EDUCAUSE Quarterly Articles and E-mail and Messaging

The rush to use text messaging as an emergency notification system fails to consider the weaknesses and potential hazards of this solution.

The following exploratory study investigated email communication between faculty and undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Factors related to email behavior, expectations, and influence on instructional outcomes were explored through an electronic survey of undergraduate students and faculty.  Results in this first study indicate that although faculty and students share similar ideas about the use of email in academia and recognize the potential of email communication as a means for enhancing instructional outcomes, it is not typically used for such purposes.  Although additional research at other universities is necessary, preliminary data analysis and discussion follow including initial suggestions on improving faculty and student email communication as well as enhancing scholarly discourse and instructional outcomes via electronic mail.

Five-year trends revealed by an annual residence hall survey help campus technology planning.

A pilot study of text messaging explored its usefulness in enhancing social presence and communication in online courses.

Despite students' connected lifestyle, colleges and universities often fail to reach them with timely and relevant information.

A study of student IM usage reveals many advantages and some obstacles to using IM as a classroom communication tool.

The use of nonverbal elements in text-based virtual interactions provides participants with some of the richness of real-time, face-to-face interactions.