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[leyah]

How do you deal with excessive communication from a student who emails nearly daily, or several times a day, asking for clarifications and explanations? Is that disruption of teaching?
I'm not talking about what many students do. I'm talking about ONE student who always has a problem with everything, unlike everyone else. She is essentially a bully. No favor, feedback, help, sample or example is ever enough.
This is a student who jumps on every opportunity to abuse class time by constantly asking for personal attention and feedback on her assignments. This is a student who emails me at 11 p.m. with a request to meet the next day and fully expects that it's going to happen. This is a student who asks questions in one class about assignments in another class in which she is enrolled. This is a student who makes up stories about what I "told" her (claiming a deadline extension).
This is a student who does not take "no" for an answer -- she is just going to email me again and again. She is the author of more than half (perhaps 80 percent?) of all student emails I've received this semester.
My chair thinks there is no crime in asking questions, but I feel that's affecting my ability to work efficiently and give my time to other students. Can't find any university policy to deal with this, but I dread opening my email or seeing this student. Suggestions?

[svenc]

I've had two truly over-the-top students in this regard.  One was an extreme grade-grubber who also felt it was her right to ask me 30 questions about every assignment, the other appears to have been guilty of the poor taste to have a crush on Prof. Svenc.  In both cases, after a week or two I made sure to stop answering the emails promptly.  I answered them, but after a day or two.  The frequency of emails declined in both cases.

In the case you describe, I suggest telling the student you will no longer correspond with her over email about anything, and that if she has specific questions she needs to come by office hours.  Then set up  a mail filter rule so that you don't even see any future messages.

[andreapsy]

DSM-IV Axis II.

proceed with caution. :)

[kedves]

I've had some obnoxious, hostile emailing from students, but not at the level of this sort of problem.  It must be stressful.

I would probably limit the student to one email per day (or one per class day) with some rules:  email must be civil, clear, and appropriate, or it will not be answered; if the email meets those guidelines, it will be answered within 24 or 48 hours (whatever you like), no guarantee of earlier; if it's only to comment, not to ask a question or convey essential information, will be replied to only with "Noted;" if a question better answered in class, that you will reply with an email to that effect, etc.  Then I would ignore the emails that didn't meet the guidelines.  I also have language in my syllabus about not replying to email requests for an assignment grade change (must be in writing) and not responding at all to requests for course grade change.

I would avoid spending time on the student on a daily basis, not only to spend my time better but so I could stay even-tempered.

Good luck with this.

On preview:  Svenc's delay-response sounds good.

[bread_pirate_naan]

I require students to identify and exchange phone numbers or email addresses with a "study buddy."  The study buddy is the first line of defense person to ask about the course (what was missed in class, assignments, expectations).  The study buddy is someone with whom one can confer and solve problems.  Study buddies are mandatory in my classes.

That way you can respond, "What did your SB think?"  Even bullies won't ask stupid, solvable questions of self-selected peers.  Peers can help them, shut them down, or the problem student will it figure out independently without asking anyone.  Sometimes, both (or many) students are confused about a concept or assignment and SB conferencing can help you clarify your teaching.

[ms_turtle]

I use a lot of the good ideas already mentioned. I also only respond to emails during normal business hours. It helps.

[hiddendragon]

Delay answering the email as it's been suggested by others here.  When you do answer, keep your emails short and to the point--"yes", "no", or "okay" would suffice.  If you have to explain in more than three sentences, just say, "Could you meet in my office for these types of question. It's kind of hard to explain via email." 

They will eventually lose the fetish of emailing you when you stop entertaining them with long emails.

I once had a disruptive student who asks for clarification of what I had just said every five or ten minutes.  I was so annoyed by her, but then realized she probably has some psychological issues.  If I said, "turn in your assignment tomorrow."  She'd immediately raise her hand and say, "When do we turn in our assignment?"  If I said, "The wall is blue."  She'd say, "What color is it?"  The other students even got frustrated with her and started to yell at her, "She just said....!!!!!"

[mountainguy]

I once had a disruptive student who asks for clarification of what I had just said every five or ten minutes.  I was so annoyed by her, but then realized she probably has some psychological issues.  If I said, "turn in your assignment tomorrow."  She'd immediately raise her hand and say, "When do we turn in our assignment?"  If I said, "The wall is blue."  She'd say, "What color is it?"  The other students even got frustrated with her and started to yell at her, "She just said....!!!!!"

I have a similar student this semester. She is actually quite bright and does moderately well on exams (B+/A- range), but she can't see the forest through the trees to save her life. If there were a sign in front of her that said "Mountainguy National Forest," she'd ask me "Professor Mountainguy, why are there so many trees here?" More to the point, she spent twenty minutes in office hours this afternoon quizzing me on inane details from course lectures, like "what's the difference between an example and a detail?" and "I don't understand what [XYZ] theory is." I replied that [XYZ] theory was discussed in an article we read, and she said, "I read the article and I didn't understand it." I asked her what part of it she didn't understand and she replied "all of it." I told her to come back tomorrow with examples of X, Y, and Z components and we'd take it from there. She replied, "what's an example again?"

I suppose psychological issues are possible, but I think it may have more to do with a lack of academic maturity. The student is a sophomore, but very young--no older than 18, I'd say.

Back to the original point of the thread . . . like other posters have suggested, don't gratify frequent e-mailers with immediate responses. Also, if a student really does seem to have a problem with sending unprofessional e-mails, I will gently but firmly counsel them that their e-mails are inappropriate and reflect poorly on them as students. Most of them stop after that.