assume that all of your students have e-mail, as they are provided with a Wiscmail address by the UW.

Uses

E-mail is a method of communication, quicker and less formal than sending a letter via the US post, but more formal that instant messaging.

Suggestions for Educational Uses

E-mail students to inform them of a room change, change in class schedule, or the location of their final exam.

E-mail practice exams, review information, or lecture notes. Make sure these files are not huge, as they may be very slow to download (remember, not everyone has fast Internet service!).

Allow your students to e-mail you with questions regarding the course, course readings, etc.

Consider accepting student work via e-mail, but keep in mind that this might not be any easier than keeping track of hard copies of student work.

Etiquette

• It is reasonable to expect students to have an e-mail account and to use their Wiscmail account for school.

• Be careful not to e-mail excessively. Students receive a lot of e-mail already. Very important information should be communicated via e-mail, as well as in person or by some other means whenever possible.

• If your course requires you to send a lot of e-mail to students, you should tell them how often they are expected to check their e-mail, be it every Thursday after lecture or twice a day. This would be good information to include on the course syllabus.

E-mail Jargon

To: - The To: field is where you type the e-mail address of the recipient of your e-mail.

Cc: - The Cc: field is where you type the e-mail address of anyone you would like to "carbon-copy" the e-mail message to.

Bcc: - The Bcc: field is where you type the e-mail address of anyone you would like to "blind carbon-copy" the e-mail message to. This person will be able to see the addresses of people in the To: and Cc: fields in the header of the e-mail, but none of the other recipients of the e-mail will be able to see the addresses of those who have been "Bcc-ed."

subject - The subject of your e-mail message is important, because it is often the first part of your message that your message recipient will read. A short, descriptive subject is often best. E.g. "No Bio 442 Lecture on 1/21"

spam - Spam is the e-mail version of junk mail. Any unsolicited e-mail messages are considered spam.

Getting Started

To get started e-mailing, first you need an e-mail account. Hotmail and Yahoo offer free accounts to any internet user. Wiscmail is also free to UW Madison students and staff.

Getting started with Hotmail or Yahoo:

1. Go to one of these sites and "sign up" for an e-mail account.
2. You will have to fill out some fields and create an id which will typically be the part of your e-mail address before the "@hotmail.com" or "@yahoo.com".
3. You will then be taken into your e-mail account and be able to compose messages and check messages.

Getting started with Wiscmail:

1. Activate your NetID.
2. Logon to Wiscmail.
3. If you would like people to begin contacting via this address, compose a message informing them of your new e-mail address.

DoIT offers resources for e-mailing your entire classlist.

Popular E-mail Providers

• Wiscmail
  
  
• Hotmail
  
  
• Yahoo! Mail

Yahoo! Mail