7.1 Faculty and Student Communications

General Communications

All faculty members may be contacted through email or Microsoft Teams. Contact information for nursing faculty/staff is available on myUNW or within email signatures. Every effort should be made to contact faculty/staff during normal working hours (8:00 AM to 5:00 PM).  Faculty/staff may choose to share their home or cell phone number in case of emergencies or for use during reasonable hours of the day or evening.  For all urgent or time-sensitive matters, especially those related to clinical, calling/texting is recommended rather than email communications. We ask that you respect faculty/staff personal and family time by avoiding calls or texts outside normal business hours, unless necessary. Faculty/staff are likewise expected to respect students’ personal time when initiating contact.

The primary form of faculty-student communication, outside of class and clinical time, is email.  Please check and respond to your Northwestern email several times daily. This will safeguard that you are receiving all important and timely messages from the SON and/or faculty.  For team-taught nursing course(s) and clinical courses please copy link (cc) each faculty member, particularly if there are expressed concerns or requests made.

Netiquette

Appropriate behavior online is known as Netiquette. The key to netiquette is to remember that the people with whom you are communicating cannot see you, read your body language or hear the tone of your voice. No one can tell if you are smiling, scowling or just joking. Therefore, it is important to be professional and courteous when communicating online.

To fully engage in the virtual learning experience and demonstrate respect to all, faculty may require all device cameras to be turned on during class, small group meetings, individual meetings with faculty, and at other times when engaging virtually. Students should not expect to be passive spectators of the virtual learning experience. Students should be prepared to actively engage during virtual class times and other meetings through discussion, answering questions, and participating in interactive activities.