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Electronic Communication with Students

The University of Michigan-Dearborn is committed to using available technology to communicate among members of the campus community. It recognizes an expanding reliance on electronic communication among students, faculty, staff and the administration due to the convenience, speed, cost effectiveness, and environmental advantages it provides. The University has developed an Electronic Communication Policy and  Procedures for Electronic Communication with Students to define the proper use of electronic communications with students. This documentation outlines recommended criteria and procedures for using the online process for student emails.

GENERAL POLICIES PROCEDURES
AUTHORIZING STUDENT EAMILS
LIST OF APPROVAL AUTHORITIES
WHO CAN USE THE ONLINE PROCESS?
GETTING ACCESS TO THE ONLINE SYSTEM
BEFORE SENDING A MASS EMAIL TO STUDENTS
SPECIFYING STUDENT GROUPS
USING THE ONLINE ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

GENERAL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Campus policies and procedures regulating student emails have been published, and apply to all staff and faculty communicating electronically with student groups. In summary:

  1. All admitted students will be issued UM-Dearborn email accounts and notified of University policies related to use of computing resources.
  2. The University will direct all official communications to this address. Email must be consistent with FERPA regulations, and may not contain sensitive or confidential information unless an appropriate level of security is used. Do not assume that email is private and confidential.
  3. Students are responsible for reading their University email on a regular basis. Students may elect to forward their UM-Dearborn email to an alternate address, but do so at their own risk. Failure to receive or read notifications in a timely manner does not release the student from the obligation of knowing and complying with its contents.
  4. Broadcast emails are those messages sent to all students. They fall into two categories:
    • Emergency - health or safety messages will be sent to all students by Campus Safety, in consultation with the appropriate senior officer.
    • Required University Communications - Registration and Records will maintain responsibility and control for managing messages which are time sensitive and limited to critical information applicable to all students.
    • Coordinated emails may be issued on a regular basis (e.g., weekly, monthly, quarterly), and can include a consolidated index of required messages from departments.
  5. Targeted emails are those communications sent to groups of students who share common interests or characteristics (e.g., students in a specified major, financial aid recipients, or members of a student organization).
    • All targeted messages should be specific to the needs of the department and the students.
    • Academic and business units should make every effort to limit the number of messages sent to groups of students. As a general guideline, it would be appropriate to send a targeted email when a written letter would have been sent previously by postal delivery.
  6. Two types of lists may be used for email communications with students.
    • Managed - listserves to a known group of students will be managed based on the scope of the group. Examples include faculty managing class emails or academic departments maintaining a managed list of students majoring in a given discipline.
    • Join-In - lists that encourage students to voluntarily subscribe or unsubscribe should be the preferred method for communicating with students who do not fall into a defined group. Examples include Career Services newletters.
  7. Images and attachments will not be included in group emails. Instead, enhanced content or documents should be placed on a web site, with the link included in the body of the email message.

AUTHORIZING STUDENT EMAILS

A high level authority in each department or unit is responsible for emails sent to large groups of students. Their approval is required for messages originating within their area, as well as external messages targeting their students. The position should be appropriate for the level of distribution. They will authorize employee(s) in their area to use the online process and send student emails.

  1. EMAILS TO ALL STUDENTS IN A SCHOOL OR COLLEGE - Deans (or their designee) can approve emails to all students in their school or college.
  2. EMAILS TO STUDENTS IN DESIGNATED MAJORS - Department chairs can approve emails to all students in their designated major.
  3. BUSINESS EMAILS - Directors can approve business emails to designated groups of students.
  4. EMERGENCY MESSAGES - Campus Safety and/or appropriate Senior Officer can approve emergency messages.
  5. BUSINESS OR ACADEMIC MESSAGES TO ENTIRE STUDENT POPULATION - Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs 

WHO CAN USE THE ONLINE PROCESS?

Employee(s) in each academic and business unit will be designated by their Dean, Department Chair, or Director, and will have authority to access the system and send emails in their areas.

