I'll just e-mail you

In an age dominated by electronic communication, students and professors are increasingly looking towards e-mail as a substitute for meeting face to face outside of class.

College students will forever have questions that need answering and a class block is only so much time. Office hours can be the perfect opportunity to seek out professors to get those questions answered. They are (usually) a guaranteed time and place to find that otherwise elusive professor. However, with the growing use of e-mail, many students choose to stick to the faceless communication.

While professors diligently hold their office hours each week, many students find e-mailing professors to be just as effective. However, students say that the type of question determines the means of communication.

"I find that most general day to day stuff is easier to work out through e-mail" said sophomore Jordan Levie. "Most of my intellectual questions are answered in class."

If students don't see the need for face to face interaction, many professors haven't forgotten the value of office hours. "E-mail is an awkward medium for any teaching dialogue which really gets into course material" physics professor Anthony Mann said.

Other professors insist that office hours are an ideal place for students to get to know them better-- something which does not take place over e-mail. "You can say a lot more face to face. It shows real interest", English professor Jonathan Strong said. "Office hours are an underused resource, and it's too bad students are sometimes reluctant to come in."

Tufts' professors are obligated by the University to hold regular office hours each week, one hour for every course they teach.

Many professors choose to exceed this minimum, however, offering more opportunities for student-professor interaction. Strong currently makes himself available for twice the amount of time required. "[Meeting with your professors] is an important part of the college experience," Strong said.

Strong is a unique example, in that he doesn't even have an e-mail account. His students therefore have no alternative but to seek him out in-person.

Despite their availability, many professors feel that office hours remain an underused resource on campus: "Tufts students really don't take advantage of office hours as much as I would've guessed," Holcomb said.

Professors cite the growing use of e-mail as the source of lessened personal interaction and use of office hours. "E-mail has reduced students seeking me out," psychology professor Phillip Holcomb said.

Students have found hidden benefits in interacting with their professors outside the classroom. Reasons for seeking out professors vary greatly, ranging from "sucking up" to "genuine problems with the related materials", according to sophomore Ralph Lerman.

Professors readily agree that students who make the effort to seek them out do appear to be more motivated. "Some students come in just to talk, which I encourage" Strong said.

Although personal interaction is encouraged, many find that the most effective way to contact a professor is often dictated by circumstances. Many students would be lost without e-mail when last minute questions come up and desperately need to be answered.

"I feel it depends both on the nature of the question and the time of day the student needs the question answered", mathematics professor Marjorie Hahn said. "E-mails are great for getting help in the evening or on weekends."

"An e-mail can be effective if the answer is straightforward and short," Lerman said. "It wouldn't be fair to ask a professor 'can you explain the history of the world from 0 AD to present?'"

Office hours aren't the only venue for face-to-face communication. Many professors have tried to reach out to student in more comfortable settings.

"Sometimes professors are nice enough to take their students to lunch instead of plain old office hours", sophomore Heather Fuerstman said. "My child development professor did. I think that really helps."

Interaction outside the standard campus setting can help demystify the unapproachable professor. Art and art history professors organize museum trips to supplement lectures, engineering classes take trips to Boston biotechnology firms, and geology classes are known to take trips to check out the rocks they are studying. In the eyes of many students who are too apprehensive to attend office hours to simply chat, these professor-led trips are beneficial.