Professor of Political Science and LJST Austin Sarat noted the benefits of e-mail. "I use e-mail a lot in order to contact students. I'll send students questions to consider or newspaper articles relating to what we're doing in class," he said. "In my first-year seminar, I started to e-mail students before classes even started in order to give them something to think and talk about." He added, "When students send questions through e-mail, that alerts me that they have not understood a concept."
Professor of Physics Robert Hilborn expressed similar thoughts. "E-mail has been tremendously useful in getting word out to students in classes about updates on assignments, reminders about deadlines and queries about missing lab reports," said Hilborn.
Assistant Professor of LJST Adam Sitze discussed how e-mails increase his interest in the material that he teaches. "My own experience has been that students' questions spur me to return to, and to enter more deeply into, material that I already have a desire to understand," he said.
Sitze added that e-mail allows students to ask more questions without feeling any restraint. "Some students leave office hours having said that they understand a given point ... in order not to disappoint their professor, in order not to give the appearance of being confused ... without actually understanding it," he said. "E-mail gives students time to digest what I've said, to mull it over or ruminate on it, and, above all, to doubt or question it."
Students, in discussing the benefits of interacting with their professors via e-mail, explained that e-mails increase flexibility and improve time-management. "E-mail is convenient for questions that come up at random times. When professors have rigid and inconvenient office hours, e-mail comes in handy as a means of asking questions," said Erin Chung '09.
Casey Guenthner '08 agreed with Chung. "The greatest advantage of e-mail is flexibility. Students can contact professors at any time of the day and professors can reply at their convenience. It saves everyone time and makes coordinating professors' and students' schedules less of an issue," he said.
Several professors discussed differences between face-to-face interaction and interaction with students via e-mail. "I make a standard announcement at the beginning of each course I teach, stating my "minimalist" approach to e-mail," said Sitze. "I prefer to use it only to schedule appointments and to answer logistical questions. Face-to-face discourse is superior, in my perspective, not only from the standpoint of the management of time, but also from the standpoint of the semiotic richness of face-to-face discourse itself."
Hilborn also expressed similar opinion. "E-mail seems to be great for issues dealing with course content. Face-to-face conversations are much better in trying to work on student understanding of concepts and dealing with personal difficulties," said Hilborn.
Professor of Fine Arts Joel Upton stated that e-mails increase the efficiency of sharing information. "E-mails serve the purpose of a quick turn around of information," he said. "They are not in any way comparable to direct encounter."
Professor of English and Russian Dale Peterson noted that e-mail allows students to contact professor when their schedules make a meeting impossible. "Amherst students have never made as much use of office hours as they might," said Peterson. "Given the complicated scheduling of classes, extracurricular activities, late afternoon lectures and events, it is understandable that most students only appear in offices for a professor's signature or emergency advice."
However, Stephen Xue '06 stated that e-mail could often be inappropriate. "If I have to ask for extension for an essay, personally I will choose to go talk to the professor instead of simply e-mailing him or her," he said. "An e-mail asking for extension lacks personal appeal, and will probably be ignored."
Sitze stated that conversations in person relayed more information about a student's comprehension to the professor than e-mail. "There is actually more 'writing' in face-to-face discourse than there is in e-mail: nodding, wincing, laughing and frowning are all ways of marking, in an admittedly ambiguous fashion, the kind and degree of comprehension that is or isn't taking place," said Sitze. He explained that e-mail permits him to choose his words more carefully, but also said that e-mail can kill tone and can be written under rushed circumstances leading to miscommunication problems.
Hilborn addressed student concern that professors do not respond to e-mail quickly. "I have disciplined myself not to read e-mail every five minutes, particularly in the evening and while traveling. As long as students don't get to expect instantaneous responses, the system works well," said Hilborn.
Students expressed difficulties in deciding what to include in an e-mail, before actually sending it to the professor. "I always agonize over exactly what to include in an e-mail to a professor. You can't write to a professor the same way you'd write to your friends or parents, but I'm never sure how formal it should be," said Marissa Drehobl '09. "I usually end up saying the bare minimum to get my point across while at the same time hoping I don't seem rude."
Students and professors discussed what categorizes the boundaries established between professors and students. "I think each faculty member has the right to set whatever 'e-mail policy' he or she would like," said Professor of Chemistry David Hansen. Chung agreed stating, "I really think it should be up to individual professors to determine and make clear in class what the boundaries of proper e-mails are."
"If a student e-mail is pertinent to the subject matter of a given course, it should eventually receive a reply. If it is wildly extraneous-if a student enrolled in a course on legal theory should write to chat about the Red Sox-then there's no reason to reply, though, naturally, a courteous and curt response would be more polite," said Sitze.
Casey Guenthner '08 concluded, stating, "If a professor is concerned about keeping his students at a 'healthy distance,' then perhaps he needs to reconsider his career choice. This is especially true for professors at Amherst. Students come here with expectations that they will be able to form close relationships with their professors."