Giving Student Instructor Phone Number
The course indicated that instructor should not give students their phone number. I disagree with this. I give my cell number to my online students. This eliminates problems especially when they are taking proctored exams.
Jason,
This is interesting. This really is a personal choice. I don't use it as I have students (particularly nontraditional students) will use this to avoid online learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I do agree with this , there just has to be specific guidelines set for this to work like I tell my students not to call during certain times.
Loretta,
Great idea! I am going to look at Google Voice! Course design should help reduce phone calls but I have had problems with nontraditional students that want to use phones as the way for learning despite the resources online. It is interesting the institutional standards that you abide by.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
In my organization, I am required to give students our phone number for them to contact me. I can see the advantages for this and I can see the disadvantages for this too. We are given 24 hours to respond to a student's voice-mail Monday through Thursday and we are given 48 hours on Friday and Sunday to respond to a student's voice-mail.
I share the thoughts where students may not use their resources in the classroom appropriately and choose to call their instructor. I have been teaching online classes for two years. I am fortunate that my students to take the responsibility to look for the resources in their classroom first.
I use Google Voice for my students to reach me. This is a great tool to keep track of messages and calls that you have received from students. I find that some of my students may need a little guidance via phone but after they have their question(s) answered at the beginning of the class, they are usually self-driven for success and follow my announcements and the weekly roadmaps.
Margaret,
It really depends on your comfort level and your workload capabilities. I understand your point of view.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
While I support the concerns as mentioned here in the many forum comments, I prefer that students have access to reach me including phone numbers and the ability to text when there are immediate questions, it promotes communication and builds trust between online student and professor in my experience.
Lauren,
We are on the same page. I have experienced the abuse of the phone!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Kelly,
I would like to agree that I am not a huge fan of using cell phone numbers because of the fact that they are frequently abused and other means of communication become secondary.
Lauren Dotson
Amos,
I think that is a great idea. It does protect your personal info. Good suggestion!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Judy,
I have recently started using an intermediate such as Google voice where another number is generated and forwards the message to your phone. Have you considered that as an option?
Sarah,
I agree with you. I try to keep all of my communication through email. That way I keep a record of the communication.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
This has been my experience too - that the phone is relied on at the expense of other tools.
It seems like this is a balancing act to make sure that it is there when needed or another tool isn't solving the issue but to make sure it isn't used at the expense of the LMS and other resources.
-Sarah
Craig,
My experience is the same as yours. It seems that my nontraditional students use the phone as a way to try to get around using the LMS.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Judy,
Wow! I personally struggle with this. I do have a colleague that does give her number but only to use as a text and she sets limits on that. She says it works very well for her.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I do not give out personal phone numbers to my online students. I have a phone number that is provided by the university that only goes to an answering machine, so students can leave messages in emergencies. I have communicated via telephone on occasion, but only in those special situations.
My previous experience was that some students will use the telephone method for all communications and not learn how to use the systems that will be most common to them in online coursework. I also found that those students who used the telephone the most were those who procrastinated and the calls would be late at night right before the deadlines. This didn't seem to be teaching them how to schedule their time so they could deal with problems when they came up.
I have had both.... I have had responsible students who respected my privacy and time and another (only one) that called for everything he needed in another teacher's class- long after mine! I like for my students to have the support or safety net of being able to ask a question voice to voice in real time. (Hum, maybe I shouldn't be so critical of the student who kept my number. Maybe his current instructor didn't give him that security!)
Fred,
I think that is really an instructor call. I am not a fan of phone numbers as I have had students who use that as a replacement for using the course tools. This can be controlled by good course policies.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
