Communicating through E-mail
I am happy to communicate through email, and I strongly encourage you to use your BCC email account. When emailing your instructors, peers, administrators and staff, please keep the following Email Etiquette in mind:
- First, make sure what you want to communicate is best suitable for an email exchange. Remember that your college email account is an official college record.
- Make sure what you are about to ask or comment on in your email is not addressed on the course site and syllabus. Asking a professor to go over a content that is already available on your course site or syllabus makes you look like you are not a serious student and only harms your cause. If after going over the content you still have questions, by all means, do ask them!
- Type a clear, informative and succinct Subject Line and always include BCC Art 87.
- Use a salutation. Instead of jumping right into your message or saying “hey,” begin with a greeting like “Dear” or “Hi,” and then address the person by the appropriate title and last name, such as “Prof. Jacques” or “Ms. Cardoso.” I welcome you to use my first name: “Claudia”.
- Use traditional rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation in your message. Read your email aloud to proofread the message yourself, as spell check won’t catch everything.
- Please avoid acronyms or abbreviate words for convenience. Use complete sentences and only standard abbreviations. http://abbreviations.yourdictionary.com/articles/list-of-commonly-used-abbreviations.html.
- Do NOT send file attachments through email that are over 250 kb. If you are not sure what the file size is, don’t send it. All artwork should be posted to your e-portfolio and you can send me a link to the image page. You can also text me a file if you want me to check your work. Reading posts should be embedded in Blackboard’s editor.
- Finalize your email with a signature. Instead of concluding with “Sent from my iPhone” or nothing at all, include a signature, such as “Thanks”, “Best” or “Sincerely,” followed by your name (first and last). Please include your class name, reference number, semester and year the first time you contact me through email.
If you have any questions or need assistance throughout the semester or miss a class, I encourage you to set up an appointment by email at claudia.jacques-de-moraes-cardoso@bcc.cuny.edu to meet me. I check email frequently, but always allow 48-hours for a response. Please plan accordingly!
Communicating through text message
I am also happy to communicate through text message to more quickly give you feedback on assignments, and clarify concepts that you do not understand, but again, please be aware of the following texting protocol:
- Make sure what you are about to ask is NOT addressed in the course site, project specifications or syllabus.
- Please do NOT call my cell phone number unless I specifically instructed you to do so.
- Always, start your text message with your name and class reference. – bcc art 87. This way I know whom I am talking to.
- Please avoid abbreviations. If I can’t understand what you are communicating, I can’t help you.
- I am very prompt but please do allow me time to answer your text message. It will be faster than email but I have a very busy life and I may be tied up for hours before I can give you feedback. Again, plan accordingly!
- I am constantly editing and improving our course site. I count on you to give me feedback on any broken links, missing content or discrepancy that you come across. Please text me as soon as possible with an URL link to where you encountered the issue or do a print screen of the issue and where I can find it. This way I can fix it right away!
- Any other information related to you, a class or the course that does not involve a specific assignment or content should be done through your BCC’s email.
If you haven’t received a response within 48 hours, feel free to follow up with a second email or text message as I may have missed your communication.