How accessible should you be to a student
Is it appropriate to give an email address or phone number outside of school email or school number. I only check the school email when on the campus, or when I have time at home. Issues that arise on home email, I forward to school email.
Ernest,
Good advice for instructors to consider when sharing personal contact information.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I would not share personal contact information to the class. I had a previous part time co-worker that gave their home phone number on the syllabus, and later on in the semester there was a research paper due. The instructor ended up getting a half dozen calls between 10pm and 3am from students trying to complete the paper the night before and not sure if they had met all requirements of the assignment. I have had students email me late at night before a big assignment is due, so I would not give them the option of contacting me at home.
Louis,
Knowing they have access to their learning leader gives students a lot of comfort. You are providing them with support if they want to take advantage of it for the duration of the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I give my students my cell phone and e-mail addresses (both the school and mine) so we can keep the lines of communications open on the first night of class.
I have found the students like to feel they have access to you at any time for consultations and opinions.
May-Lin,
This has been my experience as well so I have no problem in sharing this information with my students. Students for the most part are very respective of not over using their access but are comforted knowing they can contact their instructor if they need to.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Professor Meers,
I share my school email address and my cell phone. I list this information on my syllabus and go over contact methods during the first night of class.
I have found that some students will not answer a phone call but will respond to text mesages and send text messages when they are going to be late or absent. So far, no one has abused the fact that they have my cell phone number.
Myrna,
I think this type of accessibility is important to students. As you say knowing they can contact you about an issue in the class helps them to stay connected to the class and their studies.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I find that being accessible to the students whether it be by cell phone or email that they not only learn to be responsible to the class ie being late, not coming due to illness but they are able to have access to me as their Instructor when ever they may have questions on their homework or not understanding what is required of them on a certain project, etc.
Loren,
You make a number of good points about student access to faculty. Each school needs to work out a strategy that will support the students without overwhelming the faculty with calls or emails. Sounds like your school has found that balance.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Our institution, as many, has an email system for staff and students. I used to give my personal email to students, but our school frowns on it and as time has passed, I have had a number of these contacts become infected and it was carried to my email, so don't do that anymore. We have also been asked not to use our personal phones for student contacts, to avoid conflicts.
Since I hold an administrative as well as instructor position and have an office, it is easy to be available to students. Getting them in here in a timely fashion is an issue.
Peter,
This has been my experience as well so I don't have a problem in sharing my cell number. I think it is a comfort to the students because they know they can get a hold of me when they have a question. Over the years I have found that the students do not over use their access to me via the phone.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Sharika,
Good advice for instructors to follow. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Elanor,
This is very good advice for instructors to follow. This is the route I take with my students as well. I have never had a problem with students abusing their access to me via cell phone.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have given my phone number to students as well. I have found they are more apt call when they are running late for class for one example.I do set expectations when it is acceptable to call when outside of class and they are very respectful of this.
It is appropriate to be accessable to students by email or text. Not all students are able to email and can only communicate by text after class hours. As long as they don't abuse the communication, it is fine to email or text.
In the past I have given out my cell phone number to students, so they can have access to me and ask questions if they have them. This means I am still in contact with many of my former students to this day, and I have been able to give advice from the stand point of a collegue and not just an instructor.
Email is a different story. I made a professional email, that the students can contact me with when I am not at school. This allowed me to check in with them, but not have students know my personal email (which is connected to Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn).
Marjorie,
Thank you for sharing your personal experience with sharing your contact information. This has been my experience as well. I don't feel that my students have abused their ability to contact me so I am comfortable with sharing my cell number so they have a comfortable feeling knowing they can reach me if they need to.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I use to only give the school e-mail and phone per policy but when I would get my student surveys it would always be low on the question that states: how accessible is your instructor outside of class? Then, I finally started giving my cell phone to the students and my scores went up. There are plenty of people the text me and call me and I don't mind. I want to know if you are running late or going to be absent. I also want to know if you need help with something, I can help you out. There have been only a few times when a student has abused the ability to call me. I don't like to check e-mails over the weekend because I feel that is my time and I am too busy to remember to do it. I tell them that if they need me over the week end call or text, but if they can wait they can e-mail.
