Summer vacation is usually regarded as a time to rest, relax and push the reset button for most school teachers and administrators.  The Sunday edition of the Boston Globe article in the Money & Careers section, Creativity can thrive, if you keep the e-mail in check, reminded me that one ritual that most teachers are probably engaged in this summer is sorting through thousands of emails as they purge their in-boxes for the start of another school year.  Maggie Jackson cites the statistic that workers get an average of 156 emails a day.  The article presents the idea that workers trying to deal with the onslaught of emails results in an overloaded state that negatively effects the person’s ability to focus and create.  Of course good teaching requires creativity and focus in order to positively engage students.  Since email has become the principle means of administration in schools, teachers should apply the same strategies that businesses are adopting to deal with email overload.  Teachers should set aside a daily block of time to organize and file their emails instead of attempting to respond between class periods.  Teachers should also avoid the use of reply all to everyone in the school when responding to an email sent from the principal to the entire staff.

The Information Overload Research Group is holding its inaugural conference today. Since the IORG just became an organization, it will be interesting to monitor how their website evolves as the group grows and the information spicket flows.  Some tips for dealing with email Information Overload.