Last Minute Emails
Wednesday December 19, 2007
Many of you may not be aware that I'm a professor by day, Gradschool Guide by night. It's finals week and, in one of my classes, I assigned a major paper in place of a final. The paper was due at 8am this morning. Over the last three days I have received no questions about the assignment. I log into my email this morning to find more than a handful of messages sent between the hours of 2am and 6am this morning from students inquiring about the paper or other missing assignments. Yikes! The paper was due at 8am and I logged in shortly after then. Do students really think that when they send an email at 2am they'll receive a reply before morning?
Moreover, it is students' responsibility to examine and consider paper assignments as they receive them and well before the due date so that, if questions arise, they can obtain responses and complete the assignment on time. This piece of info is likely late for many of you who have already completed the semester, but keep it in mind for next semester. Also remember that it's unreasonable to expect a professor to respond to your email within 24 hours - many of my colleagues promise to reply within 48-72 hours instead.
Also see: Email ettiquite
How to Approach a Professor for Help
Comments
Hi Tara,
I was smiling when reading your blog. I remember that I experienced similar problem when I was a faculty member years ago. I did angry once and punished the student who did last minute thing.
Now I am still facing similar situation with my team members (I work in consulting now), especially the young ones, who did things without or with less ownership. Yes, to me your case, i.e., asking questions between 2-6 AM just before the deadline of the paper which is 8 AM, showing no or little ownership.
Well in my case, I usually talked to my members to improve their attitude which will in the end improving their performance. Some managed to improve. The rest usually ended up leaving my team
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In your case, I think it’s different. You can not just kick out a student for not having ownership of their tasks, i.e., paper, right? Because it is their own responsibility to finish their course (or getting their degrees)by whatever speed they want, whatever attitude. In my case, it is me who responsible to deliver the project on time, on budget
My you (professor) should not be in haste in giving such an assignment without building your errors or technology errors. The student shouldn’t need to suffer. If you (professor) expect the student to do the proof reading of your final assignment in such a short tie, shame on your capacity and planning. The student has other other classes to be responsible for within their capacity.
Hi Tara,
Well stated. Students at the graduate level should be competent enough to read and understand the assignments, as well as reasonable email etiquette. It is not college. The expectation is that at the graduate level the student should be capable of understanding and operating in a high pressure environment. The standard that you delineate is reasonable. Graduate studies are meant to be more difficult and it is here that the separation of high caliper students is worked out. As a graduate level student about to enter into a PhD program your advise has been extremely helpful and you assessment of student abilities is spot on. Thank you for the extra time you put in as the guide for About.com.
this sounds like typical undergrad behavior to me. If their grad students, then double shame on them. I would guess that if they were writing you at 2am the day that the paper’s due, they probably don’t expect to get their questions answered before they finish. Odds are, what they really want is an extension.
Here’s what happened. About 2 or 3 in the morning student x said to him or herself something like the following:
“I’m tired. There is no way I’m getting this paper done tonight. But wait! If I email her now, at least Dr. K. won’t be able to say that I didn’t TRY to get ahold of her before the deadline.”
Email makes this sort of logic possible. A student can “communicate” with you without giving you the opportunity to say no until it’s pretty much too late. They essentially defer your answer to their request for an extension, and by the time check your email, you almost feel guilty saying “no.”
I think the best way to avoid this is to make it clear from day one that will not accept last minute extensions, especially at finals time when you need to be getting grades turned in.
Hi everyone. Great comments - my take is along the lines of Brian’s comment. It was an undergrad class, but that’s no excuse in my book. The syllabus as well as the assignment sheet notes that late work isn’t accepted (in bold everywhere) and I don’t accept late work throughout the semester, so it shouldn’t be all that suprising that a 2am email isn’t going to be all that effective.
I think most instuctors encounter this: articulating (and repeating) clear expectations and guidelines is important, but there will always be a handful of students who send hopeful 2am emails. I just like to gripe about it