ABSTRACT
The impact of electronic mail as a supplement to the familiar exchanges on paper and in meetings merits analysis and illustration for others who would foster the development of community in academic settings. This chapter describes the first year of a new dean’s efforts to build a teacher education community through presentation and examination of electronic mail communication, including attention to its powerful effect in facilitating collective and one-to-one communication among academic and non-academic staff members. Our story is told from two perspectives, those of the new dean and one of her initially skeptical faculty members. We are both committed and experienced users of electronic mail, but neither of us was ready for the insights and understandings that would emerge as we reviewed the electronic ‘trails’ that were created.
