Emailing Faculty

Parent Cafe
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<p>[To:Professor@University.edu</a> Subject: Why It’s All About Me](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/education/21professors.html?ex=1298178000&en=361f9efce267b517&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss]To:Professor@University.edu”>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/education/21professors.html?ex=1298178000&en=361f9efce267b517&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss)</p>

<p>(I could have sworn I saw this here earlier today. Forgive me if this is a repeat)</p>

<p>I found this article the most amusing thing. Some college professors seem upset about the email they’re getting from their students! I can’t help but read what they’re upset about and remember the days when we had to go to them during office hours and say those things in person. :D</p>

<p>I particularly liked this paragraph:

</p>

<p>I’ve taught and heard all those things myself. Sounds like legitimate, well intended feedback to me.</p>

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<p>I agree that those seem legitimate, but what about the professor who got an email–“What kind of school supplies should I buy for your class? Would you recommend a binder or a subject notebook? I’m a freshman, and I don’t know how to shop for college.”</p>

<p>I think part of the problem is that professors, and everyone else for that matter, don’t like to be told what to do (and students can do so more anonymously via e-mail), and the other part is that some students are very needy.</p>

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<p>I’ll accept that. I’ve heard students ask dumber things in person. That’s all I’m trying to say.</p>

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<p>Good article! </p>

<p>I love being able to email my professors if I’m stuck on a problem. It’s nice because they usually reply quickly (oftentimes less than 15-20 minutes!) and it seems a lot less confrontational (don’t have to worry about bothering them when they are busy, they can look over the question and answer it later). I do however try to be polite when emailing them by not asking questions that don’t relate to class material, not pestering them with too many questions, etc. </p>

<p>I think it’s just one of the advantages of technology in education, but I can see how it might get annoying if abused. That one girl asking about school supplies? Oy veh!</p>

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<p>I agree with both sides: the first comment that Strick posted seem like reasonable conversations for students to be having; the supplies question, or the send me your lecture notes one, are a bit much.</p>

<p>I wish that my students would email me more with good questions. some do, most never ask anything, especially the struggling ones. </p>

<p>ON the other hand, I can see behavior and get classroom comments which really dismay me. I teach one fifth of an interdisclinary class which all students must take at our college. Each class period is one half lecture by one of the profs (we each do a series of 4/5 lectures) and one half small group discussion. The current lecturer is presenting challenging, engaging material on the nature of science itself, connected to social responsibility. His material ranges from the ancient Greeks to current issues, but it tends toward the abstract. </p>

<p>During the lecture, students routinely come and go, and allow the door to bang when they do so. Some put their heads down. some wear Ipods. In my section yesterday, I first commented on this–congratulating my group for not, on the whole, being the culprits, but trying to impress on them what is accepted classroom decorum. </p>

<p>I got a litany of “this is boring” “he doesn’t catch my interest” “why isn’t he like the last guy?” (the previous speaker told jokes, made stuff up–really, covered topical subjects in a very surface level manner, let class discussion wander and dominate, etc. However, the bad behavior occurred in his section, too.)</p>

<p>The tenor of discussion from my students, with some serious dissent by a few of them, was that they should be entertained by stuff that “catches their interest” because they were already interested in it, or else they were not responsible for their behavior.</p>

<p>It was very dispiriting, and I am trying to figure out how to deal with this when my section starts in a month. I have had a good experience up until now, dealing with a topic that’s current but esoteric (to them), but this group has me worried.</p>

<p>And they NEVER email me about anything–I wish they would.</p>

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<p>At first blush, the “binder or notebook” question seems a bit naive. However, it’s actually the kind of question a professor should love to get because it indicates an eager young student trying to get organized and asking for advice on being efficient. It’s not even a stupid question, really. Between class notes taking and the large number of printed or downloaded supplemental readings used today, it’s not clear whether a 3-ring binder or a spiral notebook would be the best organization.</p>

<p>From a professor’s standpoint, I’d much rather get that e-mail about study organization than what the professor likely sees all too often: zero contact or academic engagement from a student during the sememster.</p>

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<p>I guess it’s just me then but I think asking your professor what type of notebook to use is entirely inappropriate, though I’m not a teacher and haven’t been a student in a long time.</p>

<p>Seems the student is missing something, like basic respect. He should know it’s not in the professor’s job description; I’d expect college kids to know the prof has more important things to be concerned with.</p>

<p>Why not just ask your fellow students what they think, esp someone who’s already had the course.</p>

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<p>FWIW – the professor who was quoted regarding saying thank you to people in power says she was misquoted. <a href=“http://xom.blogs.com/xoom/[/url]”>http://xom.blogs.com/xoom/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I think the ability to email a professor is great. I dated a high school teacher once who gave his students his email address, (one he set up just for students), and they could email him at night if they were having problems etc. I think it’s a great way to communicate, especially if you have a shy student who won’t approach a professor.</p>

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<p>But I think you have to remember that some of these professors don’t use computers, don’t own computers, and don’t know how to use them.</p>

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<p>really?
in the public schools all teachers must communicate by email
and even my husband who works in a factory, finds that communication other than direct instructions, is by email. He doesn’t have his own, and has to use whichever one is available.
I think many if not virtually all companies communicate by email, I wouldn’t think a college would be any exception
I don’t think that profs have any excuse not to be able to use a computer.
If they don’t know how to use them, perhaps they should ask their 5 yr old?</p>

