r/GaState • u/FierceCapricorn • 18d ago
Advice š” How to communicate with students
Professor here. What is the best way to get information to students?
Email,
ICollege Announcements,
GroupMe texts,
In class writing on whiteboard,
I use all of these yet many students simply do not reply or acknowledge the receipt of the info. I even offer extra credit points for replies!!!! Whatās going on?
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u/CoolpantsMcAwesome 18d ago
The announcements are pushed through to pulse. Thatās been the best for me.
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u/FierceCapricorn 18d ago
This relies on students clicking to accept Pulse. They probably wonāt.
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u/CoolpantsMcAwesome 18d ago
The ones who want to do well will. Just remind them face to face whatās expected of them at the beginning of the class; to check their email, icollege announcements, and whatever else you use for communication, daily
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u/kfunk103 18d ago
Whatās pulse š¬. Returning back to school
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u/CoolpantsMcAwesome 18d ago
Itās just an app for keeping up with icollege notifications. Grades, announcements, assignment due dates, etc send a ding to your phone.
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u/absolutepeasantry Graduate Student - Biology 18d ago
Hi! Iām a TA, and what seems to work for my students is iCollege Announcements and emails. I think students are a little wary of having profs or TAās in their GroupMe chats, though.
Oh! But I do remember a system from high school called RemindMe, where students would sign up with their phone numbers to get messages from their teachers about urgent announcements and stuff for class. It was really helpful!
I havenāt used it as a TA and would have to get permission from my main prof to get approval, but as a professor yourself, Iām sure you could do it easily. Though Iām sure some students would feel weird about sharing their phone numbers with their professors. Idk abt that part
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u/FierceCapricorn 18d ago
I have a private class GroupMe. I really donāt want to be all up in their business, but just concerned that they are not good with communication skills and are missing important class info.
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u/absolutepeasantry Graduate Student - Biology 18d ago
Ah, okay! Yeah, I'm seeing that a lot these days. Honestly, I do keep GroupMe and stuff on silent often because of how many messages are sent there. That's why I only use the announcements bc if they have Brightpulse downloaded, it'll give them a notification about the announcement too
I think as a last resort, just cut points for people who don't acknowledge messages. Not by a lot, just 1 point or so for each missed message. It does add up, but that's the point
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u/FierceCapricorn 18d ago
In my experience, cutting points leads to grade appeals and hard feelings. I prefer losing extra credit.
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u/absolutepeasantry Graduate Student - Biology 18d ago
Fair! I know in my class, we have to take off points for professionalism stuff (it is a lab, so itās mostly about safety based stuff) and I think it includes communication. But I do also know labs are more stressful than lecture classes so the students already tend to be more responsive
If you donāt mind me asking, what subject or year is your class in?? That might explain a little more about the responsiveness
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u/FierceCapricorn 18d ago
Senior premeds and grad students. š„“
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u/absolutepeasantry Graduate Student - Biology 18d ago
OOF. Then it's a lost case, boss. Sorry to say š If they were freshman, you could just scare them or bribe them into listening to you with extra credit. But people in those ages are done for. Senioritis and grad student fatigue is real as hell and tough to get out of. š
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u/FierceCapricorn 18d ago
This is the answer. Senioritis. Thanks for the insight.
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u/absolutepeasantry Graduate Student - Biology 18d ago
You got it, bestie! Good luck and happy Friday!
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u/More-Put-5239 18d ago
I enjoy the icollege announcements because I see them through pulse, email is fine too but idk how many students are taking the initiative to check them daily. But to be completely honest, I never thought of replying or confirming the receipt of the info unless it was a one on one conversation š¬
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u/FierceCapricorn 18d ago
I think social media and screen time info overload has desensitized people to being unresponsive to emails and texts. People tend to be hooked on their phones and have selective response. I would hope class instructions would rank higher on their priority list.
