Do you put your school(s) email app on your phone?

[downer]

I teach at 3 places right now and all of them use Office 365. I have set up the email app on my phone and get notified of all the emails.

It has been useful -- I can give quick replies to students and get back quickly to administrators and secretaries who are looking for info.

But on the other hand, I like the idea of being less connected. I am sometimes annoyed by pointless emails notifying me of meetings and events that I'm not interested in. I have had some success in setting up rules to direct those emails to go directly to a folder I don't look at, which has reduced that stuff. And I've had some success at educating students not to email me, but rather ask questions on the LMS. Still, maybe I don't need to see any student emails when they come in.

I just had to reinstall the app and I'm wondering whether or not to set it up for school emails again.

Do you have the school(s) email app on your phone?

[marshwiggle]

I teach at 3 places right now and all of them use Office 365. I have set up the email app on my phone and get notified of all the emails.

It has been useful -- I can give quick replies to students and get back quickly to administrators and secretaries who are looking for info.

But on the other hand, I like the idea of being less connected. I am sometimes annoyed by pointless emails notifying me of meetings and events that I'm not interested in. I have had some success in setting up rules to direct those emails to go directly to a folder I don't look at, which has reduced that stuff. And I've had some success at educating students not to email me, but rather ask questions on the LMS. Still, maybe I don't need to see any student emails when they come in.

I just had to reinstall the app and I'm wondering whether or not to set it up for school emails again.

Do you have the school(s) email app on your phone?

I don't have a smartphone, but my school email is my main email. On evenings and weekends, I basically don't answer work-related emails. And I've lived a full and productive life.

[born_a_prof]

 i installed it but then removed it.
If I am waiting for some important email, I will log on using the browser.

[pink_]

My campus uses google, so I have my campus email and my personal email both configured on the gmail app, but I don't check it after 9 or 10pm and I only check sporadically on the weekends. If there is an emergency, the powers that be know how to reach me.

[arty_]

I have my work email connected to my phone, but, I have it configured to never alert me in any way: nor is there an indicator on the mail app icon that there are messages. This way, I only check it if I want to. I feel very free to ignore what I find there. I limit my work emails to 9-5 unless there is some critical issue.

[fourhats]

I have them on my phone (I have several email addresses), but I definitely don't have it set up to notify me when emails come in. I just like to be able to check email from time to time when I'm away from home.

[Vkw10]

I have web browsers labelled WorkA and WorkB on my phone. WorkA has homepage set to Office365 for my day job. WorkB is set up for consulting jobs. I don't want work email to be too easy to check.

[onthefringe]

Like several above, I want my email a little separate from me. I don't actually have any email apps on my phone. If I'm checking my work or home email from my phone I do it through a browser. I do it pretty often, but I really don't want emails (or much of anything) "pushed" to me. Anyone who could have an emergency I would need to respond to immediately has my cell number and permission to text me and tell me I need to look at my email.

On top of everything else, I don't want anything on my phone to be "discoverable" in a FOIA request or lawsuit. I even resisted putting my school's general app on the phone until I had to for covid health checks

[sinenomine]

My school gave me an iPad, so I have that set up to alert me with emails. I do not have the same set up on my iPhone, nor have I downloaded the school's app onto it. If I need to check email or access materials with the phone, it's easy to do so through the browser. I prefer to keep my personal device separate from work.

[Caracal]

My school also uses gmail, so it is easy enough. I have my phone set so that I can see when I have emails, but it doesn't alert me when they come in. This usually keeps me from feeling like I'm constantly on call. I find it more disruptive and stressful when I feel like I need to specifically check emails. If I'm doing something else, I just glance at an email and only respond to it then if it is time sensitive. Otherwise, I just deal with it later.

[bio-nonymous]

I have my work email on my phone. I guess I am the outlier in this group--I deal with email from work whenever I feel like it, whether at 11PM, 6AM, or noon on Saturday. I do not have such a thing as work/life balance, and don't expect to for many years to come; there is only work. Sigh...

