By‌ ‌Sara‌ ‌Lao‌ ‌ ‌

We are currently in remote learning. Communication is even harder now. Students can’t talk to teachers in person anymore. “When/where do I ask questions?” A student might ask. “How do I know how students are doing in their academics?” A teacher might ask. Gmail is an awesome resource for connecting with friends, teachers, and staff during remote learning. But, do people actually use Gmail? What are some experiences CPM students, teachers, and staff have with Gmail? I decided to send out a google form with some questions regarding Gmail and emails. 84 students and 16 staff responded to the survey.

Based on the written response answers from students and staff it seems like there is a small group of students who do check there email regularly, but their seems to be content misunderstandings when using email for communication.“I am pleased that students are learning to reach out by email and will let me know when they need my help,” said Ms.Garrison. “I think its nice to use. One of the only problems is that sometimes teachers don’t respond, or give you the answer you are looking for.” (Anna Stewart) Some teachers have mentioned that some students don’t really check their emails or aren’t in the habit of replying, so it is difficult for staff to contact them.“I don’t think all students check their school emails so it is difficult when they don’t ever respond.” (Nancy Roma) While, teachers have said that students need to be more descriptive when writing emails to teachers.

“As a teacher, it is difficult to keep up with all of the communication that comes in our inboxes. For me, it is hard to organize all of the information consistently.“ (Ms.Shelley) “Keeping on top of them and responding. I teach at three schools so I get all staff emails from three places. I have to make sure to sort through and delete messages that don’t apply to me but make sure I don’t lose important messages.” (Ms.Reese) “It would really help if you created “labels” for each of your different classes and then color coordinate them. That way, when you get an email you can reply then move it to the matching label. This makes it easy to find things and helps your inbox not have 100 emails.” (Hope Seelye) “Setting up folders to sort through your messages can be hard at first, but once you do it, then it’s easy to organize your messages!” (Ms.Hyppa)

These are some struggles students have “ read an email, the next time I check my inbox, that email is unread again.” (Emelia Meyers) “I can’t tell if the person getting my email has opened/read my email, and long email threads are hard to read.” (Hannah Byun)