Tech Director Chat #31 – Email Etiquette

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the amount of spam, junk, and other email flotsam that floats into your inbox? You’re not alone, especially if you’re a teacher. I regularly see teachers with hundreds of unread emails in their inboxes, and often replies to tech department emails can go for days without being sent (it’s alright, we know our emails are long, boring, and often don’t have immediate impact for your classroom).

We do have one unique email list in our district though that it heavily used, quickly replied to, and has the ability to fill up everyone’s inbox in a matter of hours depending on the time of year; the Classifieds. It’s more or less an internal Craigslist, a place for every staff member to buy, sell, or trade goods or services with one another. It was created many years ago as a means to entice people to use email, and you can score a fair number of deals from it from used electronics to landscaping services on the cheap. The problem arises during “busy” times of year when people are decluttering, or just after Christmas when several items were cleaned out to make room for gifts. I’m perfectly comfortable deleting the list of baby items and old toys, gadgets, etc. from my inbox, but for others it can become frustrating. While we do provide a means for people to be delisted from the Classifieds email list, many still like having it “just in case” something good pops up. For most of the year though, it can be a hassle, so Pete and I chatted about some email etiquette when posting to a classifieds list.

Wow, compelling episode description, right? Well, Pete and I also talk about Apple TVs in the classroom, how to create Gmail filters, and a few other odds and ends. And for once, both Pete AND I are stumped when the tables are turned on me 🙂

Timestamps for this week’s questions:

1:10 What has Pete been up to?

2:45 We explore a new iPad case vendor.

5:20 We address the etiquette of our internal district classified emails (like Craigslist just for our school employees).

7:40 Pete and Ben’s top five tips for sending classified emails.

10:47 Can Apple TVs be used in an educational environment?

14:35 Stump Pete!

16:40 Stump Ben!

16:58 Who was the original drummer for Rush?

You can talk about the show or continue the conversations on Twitter using the hashtag #TechDirectorChat or chatting up Ben (@techsavvyed) or Pete (@ppoggione) on Twitter.


Tech Director Chat – Email Etiquette