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Virtual Classroom Etiquette

Email + Zoom

Virtual ClassroomEtiquetteEmail + Zoom

By Meredith Noseworthy, Academic Advisor/Instructor | Academic Advising

When classes move online, we not only have to brush up our tech skills—we also have to practice some etiquette that we may not use in face-to-face classes. You also might never have had to videoconference before, which comes with its own set of expectations. We’ve gathered some helpful tips for you as you settle into new modes for your classes. Above all else, communicating is vital! Professors can have a harder time knowing if you have questions, so it’s important that you speak up and advocate for yourself.


Email

Use your Drury email. Some staff and faculty have high settings for spam, which means something sent from your personal email address may filter to their spam folder. It also verifies for your recipient who is writing to them.

Include a clear and relevant subject line. “Meeting Request” or “Narrative Essay Question” can help your recipient immediately know what you want. If your professor teaches multiple classes, then it’s also wise to include your course number.

Begin with a salutation. “Dear Dr. Johnson,” or “Hello Ms. Jones,” are good options. Use Dr./Ms./Mr. unless you’ve been told otherwise by your recipient. It’s always better to be a little more formal than to be too informal.

Write a succinct email. If you need to explain a lot of backstory or have complex questions, then it may be best to request a phone/Zoom appointment to discuss them. Explaining what you hope to discuss will help you both prepare.

End the email with your name. This clues your recipient in on how to address you when they reply, especially if your preferred name is different from how your name appears on your email.

Re-read your email to check the tone. You don’t want to come off as demanding or too abrupt. “I’d like to schedule a time to talk,” is still brief and much more professional than “We need to talk.” It can help to save a draft and re-read a little later, or have someone look it over for you.

Proofread carefully. Check your grammar, spelling, and punctuation; you want to capitalize appropriately, and not use all-caps or all-lowercase. Emoticons or text message style (“R U free @ 12?”) are too informal.

Be patient. Email is asynchronous, and your recipient may need time to thoughtfully respond or find the answer to your question. Allow at least 24-28 hours for a reply, and longer if it’s the weekend. If you haven’t heard back in over 3-4 business days, then send a polite follow-up email, including your original email in the thread.


Zoom

Check your tech. If possible, get settled into your space 5 minutes early. Test your microphone, camera, and sound to make sure everything is working properly. Close any extraneous programs that might disrupt your stream, overload your bandwidth, or be inappropriate if they interrupted your meeting (e.g. YouTube videos, games, etc.)

Come prepared. Have a notebook and pen handy to write notes, and a list of questions/topics you want to make sure get covered. Typing your notes may be picked up by your microphone and make it hard to hear others.

Mute in large group calls. If you aren’t muted, then every little noise will be streamed to your meeting and the video may even switch to you. If your meeting has a lot of attendees, or people are presenting, then mute helps to ensure you don’t distract or steal the limelight.

Unmute too. If you are about to speak, check that your microphone is unmuted, or you may start giving a brilliant response that no one will hear.

Smile! If possible, put a light source in front of you rather than behind you; this will help ensure you are well-lit. Look into the camera in order to maintain eye contact, even though it’s tempting to look at the participants or yourself instead. Be mindful of your clothing choices, too. If you’re attending a videoconference for a course, choose clothes you’d wear to class.