Favorite student emails

[mamselle]

Excluded middle much?

M.

[polly_mer]

The whole point of wrestling with the electronic calendar is exactly figuring out what works and finding coping techniques.

Yes, calendars are often absurdly full.  That is one wake-up call for students regarding how busy everyone is.  If there's no open slot on my calendar, then we're not meeting this week unless someone who significantly outranks me informs me that's the case or is the person for whom I've been waiting finally had time.  Go on to next week or make a really compelling case on the phone for bumping something else scheduled.

Part of the point of having student hours is having that time already set aside for students in the schedule.  Students who don't learn to block big chunks on their schedules during college to get things done aren't being prepared for adult life, let alone a professional career.

[ergative]

To your last point: no, speed limits in school zones are needed at all times.

Little kids go to the playground every day of the week, with (or without) their folks, and they run out into the street after balls, or bicycle around corners without looking whether the adults with them say not to do it, or not.

Then why aren't there the same limits near public parks, where kids will be on weekends and during holidays as well?  By making the limits specific to schools, then it implies that schools are unique. On non-school days, there are other places that would be more of a concern, but don't have the same limits. Having rules indicating that "When kids are around here, people need to slow down" will be more effective than "SLOW DOWN BECAUSE OF THE CHILDREN!" even at times when there is no reason for there to be any more there than anywhere else (such as 3 a.m.).

In my home town around school zones there would be speed limit signs mounted with flashers. When the flashers were on (during morning/afternoon school pick-up times) the slower speed limits applied. Otherwise the normal speed limits applied.

The flashers worked well to remind people 'no, really--slow down. This speed limit applies right now.'

[Liquidambar]

I always tell students to send me their whole schedule for the days we might meet, since otherwise we e-mail back and forth too much with potential times that don't work for the other person.  If I get their schedule, instead of the other way around, I can have first pick of a time that doesn't conflict with my nap schedule.

I'm curious about why people aren't using the calendaring function of their campus email service or at least a tool like When is Good.

Many of us use Doodle or When is Good when scheduling a meeting with more than a couple participants.  However, Outlook use on my campus is mostly limited to administrators.  When I was hired Outlook wasn't provided for free, so many faculty started using Google calendars on our own.  (But our calendars are then associated with our personal e-mail address, so we don't share them with students.*)  Students can get Outlook, but their e-mail is through Google so I assume they're more likely to use Google calendars also.

*I actually did have a Google calendar for my research group, but compliance with using it was low.  It would have been even lower with Outlook.

[FishProf]

My school is a google school, but good luck getting a group of people who all use Google Calendar.  So we get doodle polls, and people take a long time to respond, so my availability is often gone by the time someone picks a meeting time.

[KiUlv]

Repeat of a popular theme... Just got this one.

I was wondering what exactly will we be doing in class on Tuesday? My manager has asked if I can work on Tuesday but I wanted to check and see if we might be doing something extremely important in class before saying yes to him.

This class is set up so that we only have 4 face-to-face meetings all quarter. This is a face-to-face meeting and it's the last day of the quarter (not that it makes any difference - the email is annoying, regardless).  Forget this situation in general, this could have been worded a zillion different ways that would have been so much less annoying.

[marshwiggle]

Repeat of a popular theme... Just got this one.

I was wondering what exactly will we be doing in class on Tuesday? My manager has asked if I can work on Tuesday but I wanted to check and see if we might be doing something extremely important in class before saying yes to him.

This class is set up so that we only have 4 face-to-face meetings all quarter. This is a face-to-face meeting and it's the last day of the quarter (not that it makes any difference - the email is annoying, regardless).  Forget this situation in general, this could have been worded a zillion different ways that would have been so much less annoying.

Just reply with the link. It's past tense rather than future, but the point remains.

[mahagonny]

Professor Mahagonny,
I apologize for the inconvenience but I'm very sick and unable to make today's class.- Ken

Thinking: Ken, why do I never apologize when I get sick? Because I don't feel guilty, and the inconvenience will be understood as unavoidable? And what's inconvenient about my not seeing you, again?

That one is surely a cultural thing.  The student has been brought up to understand that his actions--such as not showing up for class--have consequences for others, and to be apologetic for it when it happens, even when it is due to circumstances beyond his control.  It's perhaps unnecessary in this case, but still suggests that the student is much more considerate and thoughtful than some. 

