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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm just an adjunct, teaching at a state U, so take this FWIW. I agree with A LOT of what the SLAC professor wrote upthread. Our populations have similar challenges. I hear similar reflections from colleagues.

I think everyone has pretty well covered that these young adults have expectations that they will be coddled. They don't know how to take notes, either from reading material or lectures, expect that they will get study guides, that reading through that at the last minute is sufficient to do well in class (it's necessary, but not sufficient), that the assigned reading is somehow optional, ....

I make myself quite available to help out my students, but am never taken up on this, until the end of semesters, when all of a sudden, half the class wants to know how they can bring their grades up, could I give them extra credit, can I read drafts of their work before submission, etc.  Then there are the thousand questions about how the grading actually works, what the class rules are, what's covered in class (!!!). Things that are explained on the first day of class, and talked about periodically.

Additionally, a lot of students have absolutely no idea how to interact with their teachers. One does not address their instructors as one would their peers (there might be exceptions for grad students). There is an expectation that emails use correctly spelled words, in proper context, with decent grammar, and punctuation. It's not the same as texting one's friends. Emails have to be signed with their name. One does not call in mommy and daddy if things go sideways. I could go on. If the parents just taught their kids some basic life skills, and instilled decent study habits, life would be so much easier.[/quote]

OP / thanks you Adjunct Prof! I don’t think you should say “just” since adjuncts do so much of the teaching at many universities and you probably have a very good idea of what is going on.

We will probably encourage DC to get writing skills coaching prior to college.  I agree that texting style communication is not appropriate for communicating with professors and TAs.

I will add “talk to professors and TAs early on in semesters”  as advice for DC.

We are working on the life skills and study habits. I don’t plan on contacting professors or TAs (and never did for older DC).

It is very helpful to hear from college professors such as yourself about how our children can get more out of their college years.

Thank you [/quote]

In an interesting coincidence, communications with professors came up among colleagues today. Because one received an email starting with 'Hey!'. Others piped in with their experiences - 'Hey First Name!', 'Yo!', 'Yo First Name', and so on. What was sad is that one said that when students would write like this, she would write a gentle response to essentially say that it's her job as an educator to make sure that her kids learned how to write in a professional manner, and then offer her corrections, but has stopped doing so due to antagonistic responses from previous students. I'm happy to say that I have never had students respond negatively to corrections of that sort, although a not insignificant percentage would ignore it.[/quote]

When you send emails to coworkers you use formal language?[/quote]

Depends on the coworker, how they’re addressed. Regardless of my relationship with them, the way I write to them professionally, is absolutely more formal than when I say, text them.

Professors are not a peer group for students.[/quote]

Professors should explain how emails work in real life and not every email is a formal address. It's a waste of time.

I just checked my emails from professors and 1/10 of them start with "Hey" or "Can you call me" or "Hello". Which are all fine for this type of communication. Email is transitory, quick form of communication. It's not a letter, they are having a conversation.

If they are asking for something formal like a letter of recommendation sure it should be formal, but if it simply is asking a question about an assignment it's not formal. [/quote]

Emails have become more like snail mail of yore, so yes, there needs to be some amount of formality surrounding it. You cannot suddenly go from writing to your teachers as if they're your peers, to writing formally when you need something from them. People form impressions of you from how you communicate with them. As a student, if you are hoping to make a good impression (and possibly get a letter of recommendation at some point), it is important to at least make an attempt to sound serious and professional in your communications.  I also don't believe that students can address professors in a way that professors can address them (although I would NEVER start an email to a student with 'Hey'); Hello is acceptable, as are 'Prof. X,', 'Dr. X', and so on.  This is what I tell my child as well.[/quote]

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