Technology – the force that’s forever changing the world.
One major question that arises with this new technology – especially on college campuses – concerns improving individuals’ communicational skills rather than simply improving the speed people connect to each other.
Some teachers are learning that students often avoid trying to fix their own problems and instead e-mail their teachers about nearly anything and everything.
Jonathan Glater, of The New York Times, reported the problem teachers are having with e-mails from students.
For instance, he cites that Jennifer Schultens, an associate professor of mathematics at the University of California at Davis, encountered what she considered an inappropriate e-mail message from a student in her calculus course.
“Should I buy a binder or a subject notebook? Since I’m a freshman, I’m not sure how to shop for school supplies,” the student asked. “Would you let me know your recommendations? Thank you!”
At VCU, Bill Eggleston, the Forensic Science Program chair, said he also has a problem with students asking him for too much help.
– Bill Eggleston, the Forensic Science Program chair
“Students have to try to solve problems before they come to me,” Eggleston said. “They want me to solve problems that they need to take care of themselves. Sometimes when students need to get into a class their e-mails can come off as demanding if they need a class to graduate.”
When he receives e-mails in this requesting tone, he said, he always asks the requesting student the same question:
“I just ask them who in the class I should kick out so they can take the course.”
Even though at times he receives inappropriate e-mails, Eggleston said, the e-mails he receives generally are appropriate.
“I haven’t had any problems with the students I have in my class,” he said.
Still, Glater reported e-mails have made professors much more approachable, and many say it has made them much too accessible by erasing boundaries that traditionally kept students at a healthy distance.
On the other hand, Arman Amiri, a VCU senior biology major, said he considers it part of a teacher’s job to be accessible to students other than just in class.
“Every professor has a responsibility outside of class just like students do,” Amiri said. “I don’t think teachers can be too accessible.”
He said students have a better chance to look professional when sending an e-mail than they can do in person.
“E-mail gives me a chance to think about what I want to say and review the e-mail before I send it,” Amiri said. “It is on record forever so I can reference it if I need it again.”
Michael Pyron, a VCU English graduate student and teacher’s assistant, said the e-mails he receives are almost never professional.
“I get about 30 e-mails a week from students,” (in the class where he assists the teacher) Pyron said. “I get e-mails that don’t even have names on them, so I just respond to them with their e-mail name.”
Eggleston said he thinks students often come off as more responsible in class than they do in the e-mails he receives from them.
“E-mail messages are very impersonal,” he said. “In class it’s one-on-one and more personal.”
Still, he has no problem with e-mails from the students in his class.
Instead, he said it’s the students who e-mail him for help without trying to help themselves first he wouldn’t mind seeing less of.
While teachers often receive many informal e-mails, sometimes they receive obscene e-mails from students.
“One student actually cursed me out through e-mail,” Pyron said, adding he decided not to bring any disciplinary action against the student, because the 18-year-old was mad and had not learned “you just don’t do that.
“One day they will send it to the wrong person and learn the hard way,” he said.
Amiri offered some advice for teachers who receive a majority of overly informal or obscene e-mails. If those teachers could reduce the number of unidentified e-mails, he said, it could lower the number of unwanted e-mails.
“All e-mails should be sent from VCU accounts – no anonymous e-mail.”
Eggleston offers further advice by saying if teachers are just upfront with the students about what they want it could help the problem.
“At the beginning of the semester,” he said. “(Teachers) tell students you can contact me through e-mail, but their conduct should be professional.”