Profs Who Don't (Won't) E-Mail
 

Profs Who Don't (Won't) E-Mail


Profs Who Don't (Won't) E-Mail
By ABBY ELLIN

Published: January 16, 2005


COLLEGES have long been a hotbed of computer activity. After all, the first general-purpose computer, Eniac, was invented on a campus (University of Pennsylvania, 1946). Today, if you want to talk to your professors, e-mail them. Yet even on campus there are some who shun technology. We asked for an explanation.

*Click link for rest of story*

I can maybe understand why some professors might not be keen on using email and/or a computer but IMO there is no excuse for a computer science professor (ie my advisor) not to check and respond to emails. Seriously your life is the computer use it!

I haven't read the article yet, but I used to HATE when professors didn't respond to emails! It's like dude, you have ONE office hour -- what else can I do but email?

I went back to school this semester and I am taking an online class or two.

The biggest complaint I have so far is that my professor is EXTREMELY slow at responding to email. And this is an online class! It's not like I can drop by your office and chat. I took a distance education class because I am learning from a DISTANCE! Especially when it has to do with grades and such. :mad:

I had a professor like this. He told us a story one day in lecture, about how he'd set up his email account when he started teaching there, but never touched it again. One day he had to send an email for some reason, so he had to get the department secretary to help him get into his email. (This included her calling I/S to get his password reset because he'd long since forgotten it.) Once he got into his account, he found several hundred emails from students, going back for YEARS. Most of them read, "May I have an extension on the term paper due tomorrow?"

The moral of the story was that if you needed to get hold of him, pick up the phone or visit during office hours.

Sooooo irritating.

I had this problem with superstar professors. I think it was just because they could do whatever they wanted and didn't want to be accessible. They'd say they had TAs with emails.

-Rudey

Funny that this was brought up on GC but where else.

That was discussed this weekend at The Pitt.

Our Advisor was talkung with one of the Actives and found out, His On Line Instructor was from Ark. Came up maybe 2 times a Week to The Pitt which is in Kansas.:mad:

Told Cookie, Hope You Got an A in a Grad. School Class for this inatentaive Instructor.:rolleyes:

Instruct or get the hell out of the Teaching Business!:mad:

I have the opposite problem. Waaaay too many 'update' emails between class from our prof. Enough already!

I have a teacher who does not do e-mail. AT ALL. Meaning, I don't even know if she even has an e-mail address; she gets the department secretary to enter the semester grades electronically. She has a landline phone, and if you need to speak with her about something, you've got to give her a call.

It's so weird!

the younger profs seem to be on top of their e-mails, there are times that i've e-mailed some, and they've gotten back to me within an hour, but they're recent Ph.D. recepients. some of the older profs take days to get back, but they're less likely to send random e-mails and such.

a lot of profs @ iowa use the web to put class materials up and whatnot, and that helps a tremendous amount.

Hrm...I never really had a problem with professors not responding to e-mail. That's kind of surprising to me since I had a lot of "hippy-like" social science professors. They were always on top of their e-mails. Go figure.

.....Kelly :)

I once had a prof who did not believe in modern technology. She didn't email nor did she believe in voicemail. In order to get an appointment with her, you had to speak with her directly or book one with the department.

She had an obsession with medieval music as well.

My professors would state at the beginning of the term whether or not they were readily accessible by email. I'd say 99% of them were, with only a couple who weren't. Out of the ones who weren't, only one was truly unreachable outside of class. He was an odd sort anyways, so I'm not sure I would have ever felt comfortable calling him.

I have to admit that, although I use email a whole lot, many of us 'older' folks are a bit resentful of others expecting to be able to reach us at any moment. We simply are not used to that demand being there. While I'm a big fan of voice mail and email (email saves me tons of time and money), I HATE cell phones. There aren't many people who have my cell phone number and it's definitely only used like a pay phone would have been in the past. I have no interest in being accessible to the whole world 24/7. There are hours set aside for work, hours set aside for friends, hours set aside for rest and relaxation and hours set aside for sorority volunteer work. We didn't have email or cell phones when I was in college and we managed to reach professors by leaving them messages with secretaries or calling during their office hours. It is sometimes hard for us old folks to change! And, it is hard for some of the younger folks to accept that not everything in the world is instantly at your fingertips. Generational differences.

Dee

I have this one professor who won't talk to unless you email him. If you try calling he is always in "conferences"

I had a few profs who wouldn't E mail, which IS very annoying, however. What drove me more nuts though is I had a Prof who wouldn't type anything. Our paper prompts were all hand written(with HORRIBLE HANDWRITING) and photocopied, as was the syllabus. COME ON DUDE, you have a PHD, I'm sure that thesis wasn't turned in in black ink on college ruled paper. Oh, did I mentinon our papers HAD to be typed ?

It's interesting though, of the few professors who didn't use email, a couple said that they could be called, anytime, day or night. One said that if he was going to expect us to be working at all times on his assignments, then we should expect that he always be available to help us.

i had a professor like that. he also wanted all of our assignments emailed to him by the end of the day on the due date. he then went on to say that he knew for most of us our day didn't end at midnight so therefore he considered the end of the day 3am.

He probably had someone type his thesis for him.

That's how my teacher is...she tells us that she goes to bed at about 1 each morning--so we can call her until midnight. I guess that works out; most of the people I know who are heavy emailers rarely respond to anything after midnight or so.

For a lot of these people, I'm sure it's more a fear or lack of interest in learning new technology than not wanting to be reached.

Why are Teachers and that is what they are no matter what you call them (Professors) feel that they are so damn important?:mad:

They worked like We all did to get a degree to do what ever avocation we so desired to do and get a Degree in.

Well, they get Tenure and Self Importance and Egotisim.

Thank God, I went to College in an Era where The Door Was Open.

I originally started out wanting to be a History Prof. I would have been a lot better thatn most of these dill wads called instrutors. Ah, interesting word, means teach.

Dont sound like it much anymore! Collect a pay check some way or another!

One of the Proudest Moments in My College Life was to be invited to My Law Profs House for a Graduation Function along with My Gueasts, My Family and I and The Then Wife. That is class!!!!!!!

I am close to the local JuCo and some of the storys I hear, I would go Ballistic!

Tom, I feel that those who really appreciate teaching are less likely to view themselves as all "important." However, many public school professors (higher ed) actually make less money than public school teachers (K-12). Perhaps then, titles grow in importance as a substitute for income status?

Just an idea...
Silver

The only problem with it is that I would always feel a little weird calling a professor that late at night or early in the morning. I know of some classmates, however, who had no problem with the policy. It just always struck me as a little uncomfortable.