I do the same thing when I'm unable to meet a commitment due to illness.  I don't necessarily feel guilty, but I do feel the need to apologize for not meeting the commitment.

He was back today and smelled like a big reefer. Guess he's feeling better. Way better.

And again yesterday. Asked me to provide him with paper  copies of the last ten handouts, which I did. Lost his folder. It could get expensive being a pothead who loses things.

[KiUlv]

Just reply with the link. It's past tense rather than future, but the point remains.

Nice! I'll have to keep that one bookmarked.

[mahagonny]

Professor Mahagonny,
I apologize for the inconvenience but I'm very sick and unable to make today's class.- Ken

Thinking: Ken, why do I never apologize when I get sick? Because I don't feel guilty, and the inconvenience will be understood as unavoidable? And what's inconvenient about my not seeing you, again?

That one is surely a cultural thing.  The student has been brought up to understand that his actions--such as not showing up for class--have consequences for others, and to be apologetic for it when it happens, even when it is due to circumstances beyond his control.  It's perhaps unnecessary in this case, but still suggests that the student is much more considerate and thoughtful than some. 

I do the same thing when I'm unable to meet a commitment due to illness.  I don't necessarily feel guilty, but I do feel the need to apologize for not meeting the commitment.

He was back today and smelled like a big reefer. Guess he's feeling better. Way better.

And again yesterday. Asked me to provide him with paper  copies of the last ten handouts, which I did. Lost his folder. It could get expensive being a pothead who loses things.

And again today for midterm exam. Well, I won't have to smell this guy's fumes for awhile now. I guess he's just a functioning viper.

[FishProf]

I just got an email from a student(s) complaining about how their professor was grading their section of Basketweaving 2 harder than other professors were.  They praised their professor, but want some equity.

They sent it from a made-up email like BasketweavingStudent2@gmail.com.

So, a whiny email, a spurious comparison, an anonymous complaint, and it was sent to Professor(s), Me, Dean, Basketweaving Chair, Provost, and President.

I replied to all, except fake-student-email and made it clear I would not be acting on this nonsense.

[polly_mer]

I always tell students to send me their whole schedule for the days we might meet, since otherwise we e-mail back and forth too much with potential times that don't work for the other person.  If I get their schedule, instead of the other way around, I can have first pick of a time that doesn't conflict with my nap schedule.

I'm curious about why people aren't using the calendaring function of their campus email service or at least a tool like When is Good.

Many of us use Doodle or When is Good when scheduling a meeting with more than a couple participants.  However, Outlook use on my campus is mostly limited to administrators.  When I was hired Outlook wasn't provided for free, so many faculty started using Google calendars on our own.  (But our calendars are then associated with our personal e-mail address, so we don't share them with students.*)  Students can get Outlook, but their e-mail is through Google so I assume they're more likely to use Google calendars also.

*I actually did have a Google calendar for my research group, but compliance with using it was low.  It would have been even lower with Outlook.

My school is a google school, but good luck getting a group of people who all use Google Calendar.  So we get doodle polls, and people take a long time to respond, so my availability is often gone by the time someone picks a meeting time.

I continue to sigh about how common professional class norms don't apply on campus.  A functional operation picks one of the standard platforms, ensures everyone has access, and then enforces the norm of using that tool to get things done.

The exact tool doesn't matter, but letting everyone chose their own doesn't work all that well.

[FishProf]

But...but...Academic Freedom!

[marshwiggle]

I continue to sigh about how common professional class norms don't apply on campus.  A functional operation picks one of the standard platforms, ensures everyone has access, and then enforces the norm of using that tool to get things done.

The exact tool doesn't matter, but letting everyone chose their own doesn't work all that well.

Not a justification, but I think it partly stems from the fact that there's such a galactic range of adoption of technology in academia. At one end, you have the bleeding edge early adopters who are keen to adopt any potentially useful innovation. At the other end, you have the Jurassic traditionalists who do things the way they did them before the world wide web. So by the time something has become "mainstream", i.e. the normal way for people to do it, the bleeding edge types will have entrenched themselves in different tools for the same purpose, while the traditionalists will grumble at the constant adoption of confusing new-fangled technology when the old way was working perfectly fine.

[downer]

I liked this one from a "transitioned" class. Here is the message in its entirity.

hi professor,

i realize that for the quiz there were a couple of questions that the system marked wrong but the answers were right.