1.2 The three Cs: Clear, Concise and Consistent
Respecting students as readers of your writing means keeping communications clear, brief and logical.
Our aim is to communicate in a way that students can accurately interpret text with minimal effort, which shows we respect their time and their intellect.
Setting out to be specific will always work in your best interest. It should become a mindset. Before you edit for sentence and word level clarity, ask yourself these two questions: What am I specifically trying to say? How do I want the student to respond?
This is simpler than you think, if we apply the three 'Cs': clear, concise, consistent.
Be CLEAR
1. Be clear in the purpose of your communication.
Ask yourself, what is the need? What do you want the student to do?
2. Check that your writing reflects the purpose - put yourself in the position of the student. Ask yourself:
"If I received this email, would I be able to quickly understand it?"
3. Be clear in the language you use. Ask yourself:
"Is there a better way to say this?
"Does this sentence make sense? Is that the right choice of word?"
4. Use 'plain English' in your written communications. Writing that is jargon-heavy is not simple to read, increasing the risk of your message being misunderstood, or worse, ignored.
Ask youself, 'Will the student know what this word/phrase/abbreviation/acronym is referring to?'
TIP:
Unless the acronym is very well known, it's good practice to use the full name in the first instance, with the acronym in brackets.
Then you can use just the acronym in instances to follow.
Example:
Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses are becoming more popular.
Students are looking for variety in VET courses.