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Re: availability, contact people |
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| Posted by: | Stephen D. Livingston |
| Title/Position: | Graduate Teaching Associate |
| School/Organization: | The Ohio State University |
| Sent to listserv of: | SPSP |
| Date posted: | July 1st, 2007 |
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Kim:
I do the same “contact person” exercise on the first day, except that I encourage students to get information from *many* others. This prevents problems arising should a student’s sole “contact person” drops the class, never attends class, is unresponsive or unhelpful, etc.
As you said, it breaks the ice and seems to increase the likelihood that students will form study groups and become more interdependent on each other rather than on the instructional staff. In fact, I always put space to record this information directly on my syllabus (i.e., at least 6 groups of three lines with “Name”, “E-mail”, and “Phone” printed next to them), so that it is more obvious that obtaining this contact information is a “required exercise” in my class. Of course, to protect information privacy -- and to reduce the burden on attractive students -- I always tell everyone that they need provide only as much information as they are comfortable sharing.
I find myself more rarely having students ask me for notes, recitations of lecture content, etc., although I still get occasional “what did I miss” questions. I’m tempted to employ Elliot’s retort, but perhaps I should wait for steady employment first! :-)
I do agree that e-mail is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to staying in touch with students. What really irks me: (a) the extreme informality of many messages I receive (e.g., “dear steve, I was sick, did u say anything about the midtrm [sic] 2day?”), including some that are nigh incomprehensible and others that share too much information about personal trials and tribulations; and (b) I often have to go a few rounds back and forth over e-mail to answer questions or make office appointments with students, when a five-minute phone call or after-class conversation would accomplish the same thing. I’m not convinced it’s a generational issue -- we used e-mail during my undergraduate years (1996-2001) in Canada, and I don’t recall seeing the same e-mail informality when I served as a T.A. there.
Perhaps it is something that derives from perceptions of professors as service providers rather than educational supervisors/mentors? To me, the business models and recruitment rhetoric of many modern American universities reinforce this view… Had I paid upwards of $20 000/year for tuition, and been led to view my degree as a right I’d bought rather than a privilege I’d earn, I too would likely have expected my instructors to be Johnny-/Jane-on-the-spot.
Best,
Steve
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Stephen D. Livingston
Department of Psychology
The Ohio State University
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livingston.69@osu.edu
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