Points can be easily missed if hidden in a flood of text when making a thorough comment, be as brief as possible.
Online discussions require professional writing smiley faces or linguistic shortcuts are more appropriate for chatting with your friends or instant messaging. Using emoticons and writing in “texting” language, that is by using abbreviations, might be considered too casual or even childish refrain from them as much as possible. The best way to test your messages for clarity is to read them aloud before you send them this way, you will be able to see if they make sense. Finally, never type in all caps writing in all capital letters is regarded as shouting, and this, apart from being annoying, it could be considered rude.īeing misunderstood is quite common in online interactions escape the miscommunication trap by double checking that what appears perfectly clear to you is not confusing your readers. Moreover, try to avoid slang words as much as possible, as this is also an online education environment and slang is considered neither academic, nor professional. Typos, spelling errors, and mixed up sentences reflect on you correct spelling and grammatical construction are a must, so keep in mind to read through your posts before you submit them. But is there an appropriate netiquette for interaction in the online environment? In this article, I'll share 10 netiquette tips for online discussions in order to help you effectively interact with your virtual classmates when writing is the only communication means that you have. Indeed, as an online learner, your goal when participating in an online discussion related to your eLearning course is the exchange of knowledge after all, you are taking eLearning courses because you want to learn.
Amazingly enough, this quote is still suitable, after almost a century, for all kinds of discussions, whether offline or online. “ Discussion is an exchange of knowledge argument an exchange of ignorance” once said Robert Quillen, an acclaimed journalist, who was also a discussion specialist.