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<p>2331clk:</p>

<p>I agree that e-mailing a professor about notebooks is probably not something I would do. But, I hardly think that a professor should be bothered by such an e-mail. Put yourself in the shoes of a 17 year old soon-to-be-freshman who has diligently shopped for school supplies every August and is, quite honestly, asking the teacher for advice on organization.</p>

<p>If being willing to help kids become better students is not in the job description of a college professor, then maybe I don’t understand the point of undergraduate education. Look at it this way: why should an undergrad customer paying $40,000 a year be pleased if the professor is too busy to answer a simple question?</p>

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<p>In K-12 school, I had teachers who wanted you to buy certain supplies (yes, some even said we had to use notebook filler paper instead of a spiral notebook because they would not grade work that was torn out of a sprial notebook–didn’t want the stringy paper that is on the left hand side of the torn out paper.). So, maybe the girl didn’t know that college professors don’t care what you use.</p>

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<p>I don’t think profs are going to have suggestions on how they take notes, but they will be picky about the format for papers.
some want folders, some prefer staples- some wont even take paper clips, some prefer paper clips.
All that should be noted in the syllabus or in class instruction however- they can’t be expected to guess at what the prof wants</p>

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<p>I agree with EmeraldKity that most colleges communicate by email. Frankly, it’s a lot easier to send one group email to all teachers about the next faculty meeting or a change in policy, than it is to call up each teacher individually. At our local college, everything is controlled by the computers: the lights, the surround sound, the projector, the screen, etc. All teachers NEED to know how to use the computers in order to just teach their class. Of course, the community college is about 5 minutes from Microsoft’s main campus, so that might have something to do with it to;)</p>

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<p>The advantage of email is that it is very easy to reply and a reply can be kept short & sweet. Most email programs allow for the automatic insertion of a signature line – so we don’t even have to bother typing our own names.</p>

<p>So basically I find it puzzling that college profs are frustrated – though I also think that this article falls under the category of a journalist inventing a problem to come up with a story. Rather easy to call up a few profs and ask for examples of the most annoying emails they have received.</p>

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<p>It is so tough knowing what format to email your Prof with as each one of them is different. My dad is a Prof and he does not care about formality at all (in fact he laughs at it), but i know others may be offended when just asked a question. Emails seem so impersonal so you try to fluff them up but never know if that is annoying to the proffessor or if they appreciate it. GAAAAH</p>

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<p>if i had a question for a prof i’d just pop it in an e-mail and send it on over. and i remember notifying them that i wouldn’t be in class when i had a funeral to go to (on the first day of class). i’d never bother them with how to tie my shoes or what notebook to buy for class. i dont really think it helps them to get to know you better or anything like that, but maybe i’m wrong. i helped my one prof thru email with a project he was working on for the school, and as a result he knew i was into web site design and ended up getting me a job doing that senior year… so that was one positive towards e-mailing him.</p>

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<p>I think all professors etc should know how to use a computer and email, but the older, tenured ones don’t, (some of them). they don’t like the technology, and they will not subscribe. change is bad. We have the same problem at the hospital I work at. we went to a system where the physicians enter their orders into the computer that they carry around with them. the older physicians, don’t do it, can’t do it, and end of story. I had a complaint once from an office worker of one of those physicians that he won’t even let them get a computer for the office, it’s all still done on paper by hand. they can’t even look up lab values and studies, they have to have a nurse do it for them. you have to remember that some of these professors still teaching can be in their 70’s or even 80’s, (I had one of those once, didn’t go well). they sometimes will not buy into change. just like our 80 year old cardiologist. the day I see him use a computer I’ll need his services because I’ll have a heart attack. I love email. it leaves non room for error, and if somebody needs to tell me something important, I want it in writing. My boss hates email, because then she can’t pull the ole “I never said that” thing.</p>

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<p>many of the tenured profs aren’t really that old- my daughters profs are younger than me!
personal computers have been around for about 25 years?-
I wonder if refusing to learn new things is a power trip- like some men “don’t know how” to use the washing machine :wink:
It may just be because I am on the west coast, but I see technology being incorporated everywhere- some profs even teach online courses and regulary update their web pages, not just use email.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_9/jones/[/url]”>http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_9/jones/&lt;/a&gt;
It does sound like women are more comfortable using the technology however
*Female faculty were slightly more likely than male faculty to use the Internet to send students grades (14 percent to five percent) and to handle attendance matters (69 percent to 54 percent). Female faculty were more likely to have students submit assignments online, with 97 percent reporting having done so compared with 80 percent of male faculty. Nearly two–thirds agreed or strongly agreed that it was a positive experience (63 percent), although female faculty were slightly less positive (60 percent) about their experience than male faculty (68 percent). Overall female faculty are considerably more likely to believe that they knew their students better because of e–mail communication (see Figure 3 below).</p>

<p>However, along with the tendency to use the Internet for communication with students more than their male counterparts, almost twice as many female as male faculty (15 percent versus eight percent) believed students use e–mail too much, and more than twice the number of male faculty as female (24 percent compared to nine percent) believed students use e–mail too little to communicate with them. Interestingly, 12 percent of male faculty stated that they are not always comfortable with using the Internet and prefer other means of communicating with students and conducting research, while only one percent of female faculty responded similarly.*</p>