Electronic mail, typically referred to as e-mail, can be used to expedite communication of class-related information to your students. The type of information that can be conveyed is quite varied, and includes giving assignments and making announcements, confidentially posting scores and grades, providing individual students narrative feedback about test results and assignments, asking selected students to meet with you, and even communicating your praise or concern about the accomplishments of all students that match a characteristic you specify. E-mail can deliver information to students quickly and can provide more class time for instruction. Significant components of these e-mail procedures are automated, allowing you to increase the amount of feedback you provide students without substantially increasing the amount of time required for preparation.

This paper describes some of the types of course-related information you can communicate to students using e-mail, and shows how to implement these procedures within the Windows 95 environment. These procedures can be used with any Internet service provider. Students must have access to e-mail, however they can use their existing or new e-mail addresses from any combination of service providers.

Information Conveyed Through E-Mail

E-mail messages are typically sent to one person at a time. The procedures described here, however, involve sending e-mail simultaneously to a number of individuals, such as all students enrolled in your class. In essence, the Internet is used to efficiently deliver a form letter to each student. All the form-letter sophistication that is available through word-processing software can be brought to bear on controlling the content of this e-mail. Obviously, a form letter can be used to deliver the same text to multiple individuals, often with variables inserted within the text. In instructional settings, these variables might include numerical scores on tests and assignments as well as extended comments related to an assignment or other topic. It is also possible to automatically insert entire sentences or paragraphs whenever a student matches conditions you specify. Although a form letter is involved, the proportion of content that is constant across all students can be minimal. In fact, whether or not a student even receives the e-mail can be controlled using criteria you specify. Information conveyed to each student reflects and is controlled by the data you enter into a spreadsheet. This spreadsheet can also serve other administrative functions such as combining your scores and assigning grades.

Figure 1 illustrates some of the types of information e-mail can provide students. This particular e-mail message is one of the weekly form letters I send to students enrolled in an introductory statistics course. To help describe some of the flexibility available within a form letter, content in Figure 1 that is variable across students is underlined. The actual e-mail does not make visible to the student the distinction between fixed and variable content.

As illustrated in the figure, scores on quizzes and assignments can be formatted as a table. When elements within the table are known by students in advance, such as dates assignments are due, the table can easily be reused in each e-mail to reduce the time required for building subsequent messages. In this particular class, I base final grades in part on a weighted average of scores on the quizzes and assignments. Students therefore appreciate receiving a running average of these scores.

In Figure 1, the paragraph that follows the quiz scores was printed for all students who matched a condition, in this case, obtained a score on the fourth quiz three or more points lower than the current average. Similarly, the first sentence within the paragraph that follows the scores on written assignments depends on the current average of assignment scores. This particular sentence was printed whenever the average score was between 8.5 and 9.5. Alternate sentences could be inserted for other ranges of scores.

For:Rebecca Adams

YOUR SCORES ON QUIZZES:

Date:	9/2	9/16	10/9	10/25
Average Score:	9	10	9.5	8.5

Rebecca, your score on the last quiz was considerably below your typical performance. Please send me a brief e-mail or stop by during office hours to let me know if there is any problem we should address. This is not a major concern, but I would like to help make sure you continue doing well.

YOUR SCORES TO DATE ON THE WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

Date Due:	9/4	9/16	10/2	10/14	10/21	11/6	11/13	11/25	12/2
Average Score:	10	9	9	9.3

The overall quality of your work on assignments has been good. Here is some feedback regarding your last assignment: Nice job! Your explanations show that you have good insights and are able to express yourself clearly. Regarding item 12, a high correlation does not indicate one variable CAUSES the other. We will discuss this Monday in class.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Wednesday, October 16: Chapter 8 (Sections 8.1-8.11, 8.15-8.19)

Wednesday, October 23: Chapter 9 (all sections)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

Monday, October 14: Chapter 7, problems 1-8, 11-17, 19-24

Monday, October 21: Chapter 8, problems 1-5, 10-12, 17, 18, 21

COMPUTER PROJECTS: You should complete Exercise 4 by October 21. Note that the syllabus indicates your project notebook is to be turned in Monday, October 28, with Exercises 1 through 5 completed.

The next e-mail is scheduled for Friday morning, October 18. As always, questions and suggestions are welcome during class or by sending me e-mail. I will acknowledge all e-mail received but may have to answer questions during class. Thanks for your the quality of your work throughout our course.

Albert Oosterhof

Figure 1. Illustration of variable message to students.

