Today, the bulk of our communication seems to take place online. If you work for a school or organization with entrenched communications policies, this post isn’t for you. However, if your organization provides no guidelines for communicating with learners and their support networks, read on! In this post I’ll provide four tips for ensuring the lines of communication are clear for students and boundaries are preserved for instructors.

Designate weekly office hours. Set aside specific hours each week for responding to non-urgent emails and phone calls. Block this time in your calendar so that other tasks don’t interfere with this work. As an educator, you may find it hard to fit in this time during your workday. If necessary, set aside some time outside of the school day. Dedicating fifteen minutes a week to this work can go a long way towards keeping your inbox clear and keeping you organized.

Communicate your availability and response times to learners and their support networks. Here, it’s important to under promise and over deliver. If you have strict boundaries such as never checking email or returning calls on weekends, make these boundaries clear in a respectful yet assertive manner.

Don’t waste time developing email text for each individual email you receive. Instead, develop a collection of canned messages for emails that don’t require in-depth responses. Lots of examples can be found online.

Consider developing a proactive communication plan to preempt common communication mishaps. For example, if you have a classroom blog or webpage, keep it stocked with all the important tidbits learners and their support networks will need to know.