The Obstacle of Immediacy in Today's Culture
In this day and age it seems that we gravitate to immediacy. Outside of school, if we receive a text message it is expected to be responded to right away. This translates to students wanting to know their grades right away, responding to emails right away, etc. Then we as instructors often place the obstacle of immediacy as part of this culture. In addition to the ideas mentioned, to achieve a healthy balance it would be good to set the expectations of student by clearly explaining how fast you will respond to email (e.g. within 48 hours) and how fast you will grade assignments (e.g. within 1 week of turning in, unless a student hands it in late then it is up to my discretion). What are some suggestions that you have found useful? Are the two I suggested useful to your situation and why/why not?
Debbie, I like the term 'instant society' and I think that describes the situation instructors are faced with these days quite well. It is critically important that we set expectations for timing of task completion in light of this trend.
Dr. Melissa Read
I agree, we live in an"instant" society. Having the questions of time mangement in your class syallbi helps to solve this issue. Soemtimes though; students still try to push the limits; ie. finals.
Dale, Interesting observation. I wonder what it is about phone calls that takes so much time. Perhaps in your work, visuals help you explain things. Visual are things you could include in email and in person but that are hard to communicate by phone.
Dr. Melissa Read
Emails do not take much time, but I have found phone calls do. Often, I find I spend more time explaining things over the phone than I do in person. If a student asks me to call them, if it is a quick question, I will answer it. But if appears to be a long conversation, I will set up a time to meet with them in person. That way, I maintain control over my time.
Absolutely it is important to set the student's level of expectation. I think that when you have multiple classes it is important to let students know that grading may take some time. I do think though that emails and/or phone calls should be responded to as soon as possible. There is nothing worse than not understanding an assignment and not getting a response to such a question.
Emails and phone calls do not take much time. We can dedicate a half hour every day to responding to calls and emails. It can make or break the relationship with a student.