The paragraph that follows the assignment scores also contains a comment written for Rebecca after evaluating her assignment. Different comments were written for each student. I do not use class time to return students' assignment papers. Instead, students are asked to make a photocopy of their work. When assignments are scored, comments are written into the spreadsheet rather than on the papers. In large-enrollment classes, teaching assistants can separately score assignments and write comments that are pasted into the spreadsheet prior to sending the e-mail. In addition to saving class time by using e-mail to distribute feedback, comments can be typed more quickly than if written by hand. Furthermore, when the instructor's handwriting matches that of a stereotypic physician writing a prescription, students appreciate being provided typed rather than hand-written comments. Students also tend to receive feedback more quickly when distributed through e-mail rather than during a subsequent class. Although students have a photocopy of their assignment for reference, comments have to be worded so they are still meaningful when not written directly on the assignment paper.

Specific information conveyed to students by e-mail depends largely on needs of the instructor and the students. E-mail can be used to convey announcements and feedback. The message can request specific actions of students matching a particular condition. The use of e-mail appears to represent an acceptable option for conveying private information to students such as test scores and grades. By moving the distribution of exam scores away from class time, it provides students more time to mentally change gears, which is sometimes problematic when test results are distributed in class immediately before moving into the next unit of instruction. My experience has been that students perceive this use of e-mail as efficient, useful, and personal.

Producing and Sending the E-Mail
Producing and sending the e-mail involves three separate softwares: a word processor that is used to create the form letter, a spreadsheet program that contains information included in the message sent to each student, and an e-mail reader that sends the respective form letters to students. For the word processor and spreadsheet programs, I use Microsoft Word 7.0 and Excel 7.0, which are available individually or packaged together in Microsoft Office. To send the e-mail, I use Microsoft Exchange, which in a recent update is now called Windows Messaging and is included with Windows 95.

Creating Student Records
The first step in producing and sending e-mail to the class involves using the spreadsheet program to create student records. The spreadsheet in essence becomes a two-dimensional table in which the rows correspond to students and the columns are variables such as each student's name, scores on assignments and tests, and comments you wish to make to individual students.

Column headings are entered in the first row of the spreadsheet in order to give names to each variable. It is best to make these names brief yet descriptive such as "Assignment 4" or something like "Correlation Problems." To conserve horizontal space within the spreadsheet, column headings can be displayed "on end" or vertically. To accomplish this in Excel, first highlight the cells containing the column headings and select Cells within the Format menu. Within the Format Cells dialog window, select the Alignment tab and choose the orientation you desire.

When working with student data, it is useful to "freeze" the column headings you entered in the first row. This way, column headings remain visible even as you scroll down through the list of students. To freeze the column headings, first highlight the first row by clicking to the far-left in the margin, then select Freeze Panes within the Window menu. You can use this procedure to freeze (or unfreeze) one or more rows and/or columns within the spreadsheet.

Student names, e-mail addresses, scores, and comments are all entered as variables. I prefer entering students' first and last names in separate but adjacent columns. This way, the spreadsheet program can be used to sort students alphabetically by last name, yet names can still be displayed first name first within reports and student messages.

Each student's e-mail address must be entered in the spreadsheet in order to send the messages to students. If class enrollment is small, you can ask each student to send you an e-mail, which automatically identifies their return address. With Exchange, you can cut and paste each addresses from the received mail into the Excel spreadsheet. For a larger class, it usually is easier to ask students to write their name and address on a sign-up sheet and manually type this information into Excel. You may wish to send a short trial message to all students after addresses have been recorded. This verifies the functioning of the message system as well as the accuracy of e-mail addresses.

Scores, comments, and other student information are entered as they become available. New columns generally can be added as needed in the spreadsheet, although you should anticipate eventual needs and likewise plan how these columns should be grouped. One column is required for each variable. Figure 2 illustrates a portion of such a spreadsheet.

1	A	B	I	J	K	S	T	U	V	W
2	9	10	8.5	10	9.3	Nice job! Your explanations show that y Rebecca Adams 76543.12234@compuserve.
3	8	10	7.9	8	8.4	Quite good, but you need to address th James Bass JBass@aol.com
4	7	6	7.1	6	7.6	Your work on this 3rd assignment is the Amy Cummings arc1453@mailer.fsu.edu

Figure 2. Entries in a spreadsheet used to control message content.

If your e-mail messages to students are to include computed summary information such as totaled or averaged scores, these computed variables will have to be included in the spreadsheet as separate columns. These computations involve the use of "formulas" and "functions" and are easy to implement within Excel. For example, in Figure 2, Rebecca's average score on the quizzes (the average of cells A through I within row 2) was obtained by entering "=average(A2:I2)" into cell J2. In one quick action, this formula for computing the average can be copied into the corresponding cells for all other students. Use the Help menu in Excel for details concerning formulas, functions, and copying cells.

I have found it useful to devote only one column within the spreadsheet to comments. I do not retain these comments any longer than is necessary for including them in e-mail messages sent to the class. I write each comment directly into the spreadsheet when evaluating a student's work rather than writing the comment on the paper. With small classes, sorting students alphabetically is sufficient for quickly finding each student within the spreadsheet when writing comments. For larger classes, using the Control-F hot key makes it easy to find each student.