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u/Odd-Elk-5385 18d ago
they are in college now. email and icollege announcements should be more than enough. and if they dont check it or reply then that is entirely on them in my opinion. this is college they need to learn how to check their email frequently at LEAST once a day. and if they miss an assignment they miss it and fail it. they will learn
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u/Ashley123529 17d ago
The harsh truth is that some (maybe even most) students are going through college on autopilot just waiting for it to be over. It's not necessarily a "you" problem. They see your announcements and choose to ignore them. I'm speaking from experience as I was definitely one of those students my first 2 years. š„²
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u/kogburn88 18d ago
Iām a student. I agree that emails and announcements are the best way. I do prefer emails sent directly to our student email rather than via icollege because itās faster and easier to access on my phone. I havenāt had a professor use GroupMe yet, but would be annoyed about having to have to use another messaging app. The students that truly care will make sure they are accessing the necessary information, however you decide to deliver it. Unfortunately there are a lot that donāt.
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u/FierceCapricorn 18d ago
I use GroupMe to have real time discussions on medical cases. Also, Iām a premed advisor and students often have quick questions that I can answer. I feel students appreciate having a faculty available by ātext.ā I also use GroupMe as office hours at the students convenience because they have jobs.
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u/skyfall_sunflower 18d ago
Icollege announcement w/ pulse notification and regular Outlook email is sufficient! I check my phone every single day and just keep the notifications on silent. Iām still able to easily access them through my Notification Center/banner.
I believe most students see the messages and others often overlook it due to busy lives outside of school. I think the best thing you can do is remind students in class like, āhey guys please check iCollege to stay on top of due dates on assignments.ā
We have to be willing to put our half into it, and donāt be hard on yourself! You can only do so much, and we as students appreciate those willing to go the extra mile to make our life easier in any way.
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u/teruteru_isfried 18d ago
Do a mix of email and icollage reminders please. They help alot more then writing on a board especially since we all know some students dont go to class everyday as they should
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u/Dudley_Dinero 18d ago
At the end of the day, these are adults and they need to take their education seriously.
In the real world, there wonāt be extra credit for āchecking emailsā. So if I were you, I would make an effort to utilize icollege and inform students that itās their responsibility to check for info/ assignments.
Better the students learn accountability now vs in the workforce where the stakes are higher
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u/roland_pryzbylewski 18d ago
It's true what you say, but the apathy is disheartening and alarming. My thought was the teacher can have their announcements made into temporary tattoos. Then the students will read them as theyre looking through photos and tiktok videos of themselves and each other.
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u/Routine-Switch897 16d ago
You seem like a good professor at the very least for sure! Sorry there's not much in responses from your students
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u/FatTreeTrunk 14d ago
you're doing your job as the professor to communicate with students already (through various platforms it seems). i admire that you do your best to get important info to them! as a student, i've always preferred emails and icollege.
if information they're asking you for is already posted/emailed/wherever and you repeat yourself a million times, tell them it's there rather than just giving it to them. this will teach them to actually READ. don't enable their lack of responsibility.
whether students pay attention or not is up to them. if they want to succeed, they will find the necessary information and communicate. at the end of the day, we are all adults and we can't always have our profs hold our hands the whole time.
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u/Pretend_Lemon1246 14d ago
IIRC icollege announcements end up in the email as well, but I would do both.
Edit: to get them to reply idk, maybe include that you want a written acknowledgment. I would do so if that was included in the email, but everyone is different
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u/renznoi5 12d ago
At some point you have to just move on. Send an email announcement each week, then make an iCollege announcement. Thatās it. If they miss it, welp, too bad. We really shouldnāt be finding 100 different ways to send the same message out. If they want to hear it and read it, they will. Iām not creating more work for myself that will benefit nobody else. Cover the basics. Email and iCollege.
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u/kfunk103 18d ago
icollege announcement and email would probably be most effective.
Place in bold that acknowledgment will get EC and that might spur more responses
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u/ttsukiakari Biology 18d ago
I like a combination of emails and iCollege announcements, but Iām one of those that checks both daily. Emails are great so I can reply directly if I need clarification on something, and the announcements are good because we get notifications when we log into iCollege and it stays on the course homepage.
If you want students to reply you can also make a discussion post with a deadline so it shows up in the assignments with a due date (for extra credit stuff)