[pigou]

I forward my work email to my private Gmail account, so I never log in to the actual work email system (which uses Office 365). When I reply, it still looks like the email is coming from my work address.

I'm pretty aggressive about Inbox Zero. At least twice a day (morning and night), I process all the emails I have. That means either replying right away if it's a quick matter, creating tasks for things that need to be done and will take time (I use Todoist for that), or deleting/archiving emails that aren't actionable or relevant. I always get stressed out when I see people whose Inbox has 1,000+ unread emails and thousands of read emails. There's a reason for the "Archive" button!

[mahagonny]

No. I have two colleges. One computer that one provides (college 'B' freeloads off college 'A' 's computer). No one pays for my phone but me. They don't give me an office and they don't get my phone. Both colleges send me at least four emails for every one I need. Besides, these days I'm always home. The phone doesn't even get used that much.

I teach at 3 places right now and all of them use Office 365. I have set up the email app on my phone and get notified of all the emails.

It has been useful -- I can give quick replies to students and get back quickly to administrators and secretaries who are looking for info.

You're working too hard for what they're paying you and putting pressure on the rest of us. It's a workload issue - union territory. You should let them wait. You're not robot. You're supposed to have a life.

[downer]

No. I have two colleges. One computer that one provides (college 'B' freeloads off college 'A' 's computer). No one pays for my phone but me. They don't give me an office and they don't get my phone. Both colleges send me at least four emails for every one I need. Besides, these days I'm always home. The phone doesn't even get used that much.

I teach at 3 places right now and all of them use Office 365. I have set up the email app on my phone and get notified of all the emails.

It has been useful -- I can give quick replies to students and get back quickly to administrators and secretaries who are looking for info.

You're working too hard for what they're paying you and putting pressure on the rest of us. It's a workload issue - union territory. You should let them wait. You're not robot. You're supposed to have a life.

I don't agree that it is a workload issue since i'm working more efficiently, not more.

I have a life with a phone. It is what a lot of people do.

As for putting pressure on others to work more efficiently -- that's up to them. I have a colleague who seems to check their email about once a week. I'm totally happy for them to be at a disadvantage compared to me when a chair is handing out courses. Certainly the unions have nothing to say about this stuff.

[mahagonny]

No. I have two colleges. One computer that one provides (college 'B' freeloads off college 'A' 's computer). No one pays for my phone but me. They don't give me an office and they don't get my phone. Both colleges send me at least four emails for every one I need. Besides, these days I'm always home. The phone doesn't even get used that much.

I teach at 3 places right now and all of them use Office 365. I have set up the email app on my phone and get notified of all the emails.

It has been useful -- I can give quick replies to students and get back quickly to administrators and secretaries who are looking for info.

You're working too hard for what they're paying you and putting pressure on the rest of us. It's a workload issue - union territory. You should let them wait. You're not robot. You're supposed to have a life.

I don't agree that it is a workload issue since i'm working more efficiently, not more.

I have a life with a phone. It is what a lot of people do.

As for putting pressure on others to work more efficiently -- that's up to them. I have a colleague who seems to check their email about once a week. I'm totally happy for them to be at a disadvantage compared to me when a chair is handing out courses. Certainly the unions have nothing to say about this stuff.

Where I work it could be a union issue if the college wants to include questions on your student evaluations of faculty performance to the effect of 'agree or disagree: the professor was always available for office hour consultation' and the union says 'inasmuch as you refuse to pay for any office hours or provide meeting space that's available at times that are workable we will agree to [something such as] "agree or disagree: the professor was receptive and helpful with questions."' Which would be a protection against the job creeping further into your personal time, and some of us think a deserved one.

I understand the wisdom of streamlining your tasks to a single program and keeping your ear to the ground to course offerings.

Speaking of pressure to 'keep up with technology' though I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people who don't greatly appreciate a norm of returning all student emails within the hour, if that's where this is going to end up, might be the full timers.

I always answer student emails within probably a day, at most, two, except the few really stupid ones. That's fast enough for a part time job. They aways have the option of listening harder  in class.