Obviously, some columns within the spreadsheet must be wider than others. Student names, for example require more width than test scores. Comments to students, such as those concerning an evaluated assignment, often require considerable space. The width of a column can be changed at any time. This allows increasing the width of the comment column when the comments are entered, and minimizing the column width after comments have been entered. With Excel, it is also possible to drag one column next to another. For instance, dragging the score column or comment column next to columns containing students' names facilitates accurate entry of information. The Help menus describe how to make these adjustments.

Student information recorded in the spreadsheet represents very important data. Not only does it provide information critical to the e-mail messages, it can also become your record book and facilitate the assignment of course grades. Always maintain a backup. The axiom pertaining to "when, not if, something goes wrong" applies here.

Creating the Message

The message that is e-mailed to each student is written using a word processor. I found that, at least initially, the easiest approach is to first type the entire message to a fictitious student. I enter made-up scores and comments to this make-believe student. Much like the illustration in Figure 1, I underline any text that eventually is to become a variable across students. For expediency, I use only zeros for numerical variables such as a test scores. To facilitate layout, one zero is used as a placeholder for each possible digit. For instance, if the maximum score is 100.0%, "000.0%" is entered. For variables that involved text, such as comments, I enter as a placeholder a title that describes the nature of the comment, such as "Comment to Student Concerning the Assignment," or "Comment Asking Student to Contact Me if Score on Quiz Is Low."

With Microsoft Word, the mail merge feature is used to enter variables into the message. Select Mail Merge within the Tools menu. In the Mail Merge Helper window, press the Create button under Main Document. Select Form Letters and press the Active Window button. You are returned to the Mail Merge Helper window where you press the Get Data button under Data Source and select Open Data Source. At the bottom-left corner of the Open Data Source window, "Word Documents" is listed as the default Files of type. Click on "Word Documents" to obtain a list of other options, and select MS Excel Worksheets. Using the file directory in the upper half of the Open Data Source window, find and open the Excel file that contains your student records. When asked to confirm data source, select MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (.xls). Within the small Microsoft Excel window, select Entire Spreadsheet. An inquiry window appears because merge fields have yet to be established in your message to students; press the Edit Main Document button to return to your message document.

The Mail Merge toolbar should appear when you return to the message document. You use the Insert Merge Field and Insert Word Field buttons on this toolbar to replace each of the placeholders in your message with actual student variables. To illustrate, the message in Figure 1 includes spaces for nine scores on written assignments. Within the Excel spreadsheet, the headings assigned to these scores are "Assignment 1" through "Assignment 9." To insert the score for Assignment 1, first use the mouse to highlight all the zeros serving as the placeholder for this score, press the Insert Merge Field button, and select Assignment 1 from the list of variables. This sequence is repeated for each of the variables.

When a variable is inserted into the message, its full name appears bracketed with double inequality signs. For instance, pressing Insert Merge Field and selecting "Assignment 1" from the variable list inserts "<<<<Assignment_1>>." These variable names can distort the horizontal spacing of your message. To preview the actual appearance of the message, press the ABC button to the right of the Insert Word Field button. This displays the actual contents of your message for one of your students. Press the ABC button again to redisplay the names of variables you have inserted.

Some entries are formed by combining variables. For example, the student's name and address at the top of Figure 1 incorporates First Name, Last Name, and E-Mail Address from the spreadsheet. A space is inserted between each variable. Because brackets are not part of the e-mail address within the spreadsheet, they are manually added with the keyboard.

Some of the variable comments to the student illustrated in Figure 1 are unique to the student, whereas others are included for all students that meet a particular criteria. For instance, the statement beginning with "Nice job! Your explanations show that" is unique for each student and is written in the spreadsheet. Because "Comment" is used in the spreadsheet as the name for this variable, the comment is inserted by placing the cursor at the appropriate point within the message, pressing the Insert Merge Field button, and selecting Comment from the list of variables.

A different procedure is used when the same sentence or paragraph is included for all students that meet a particular criteria. In Figure 1, "The overall quality of your work on assignments has been good." was inserted whenever the average score on the assignments exceeded 8.5. To enter such a comment, press the Insert Word Field button and select IfŠthenŠelseŠ. When the dialog window opens, pressing the entry under Field Name lists all the variables from which you can select. You select Assignment Average if that is the name associated with the average assignment score. Pressing the entry under Comparison lists various inequalities that can be used. Because the present comment is to be inserted if the average assignment score exceeds 8.5, Greater than is selected from the list, and 8.5 is entered in the Within the Compared To field. The sentence "The overall quality of your work on assignments has been good" is typed in the Insert This Text field since this is the message to be inserted when the average assignment score exceeds 8.5. In the present example, nothing is typed in the Otherwise Insert This Text field since no message is to be entered for students with an average score at or lower than 8.5.

