I communicate exclusively through the course management system.

Keith A. Maxwell, J.D.
Professor Emeritus of Legal Studies and Ethics in Business
Nat S. and Marian W. Rogers Professor (Emeritus)
University of Puget Sound
Tacoma, WA
http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/maxwell/home.htm (archived)

Adjunct Professor of Business Law
Dixie State College
Saint George, UT
https://www.dixie.edu/business/maxwell.php
________________________________________
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael O'Hara [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 10:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Why won't they check email?

ALSBTALK:

I don't Tweet.  I don't Facebook.  I do have a LinkedIn page, but do not use it to initiate contact nor to sustain contact.  I immediately switch to email.

Ease of use, especially in terms of creating a closed community, is why students do not use email.

It's ease of use (not yours, theirs) that prompts complaining students to not use email and beg for Facebook.

Email could come from anyone, for example a Nigerian prince with an unusual tale of woe hoping for help from a kindly soul in exchange for a handsome reward.  I would not dare to say students rank emails from their faculty above those from such royalty.

In contrast, Facebook communications are from "friends" and the reply chain is pre-set.  Just hit send.

"The students" want the faculty to create a Facebook page for the class.  Unless, of course, you actually ask 100% of the students, whereupon you will discover [a] the digital divide often lurks unseen, and [b] some digital sophisticates loathe "social" media.  Those students that want to use Facebook and want to Tweet want it enough to create a buzz.  Those students not yet addicted, er, I mean enamored with those tools do not complain about not being annoyed.

What do I do?

The first day of class I explain the difference between [1] actual knowledge, [2] receipt of notice, and [3] reason to know.  And, I point out the university was not genuinely generous in "giving" a free email account; no, the university was designing a channel of communication wherein the university could make the student liable.  I end with, "Read it, or lose before you start."  Do they then read it with any regularity?  Don't be silly, they are students.  But, do they tolerate the subsequent lose with understanding when reminded their own actions denied them actual knowledge when the university reasonably believed they had receipt of notice?  Yes.  And the lesson is learned for life.

Oh, as for that expectation, wholly unreasonable, of instantaneous feedback, I have solution for that as well.  Send an email with an extra credit opportunity the second week of call.  Offer any small amount of extra credit points to students responding to the email, with those points declining rapidly as the time stamped time increases on your received email (e.g., 20 points if 1 minute or less; 10 points if 10 minutes or less; 5 points if 60 minutes or less; and 1 point otherwise).  Your purpose is not points.  Your purpose is evidence provided by the student that the student does, in fact, receive and have access to received email.  Don't tell 'em your purpose until all have replied, which means you will have to point out to laggards that points still can be earned.  The what's good for the goose is good for the gander is so obvious that you need not say it.  And, of course, you will be delighted if the students wish to explore whether material differences between the goose and the gander require equal protection differential treatment so that dissimilarly situated persons are not treated similarly.

Michael

Professor  Michael  J.  O'Hara, J.D., Ph.D.
Mammel Hall 228
Finance, Banking, and Real Estate Department
College of Business Administration
University of Nebraska at Omaha
6708 Pine Street
Omaha  NE  68182
http://cba.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/ohara.htm
402_554_2823  voice    fax  402_554_2680 (not private)
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www.A-R-E-A.org
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