It happens ...

[ashling]

How to respond to clueless emails from students?

New classes start on Monday, and in the middle of getting ready for 2 online and 1 hybrid (one of which I just get) I get emails from students wanting to know what the book is, where to go to find the class, when it will be available, etc.

Argh!

Oh, did I mention that they never tell me which class they are in as if I don't have but their one class and have just been sitting here waiting for them to send me their clueless email.


And then one signs her email "Have a blessed day!"

I am thinking of signing my response (Yes, I do respond to all of them):

"Have a politically correct day!"

Did I mention, I don't have time for this sh**?

[In_The_Wind]

1. Yup, you sorta did ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018654960

[Tobin S.]

2. All of that information should be readily available with a little looking around.

I'm a senior in college. I start my last semester for my bachelor's degree on Monday. I've taken a few classes on campus, but most of them have been online.

Th school has a web site set up where students can find all of the information they need for their classes. You don't even have to buy a text for many of the online classes. They have e-texts. For classes that do require the purchase of a text, the school bookstore is also online. A link from your account at the school takes you directly to the bookstore site and tells you exactly the books you need. Just a few clicks and they get sent to my house.

I think the problem with most of the "clueless" students is that they just don't want to take the time to figure it out for themselves. For those kinds of students, online classes are usually a disaster.

[ashling]

3. You are exactly right

why aren't you in my class?



Please, o PLEASE sign up for my class

[Tobin S.]

4. Hahahaha

Do you teach at Indiana University?

[ashling]

5. Sorry

but I teach online

[csziggy]

6. Write a canned response

To the effect that without sufficient information you cannot provide the proper answer.

Or an ultra-complete response that include the entire syllabus, schedule, reading lists, test schedule and any other details you can shove into it for every single class you teach (or if you want to be really cruel, every class that semester in your department). Then let them sort it out.

If they are incapable of looking this stuff up, they may not be college material.

I finished college in the pre-internet days when you had to go to the first class to get this information or go look at a notice posted on the professor's door. The college was very cheap on copying so the professors were limited in how much they could print and give out. Most professors wrote the reading list on the blackboard for the students to copy while listening to them explain the course requirements and what they expected from the students.

The other way we could find out what books might be needed was to go to the college bookstore where the professors were supposed to have arranged for the books to be in stock. But if your professor did not adhere to the standard list for that course, you could end up spend lots of money on books he didn't use.

[ashling]

7. Yes, all of that is true

and I give them all of that info - when the class starts. It hasn't started yet.

I always lose some along the way. I had one contact me today saying that she had meant to drop but missed the drop date. That class was over last week! She had not participated since July 28 and got an F.

I tell them that if you do not make college a priority it will return the favor.

[csziggy]

8. That's why I could not teach - I just can't handle stupidity

And laziness.

I met one student like the one you describe when I was in college. Unfortunately, she shared my named. This was back when our registration was done by IBM punch cards. We had to pick up a card with our names and student numbers, then pick up a card for each class we wanted, then go to a station where they would run the cards through the system and give us a card with our classes and our bills.

This idiot NEVER checked her student ID number and EVERY term she'd pick up my card and register her classes with it. I'd have to wait in line to have a new card punched, then jump through hoops to clear it when my classes were kicked back because they claimed I was registering for too many hours. The final straw was when I was given academic suspension because SHE flunked out of course she had registered with my student ID number.

Once I got that cleared up, it was a relief. It turned out she should have been kicked out of school at least a year earlier - since her classes and mine had been so intertwined, my good grades had been letting her skate for all that time.