Multiple comparisons can be used to control printing of comments, such as checking whether a score falls between two limiting values. Multiple comparisons require use of an additional variable within the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet program is used to set this additional variable to one value if the multiple conditions are met and to an alternate value if the conditions are not met. The IfŠthenŠelseŠ. option is then used to check the value of this additional variable.

The last step to creating the message to students is to check its appearance. As noted earlier, the ABC button to the right of the Insert Word Field button allows you to preview what your message will look like. It is also useful to take into account the mail readers your students will likely use. Many mail readers are quite primitive. For example, they often wrap text to the next line at whatever point the screen runs out of space, which is usually in the middle of a word. Some mail readers do not even wrap the text to the next line. With the diversity among mail readers, I have found it best to assume one is working with an old-fashion typewriter and make sure a "carriage-return" is added where you would like text breaks between lines. Asking students to show you their e-mail if it arrives poorly formatted will usually suggest what problems have to be addressed.

Sending the Messages

Mailing the messages to your students involves both the word processor and Microsoft Exchange (more recently called Windows Messaging). Exchange is a program included with Windows 95 that lets you send and receive e-mail and faxes. To access Exchange, double click the Inbox icon on the desktop. If this icon is not present, Exchange has yet to be installed. Detailed instructions for installing Exchange are available on the Web at http://www.windows95.com/connect/imail.html. This web site also provides a link for downloading the Microsoft Wizard that facilitates setting up Exchange to work with your Internet service provider.

With the Exchange program installed, the messages to students are mailed in two steps: Microsoft Word transfers the messages to Exchange which in turn e-mails the messages through your Internet service provider. To transfer the messages to Exchange, your message must be the active document in Word. Select Mail Merge within the Tools menu.

If you wish to send the e-mail to a subset of students, press the Query Options button at the bottom of the Mail Merge Helper window and then click on the Filter Records tab. The options are intuitive. Basically, you identify the variable within the spreadsheet that will be used to select students, and indicate what value this variable must obtain for a student to be selected. For example, to send e-mail only to students who have completed a particular assignment, you could use the query option to select only students whose score on that assignment is greater than zero. If your message is to be e-mailed to all students included in your spreadsheet, you do not use the query options.

Within the Mail Merge Helper window, press the Merge button to transfer student messages to Exchange. Click on the Merge To field for a list of options and select Electronic Mail. Select All within Records to Be Merged (even if a query option has been set), and select Don't print blank lines when data fields are empty. Then press the Setup button. Click on the field under Data Field with Mail/Fax Address and, from the list, select the heading in the spreadsheet that contains students' e-mail addresses. For the Mail Message Subject Line, type the entry you wish displayed on the subject line of students' e-mail. Leave unchecked the Send Document as an Attachment, and press OK. You are returned to the Merge dialogue window. Press the Merge button to transfer all the student messages to Exchange.

On the desktop, double-click on the Inbox icon to open Exchange. Your student messages are in the Outbox folder, and are mailed just like any other e-mail you send with Exchange. Use the Help menu to address questions you may have about sending messages. A copy of all e-mail is retained in the Sent Items folder.

Students seem to appreciate knowing when to expect class-related e-mail. This is particularly true of students who do not use their own computer but must depend on public terminals to access e-mail. I send an e-mail message each Thursday evening from home, and tell students they will find mail waiting for them first thing Friday morning. Occasionally a student has no practical access to e-mail, in which case I bring a paper copy of the message to class. The Query options described earlier can be used to select these students as long as they are identified in the spreadsheet. To created printed messages, merge to Printer rather than Electronic Mail.

In summary, through the use of a word processor and spreadsheet, e-mail can expedite communication with your students. The steps to sending separate messages to each student may seem numerous, but they are simple. With very little practice, the procedures become intuitive and efficient. The use of e-mail messages seems to encourage dialog with students, much of this in the form of e-mail initiated by the student. Within my messages, I encourage suggestions and questions about class, as well as reactions to what I say in my messages. I typically answer e-mailed questions about course material during class to keep my load reasonable. Furthermore, others in class tend to benefit from hearing answers to the questions. I always provide an e-mail response to acknowledge students' questions and express appreciation for their initiative. When sending e-mail to each other, students and I always use the course title for the subject line. This expedites handling of the mail since it makes is easy for them and me to quickly identify class-related material among the e-mail messages we receive.

Students provide substantial anecdotal evidence indicating they appreciate and benefit from the extended and timely feedback provided through the messages. At the conclusion of the term, a number of students send an e-mail message of their own expressing appreciation for the timely information they received through our regular e-mail messages.

Albert Oosterhof is a professor at Florida State University. His specialization is student assessment. He can be reached at aooster@garnet.acns.fsu.edu

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