PTSD

To email or not, continued

I started this as a comment to Priya's original post, but it got too long, so I'm moving it to the main page:

There *has* been a lot of discussion about this, and the emerging consensus seems to be that

1) the emails talked about in the article aren't really that annoying / upsetting / inappropriate, but

2) there are emails out there that are much worse (these have been quoted in several blogs, to the great amusement of the academic blogging community), and

3) students do cross a boundary when they engage in extended email discussions of

a) things that don't concern the class,
b) things that are spelled out in the syllabus,
c) grading issues that have already been decided, or
d) class scheduling and special treatment.

All of the things in #3 seem to be the sort of issues that are best left to scheduled office hours, or not brought up at all. At the very least, students should expect to receive a reply that asks them to come to the office to discuss the issue, and should not respond with excuses or the argument that "it's not that important."

As someone who uses email extensively* I still can think of students who have seriously abused the privilege of greater access to their professors that email represents. Even listing in the syllabus the situations in which email is not appropriate doesn't seem to help, and I would hate to take class time to discuss something that seems to me to be fairly self-explanatory. I wonder when it was decided that email should work just like instant messaging, rather than as a form of communication based on letter writing?

Despite these problems, I always require that students submit their requests / questions / suggestions / complaints through email, blog comment, or message board note. This is an absolute for me--if I don't have it as a digital copy, students are not allowed to rely on me to get it done. I've been known to write this in the syllabus, place a note on Blackboard, and announce it in class, repeatedly, throughout the semester. This is for both my benefit, and their own.

I'm notoriously bad at recalling things that I agree to at the end of classes, my pieces of paper seem to transmogrify into lint and coffee receipts with alarming frequency, and my planner is in a constant state of "where the hell am I supposed to be now?" The only way that I can make sure that I've finished a task or answered a question is if I have an electronic copy of it stored somewhere, with a big digital check mark to indicate that it's been taken care of.

Duplicate copies on paper and in electronic format are even better. Literally the *only* way that I get things done is to routinely run across reminders that I have something to do. S has grown used to the notecards and post-its that litter the apartment. I think.

So I'm firmly in the "let students email their little hearts out" camp. I even put up with the occassional off-the-wall interaction, since it's partly my fault for being so strident about the importance of emails. But I can understand why professors, who are used to the bastion of the closed door, freak out when confronted with student questions at 2:00 am. It's one more reminder that academia is a profession that can't be left behind at the office, that it's a way of life.**

And if other people are anything like me, they are absolutely unable to ignore the little bouncing mail indicator. The thought of ignoring an email never crosses my mind (even though I've been known to forget that I wrote an email, and send it twice. Or write a reply, but forget to hit send. Or send a reply with no attachments.)

* Like Priya, talking on the phone isn't my thing. I either need to be in a room with someone (so that I can try to read their body language, and because I have a better memory for visual than aural cues) or using text (so that I have a chance to proofread my thoughts and keep a record of anything I've agreed to do.) Email is a huge part of how I keep in touch (or fail to, in many cases) with people, and so I've been tracking this discussion with more than my usual scattered efficiency.

** All of which sounds good, but doesn't express my utter annoyance when students send me emails full of chat abbreviations. Typing isn't that hard, people, and I don't appreciate translating "OMG, I totally forgot to send my assignment. ITA that it sux, but can u grade it anyway? TTYL! :)" into something resembling English.

Also, smileys? Not. Appropriate. When. Requesting. A. Recommendation.

posted by Elizabeth @ 1:09 PM