A recent survey by The Minnesota Daily found that three out of four students prefer to e-mail professors rather than attend office hours.
On top of classes, many AU students have additional time commitments with internships, part-time jobs and extracurricular activities. The combination of these time constraints and some professors' extremely limited (in some cases nonexistent) office hours lends itself to many students' inability to attend scheduled office hours.
Even when office hours do match up with students' schedules, many are reluctant to show up if they are unsure professors will actually be there or if they expect to wait in line behind other classmates.
Some students prefer to e-mail rather than go to office hours because they are intimidated by their professors. Although AU does attract some outstanding professors with impressive resumes, the usual small class size should allow students to get to know their professors enough to overcome their fears.
Students using e-mail to communicate with professors should always remain professional and have realistic expectations about response time. Professors are valuable sources for professional contacts and recommendations and should be treated as such. Just as students shouldn't be held responsible for knowing the content of an e-mail sent hours before a class, professors should not be expected to answer e-mails right away.