                Getting Access to the Online System:

 

  • Complete the online authorization form for Employee Access to Online System for Electronic Communication with Students. An email will be sent to your department high level authority asking them to approve your use of the online student email system.
  • Once ITS receives approval from the department authority, you will be added to the group of employees who can access the online system. You will be required to login with your uniqname and Dearborn password each time you want to send a mass email to students. You will be responsible for obtaining approval from your department authority for any mass emails sent to students.

 

BEFORE SENDING A MASS EMAIL TO STUDENTS

Before originating a mass email, determine if it is absolutely necessary. If every unit sends frequent or multiple email messages to large groups of students, it will quickly be perceived as "spam mail". Once students decide that the volume of "official" email is too much, they will pay less attention and may miss critical notifications. Consider the following:

  • Previously, would this information have been sent by postal mail? If it was important enough to pay postage for delivery, it probably warrants going out as a mass email.
  • Does the email message have timed significance? In other words, does it involve a deadline that requires speedy notification to students? If the answer is yes, then it may be appropriate to send as a mass email. However, if it is something that can be posted on a website, bulletin board, or article in the Journal - it is probably not advisable to send by email.
  • Does the email contain critical University information? If yes, it should be sent by email.

Prior to sending a large group email to students, obtain approval from necessary authority(s).

  • Emergency Messages - Campus Safety and/or appropriate Senior Officer
  • Business or academic messages to all students - Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs
  • Messages to all students in a school or college - Dean
  • Messages to students in an academic department - Department Chair
  • Business emails - Department director

Specifying Student Groups

  • Each academic and business unit will notify Information Technology Services and define the groups of students that they will typically be communicating with (i.e., all students in a major, all FTIACs in a college, all members of a student organization).
  • ITS will write a query to generate the most current list of students in Banner that meet those parameters. The queries will be available to authorized senders who have logged into the system.
  • Standard lists with the most commonly used groups will be automatically prepared by ITS.
  • Ad hoc lists can be requested from ITS, but will require a minimum 48 hours to process. An email can be sent to telstarreq(at)umd.umich.edu or helpdesk(at)umd.umich.edu.

USING THE ONLINE ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

    1. To login to the student email system go to http://www.its.umd.umich.edu/tmail/login.pl. The following screen will appear. Type in your uniqname and your Dearborn password. Click .

    2. The following screen will appear. Only those areas that you have received clearance for will appear in the list. If there's more than one area listed, Select the office or unit that you wish to send an email from. Click .

    3. The following screen will appear. Based on the office that you have chose, and the mailing lists that have been created for that office, Select the name of the group you wish to send an email to. Click .

    4. The following screen will appear. This screen will give you the total number of students the email will be sent to, along with a sampling of those students. This will allow you to verify the information to make sure that the information is correct. If there is a problem with the data, you need to stop at this point by simply closing the website and making whatever corrections to the data that are necessary. If you think the problem lies in the query that pulls the data, then close the website and contact ITS to discuss the needed changes. Once the necessary corrections have been made, you can begin with step #1. If no changes are necessary and you are satisfied that the information provided is correct, click .

    5. The following screen will appear. This screen allows you to type in the information necessary to send the message.
      a. Reply to - If you wish the message responses to go someone other than the department listed in the From field, type the alternate name in the Reply to field.
      b. Expire Unread Message - The system will automatically remove this message from a student's inbox if it has not been read within a specific timeframe. Select one of the standard expiration periods or enter a specific expiration date.
      c. Subject - Type in the Subject of the message.
      d. Message Text - Type in the Message Text.
      e. Click .

    6. This screen will appear. If you are satisfied that all the information is correct, click . If you wish to make changes, click .

    7. Again, the message preview screen will appear. Make the necessary changes. When you are satisfied that the message is correct, click .

    8. The following screen will appear indicating that your message has been added to the mail queue and will be sent shortly. You may now close the website. If you need to stop the message that was just sent, contact ITS. If the message is still in the queue ITS can delete it.