What's the point?

Originally published in edublogs, Writing for Learner Engagement. Part of the Class Home Room Blog from a course at the U of T. Posted under Always Something More to Learn, URL

I tend to write longer, block paragraphs of text. My style includes a wall of text. I struggle between being direct, getting straight to the point, vs. being verbose, but perhaps with a friendlier tone.

Because of this, one of my strategies for writing email is to capture the key point first, and then go back and add some of the filler. The part of the message that makes it more personalized, welcoming, more authentic. 

My first step is to highlight key messages, especially points that I think will be confusing. Here’s an example for a recent email that I sent to a group of learners. In the email, I had embedded a poll that is built into Outlook. I assumed that many of my leaners would have never used it before. Figuring out what to click on is a bit confusing. 

Here’s the email text:

I have created a poll for our next session. You have two options:

• If you can attend on March 1st at 3:30, then ignore. 
• Not available or would prefer to attend at another time, respond to the poll. Click on 3 options to vote in the poll below.

Because of the yellow highlighter, these two points should be the very first thing that the learner sees when they open the email. It is also helpful with email to put the action item in the subject line.

Vote now! Options for our next meeting.