Education counselor role in Air Force education office communications

Business Communication

Email is widely used as a form of business communication and overall it is a highly effective communication tool. As difficult as verbal communication may be, written communication in any forum is even more so. Each time, a person interacts communication occurs. In the absence of face-to-face communication, many professionals rely upon gaining one's interest via written form, such as memos, emails, or proposals (Campanizzi, 2005). Email is inexpensive, only requiring an Internet connection that is generally already present in the business. Although a printout of emails is possible, emails often stay as soft copies because archiving and retrieving email communications is easy to do. Insomuch, such form of communication should be carefully assessed as to the intent of the message, as well as how it will be received and perceived. Perceptions are realities, whereby presentation is everything. With such high stakes, careful construction should be given to ensure the intended message written is the one actually received by its target audience.

Routine Email Example #1

Dear Jane Doe,

Welcome to the Bachelors of Arts Program, and congratulations on your decision to further your education. I hope you are as pleased to receive this letter, as I am to send it. As your Enrollment Counselor of the Air Force Education Office, I am committed to your academic success and will do everything in my power to make this experience a smooth process. Your graduation team will be with you every step of the way. Your journey starts with:

Academic Success Orientation (ASO/100)

Academic Success Orientation (ASO) is a one week non-credit course. ASO is an instructor-facilitated workshop that will introduce you to the online tools and resources vital to your success in the program. The course will involve two to three activities each day designed to familiarize you with the online learning systems and your student website. Participation is expected for ALL learners, plus this will ensure a smooth transition to COM/105.

Communication Strategies (COM/105)

COM/105 is a foundation-building three-week one-credit course designed to introduce you to advanced communication strategies. COM/105 employs a formative, rather than summative, assessment of your preparedness for academic learning and writing. Assignments throughout the course build on one another and enable you to transition to critical-level inquiry.

IMPORTANT NOTE: COM/105 is a qualifying course. Your official admittance into your bachelor's program is contingent on passing COM/105 with a grade of B. Or higher (84 points or higher out of a total possible 100 points in the class).

I realize that much information was provided, so please take time to read this email carefully, and should you have any questions, do not hesitate to call or email me. I am your advocate, and I am here to ensure that you succeed in your program.

Once again, congratulations! I look forward to working with you throughout your academic journey.

Goodwill Email Example #2

Dear Team,

As your Education Counselor, I desire to see everyone succeed! Because of my observations, in addition to some emails sent to me by team members, this email is to address the entire team... The team is experiencing some difficulties, causing some members to feel frustration. We all have busy lives and responsibilities. However, we when enroll in a course, this denotes our commitment to the efforts needed to finish the course.

Learning Teams mirror workplace teams. We are faced with this issue and have to resolve it within our teams. Working in teams can be extremely frustrating especially when expectations have been given and not adhered to. This was the purpose of the Team Charter. Some teams experience many challenges with some members, by trying to make up for the deficiencies. Some teams have to work harder to achieve some level of synergy. It takes willing individuals to work together for the benefit of the team. The responsibility lies within the team to close the feedback loop ensuring all team members have completed all portions of the assignment. I understand the team's frustration, but please keep in mind, a student can miss up to 50 pts for the course and still earn an A-.

Each member brings to the table diverse perspectives and approaches to a task or assignment. The challenge is adapting to this environment, gaining team consensus, and working towards the benefit of group. Team synergy is the collective sum of the whole team is greater than its individual members. If there is a weak link in the chain, then the whole chain is weak. As in the workplace, performance gaps need to be addressed as a team. Additionally, in the workplace, there are those who simply do not want to play and will make the team experience very difficult. In the midst of adversity, the team leader must ensure the goals are met. Let us pull together, as everyone demonstrates synergy for the remainder of the course.

Summary Explanation

For the most part, business emails should be concise and to the point (Christensen, 2003). Use plain text and common fonts with a simple signature line. Fancy graphics, fonts, and backgrounds can take up unnecessary storage space in the recipient's inbox and may load slowly, or not at all. Additionally, it is important to focus on one topic in a business email and write only the things that are appropriate for anyone to read, as email forwarding makes it possible for originally unintended parties to receive the email (Jerz, 2000). Proper grammar and spelling is very important in business emails because it reflects on you and your abilities. Before one may start to write, think about the intended audience. Define one's target audience and decide what is the most critical information or highlights deemed necessary. For example, if one was conducting a presentation and was instructed to complete it in five minutes, one had better curtail his or her sales pitch; otherwise, one would be shown the door or lose the opportunity for a sale.