Managing Email

We have gathered some useful and compelling resources for you in your efforts to better manage the increasing deluge of daily emails.

Remember to approach email with intentionality: what do you want? (Well, it's unlikely you will receive fewer emails, but what else?)

Helen and I definitely don't consider ourselves experts in this area of organizational management magic, but these are some resources that we have found immensely helpful.  Please use the comments to tell us what you like about these resources and what would help you continue to feel supported in the area of managing email. Thanks for engaging.


Video of Bruce Reeves, ITSS Interim Manager, discussing how he manages email.

"Managing Email with Gmail" training video.  Here are the basics.

6 Tips for Managing your Gmail, and Retaining your Sanity
by Gina Mariko Rosales, blogger from the Art of Hustle blog and Leadership Recruiting Coordinator at Google.

For perspective, Gina is also a dancer and "a self-proclaimed efficiency nerd." Going beyond the basics, these tips include archiving and filtering, but also how to set up multiple inboxes and search your emails effectively.


Last, but not least, remember that our email at UMD is in fact Gmail; this means it is a Google product and Google has devoted many useful pages to all the different facets you might be interested in using in your email interface.  All you have to do is Google search as you would for other purposes.  I recently searched "how to use tasks in Gmail" and got to this very useful page. Just using the "tasks" function has already shortened and made my Inbox more productive.  Just one example.

Share your examples of what you have tried in the comments below.

Technology-Enhanced Learning Opportunities for Spring Semester 2015

Welcome back for Spring 2015! Ready to further explore technology-enhanced learning (TEL)?  

Your TEL faculty fellows, Mitra Emad & Helen Mongan-Rallis, have planned two different types of learning opportunities for you this semester: a cohort style of sessions we’ll call the Flipped Classroom Community of Practice (FCCoP) and then a series of stand-alone Just-in-Time sessions. See details on these below.

Flipped Classroom Community of Practice (FCCoP)

Join with a cohort of colleagues from across campus to learn together and exchange ideas about Flipping your Classroom. (In a flipped classroom, “students gain first exposure to new material outside the class, usually via reading and/or lecture/videos, and then use class time to do the harder work of assimilating that knowledge, perhaps through problem-solving or debate” (see more at Flipping the Classroom from Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching and Learning). You will receive a separate email with more information on this FCCoP and an invitation to sign up to be a part of this Community of Practice.

Mark your calendars: In order for you to be able to join the FCCoP group, we ask that you commit to attending at least four of the 6 sessions. There will be six meetings of the group, on the following Tuesdays from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. in KPlz 175:

Feb 3

Feb 17

March 3

March 24

April 7

April 21

Just-in-Time Series

Come to these sessions to learn and share your experiences with an aspect of technology-enhanced learning, just in time to use it in class, to make a positive change in your daily work flow, or just to learn something new.  

Mark your calendars: For the Just-in-Time Series, we will meet on the following Tuesdays, 1:00 - 2:00pm in KPlz 175:

• Jan. 27: Managing Email
• Feb. 10: Organizing Google Drive
• Feb. 24: Learning the ropes on Google Calendar
• March 10: Teaching using Google Hangout
• March 31: Putting an hour/a module/a lesson online
• April 14: Different approaches to setting up a course on Moodle
• April 28: Online courses: where to start

Formats for these sessions will include small panel discussions, lightning talks, guest speakers, and fishbowls. We also plan to offer each session over Google Hangout (for up to 15 people), so that you can join from off campus (or even from your office).

Note: We will be maintaining a Teaching and Learning with Technology blog throughout the semester with information about the different sessions and links to resources used with each session. The blog also shows links to resources used in our Technology Enhanced Learning series from last semester.

Please contact Mitra (memad@d.umn.edu) or Helen (hrallis@d.umn.edu) with your questions.

Summary of details from UMD TETL series from Fall 2014

Beginning spring semester 2015 we (Mitra Emad and Helen Mongan-Rallis) will be using this blog to provide information about our TETL (Technology Enhanced Teaching & Learning) events for the semester. In this entry here we provide an overview of last semester's events along with links to resources that were shared at these sessions.

Fall 2014 Technology Enhanced Teaching & Learning series

Google Drive as a Collaborative Tool

• Presenters: Mitra Emad and Helen Mongan-Rallis. Wednesday 9/10, repeated Thursday 9/18.
• See Google Drive as a Collaborative Tool (COP 9-10-14) which is a Google doc created for this session providing guidelines and links to resources on using Google tools for teaching and learning

Devices in the Classroom: When & How?

• Featured guest speaker Dana Lindaman from Foreign Languages & Literatures. Thursday 10/2 3:00-4:00pm
• Featured guest speaker Jeanine Weekes Schroer from the Philosophy Department. Wednesday 9/24 3:00-4:00pm (see video recording of this session)
• See Google Presentation on Devices in the Classroom, which includes:
• a video of interviews with UMD faculty sharing their perspectives on using devices in the classroom (video created by Mitra Emad)
• links to a variety of resources providing different perspectives on using devices in the classroom

Googling It: Helping Students & Ourselves Figure out What is Any Good

• Featured guest speaker Jill Jenson, Faculty Liaison for Writing & Learning, UMD Writer's Workshop Wednesday 10/8 & Thursday 10/16
• See Resources from sessions on "Googling It: Helping students and Ourselves Figure Out What is Any Good" (this document, created by Jill Jensen, includes a wealth of annotated resources)

Curation: Using Online Tools to Keep Track of Everything.

• Featured guest speaker Abram Anders, assistant professor of business communication in LSBE. Thursday, 10/30  & Wednesday, 11/5 (See video recording of the 10/30 session)

So now what? Looking ahead to planning your Spring courses, f2f, online, hybrid courses and web-enhanced courses

• Presenters: Mitra Emad and Helen Mongan-Rallis. Thursday 11/13 & Wednesday 11/19

Flipping Out Over the Flipped Classroom?

• ELI (Educause Learning Initiative) special online webinar workshop (in addition to regular CoP sessions). Monday, December 1st, 2014. See details on Educause site.