E-Mail Contact With Teachers Rare

 January 17, 2001

 By SUSAN STELLIN

With e-mail consistently ranked as the number one

application used on the Internet, and an increasing number

of K-12 teachers gaining access to the Internet in their

classrooms, at first glance it seems logical that e-mail

would soon be used as a regular form of communication

between teachers and their students.

In some school districts, that may be the case, but

teachers and administrators say there are a few barriers

standing in the way of widespread electronic communication

in K-12 settings. For starters, even though most teachers

have e-mail accounts provided by their school districts,

many districts don't provide e-mail addresses to students,

often because of liability concerns. And even in areas

where a majority of students have e-mail accounts at home,

another issue is the limited time teachers have during the

day to sit at a computer and answer e-mail.

That said, educators say e-mail has opened up another

channel of communication between teachers and parents, as

well as among teachers and administrators in their schools.

And in some cases, teachers are using e-mail to accept

assignments or discuss a project with a student.

"I think we are seeing the beginnings of teachers accepting

work from students via e-mail attachments as an option,"

said Hank Becker, professor of education at the University

of California at Irvine, in an e-mail interview. "But the

lack of universal access by students will limit this

medium's use as a 'required' mode for some time -- except

in high-income settings."

Sarah McNamara, who teaches humanities and English at East

Grand Rapids High School, a public school in Michigan, said

she occasionally uses e-mail to communicate with students

-- for example, if a student is out of town and needs to

turn in an assignment while away. But for the most part,

she said, she uses e-mail more often to communicate with

parents, who might send a message to ask how their child is

doing or find out the homework assignment if a student is

out sick.

In those cases, Ms. McNamara said answering an e-mail

message is often "easier than having to call the parent

back," particularly since a phone call can result in

several messages back and forth. But e-mail's efficiency

can also lead to e-mail overload -- a problem for teachers

who generally have just an hour of preparation time each

day to handle such administrative tasks.

"I don't know what I'd do if people were using it to

communicate with me extensively," Ms. McNamara said. "I'd

probably feel pressed for time."

That concern is echoed by Kris Rust, a music teacher at

Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Penn. Mr.

Rust said he has given out his e-mail address to students

-- for example, to communicate with chorus officers about

an upcoming meeting -- but he said he uses e-mail more

often to communicate with parents or colleagues.

Mr. Rust said one of the benefits of e-mail is that it is

now easier to communicate with administrators and other

teachers -- a challenge in a work setting where teachers

spend most of their day in separate classrooms. As an

example, he cited the school's daily e-mail bulletin, which

lists the names of students who are out sick, and includes

announcements from other teachers, such as a note from an

art teacher looking for milk cartons for a class project.

Before e-mail, he said, a teacher would have to send a note

down to the main office requesting that an announcement be

included in the print bulletin that was circulated, but

that e-mail made the whole process easier.

Jim Hirsch, assistant superintendent for technology for the

Plano school district in Texas, said e-mail's ability to

facilitate communication between colleagues was one of the

biggest benefits of having computers and Internet access in

schools, and that the district had taken precautions to

make sure e-mail overload didn't become an issue.

"Our teachers are very concerned about it and that's why we

have processes in place," Mr. Hirsch said. The district's

policy is that teachers are expected to answer e-mail and

voicemail messages within 24 hours, which can be done

during the instructor's preparation period, or during the

time before and after school when teachers are expected to

be in the classroom.

In a world where many people are becoming accustomed to

instant communication in their workplaces, however, that

turnaround time is not always fast enough for some parents.

Mr. Hirsch said the bulk of the e-mail traffic in the Plano

school district comes from parents, and given that the

typical secondary school teacher has about 150 students,

those numbers can add up quickly.

But given the nature of the job, teaching is one profession

where dealing with e-mail takes a backseat to other duties.

Or as Mr. Hirsch said, "We don't want teachers to stop

instruction to answer e-mail."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/17/technology/17EDUCATION.html?ex=1032607961&ei=1&en=cac1ba1343699e6a