All Ages Email and learning

R

remnant

Legacy Member
Email has gained a traction with the advent of the digital revolution and new frontiers of its application are being developed. One well known application is email marketing. I suppose emails can be used for teaching through correspondence especially at secondary school level since they are easy to compose and cheap to use. This would not only shorten learning time but also cut costs.
 
Email marketing isn't what it used to be, it isn't as welcomed as it was in the past. There was a time that people would even be happy if they received spam, that just meant that they received something. I can see how sending students extra work through their e-mail could really benefit them.
 
I'm not sure I agree with you on that account. Emails are useful for correspondence but they don't make for effective learning tools unless you're in graduate or postgraduate school, where students are free to learn at their own pace and style as long as they comply with course requirements.
 
Hmmm... I remember back in college that my professor in research would email us the details of what we're supposed to do. In a way, it's easier because we don't have to go to school to know what are the supposed assignments. First, she asked us for our emails and told us that we would receive our assignments through it. So really, there is no excuse to go to school without any assignments to homework done.

That was the time when Facebook wasn't even that popular. I imagine now that there are other ways of communicating with students aside from emails. Although yeah, I benefited from it so I won't be against the use of emails and learning in school.
 
Emails aren't learning tool unless you sign up for an educational newsletter. Anymore, emails are used for quick correspondence or the transfer of documents. Sometimes, we don't even need an email to do that. "Quick, hop on voice chat and scan me that doc with this here app!"

There's also Blackboard-like websites that allow for online learning, using emails solely for announcements.
 
I have a slightly alternative view. An educator could be handling a small group of learners. The content to be taught or the general learning instructions could be embedded in the body of the emails including attachments. If the educator is handling a larger group of learners, he or she can instruct them to forward the emails to each other. This would save one from having to pay for autoresponder services.
 
remnant said:
I have a slightly alternative view. An educator could be handling a small group of learners. The content to be taught or the general learning instructions could be embedded in the body of the emails including attachments. If the educator is handling a larger group of learners, he or she can instruct them to forward the emails to each other. This would save one from having to pay for autoresponder services.
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Ah, see, now when you look at it from that angle, email can certainly be considered an educational tool! Examples of what to do and what not to do--let's use your example of email marketing--can easily be sent around the classroom (physical or virtual) and displayed right within the actual format. Students could then see what makes a strong, persuasive newsletter as opposed to one that turns people away. Plus, as you send, this would be budget friendly, please the emails could be archived or even saved as a e-textbook of sorts that the students would forever have on hand.

Definitely got my brain working on how to make emails more intriguing even from an ESL perspective. Thanks.
 
remnant said:
I have a slightly alternative view. An educator could be handling a small group of learners. The content to be taught or the general learning instructions could be embedded in the body of the emails including attachments. If the educator is handling a larger group of learners, he or she can instruct them to forward the emails to each other. This would save one from having to pay for autoresponder services.
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Good point remnant. Emails if can be used even as a tool to expand the process initiated in the classroom. It would act as a natural extension of it.

In these modern times almost everyone connected to the internet has an email account. Many may even prefer to share their e-mail account rather than their username on facebook or other social networks because of the other personal information that is hosted there. (some students may -understandbly- want their teacher(s) not to see such a side of their lives).

Email would be the perfect spot to share information for integration with regular classes. It can fulfill the role of a bi-directional way of communication (so the teacher can receive feedback), and the student provides only the minimum necessary to enjoy being part of it... without revealing too much.
 
There are much better options out there now. Dropbox or other sites similar to it are far better to give students study material then sending it through a e-mail. E-mails still are used by business but there are far better options for educational purposes.
 
There are many approaches to education and we've come very far. In the past we wouldn't rely on technology because we didn't have it, now that we have it we rely too much on it; the fact is that whether it's email learning or online learning, it's good as long as students are encouraged to learn in any way possible; it's not only about the means to an end but also about the content that is being taught/learnt.
 
AntonioCalcano said:
There are many approaches to education and we've come very far. In the past we wouldn't rely on technology because we didn't have it, now that we have it we rely too much on it; the fact is that whether it's email learning or online learning, it's good as long as students are encouraged to learn in any way possible; it's not only about the means to an end but also about the content that is being taught/learnt.
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That is certainly true, we are living in a very interesting era were you have access to images about practically anything. This is something we very often didn't have in the past. This should always be a determining factor when thinking about the content of what is being taught.
 
Alright, this sounds very unorthodox but, I don't think Email is a learning tool, at all. It's just a means for communication and file sharing. Think of it as the text message feature in your phone but with an even larger file capacity and features. I wouldn't consider email marketing an educational tool either; it's just an avenue institutions use to invite people to a certain activity, or to tell them about something. In this case, it isn't a learning tool (since no actual learning is taking place and there's no way to assess an email reader's performance), all it is, once again, is a communications too. Furthermore, if it is used for this purpose, email marketing is not a learning tool, and it is flatly, a marketing tool.
 
AntonioCalcano said:
There are many approaches to education and we've come very far. In the past we wouldn't rely on technology because we didn't have it, now that we have it we rely too much on it; the fact is that whether it's email learning or online learning, it's good as long as students are encouraged to learn in any way possible; it's not only about the means to an end but also about the content that is being taught/learnt.
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Exactly!
 
I disagree, emails promotes no discussion like a forum or bulletin board, plus a lot is lost if all mails are not forwarded to all the people involved, if the teacher answers an question that one student had via email the rest of the class is unable to benefit from the answer and the teacher may end up having to answer the same question 3 times or more, with a discussion board if a single person asks the question everybody benefits form the answer and even discussion is promoted. You do have email lists where basically "threads" are formed that everybody can read, but it is difficult, for instance, to search those emails for keywords or for previous answers or topics like you can do on message boards.

The younger generation considers email archaic anyway, they are more social media, interacting and sharing everything with everybody types.
 
Email on its own is perfect cause it can be used for educational purposes or for spamming someone so the best thing to do is to eneble span extention blocker on chrome or download the apk app that is just the best way to enjoy using email.
 
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