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[bcantaire]

I am just wondering about how long it should take for a professor to answer e-mails and questions about material. I am in an online math class right now and my teacher only logs on once a week, if that, and it takes weeks to get any feedback. When I get feedback, it is only one sentence. I have a question on the boards that has not been answered for over two weeks, and when I write e-mails my teacher ignores them and eventually sends out a mass e-mails addressing several questions at once.
This is an accelerated class. It moves extremely fast and each new chapter builds on what we learned last chapter. I do not feel like I am getting a quality education, here.

When the class first started everything was out of order, no due dates, all the dates everywhere were wrong and it was a few weeks before it was fixed. The semester is half over, and no grades have been posted. The only guidance are some recordings made by the instructor that say what is in the book.

I have never EVER had an online instructor like this. The instructor has a different day job, so I kind of think that is what is causing this, but I am paying for my education with loans and I am not happy about it.
I feel like this situation is a good reason to choose to withdraw and take it some other time with someone else. (And perhaps find a way to get my money back...)

Am I being unreasonable???

Any thoughts on this?  ;(

[giacomo]

At my school, online professors post a communication policy indicated by when they will communicate with students. Some state within a 48-hour period while others state that they will respond only on weekdays. My policy is to respond within 48 hours although 99% of the time I respond with 24. I do not think that you are being unreasonable. If I were a student in a situation like the one you describe, I would have a conversation with the department chair. You need to know your grade before the deadline for withdrawal has passed and you the professor needs to respond to emails.

[choirguy]

Response in 48 hours is completely reasonable.  Logging in only once a week is, in my humble opinion, dereliction of duty.  I would strongly encourage you to contact the dean or director in charge of your university's online program.  Don't let this instructor's lack of attention go unchallenged till the end of the course. Your university will appreciate knowing about this instructor.  There are lots of high-quality instructors out there who would love have this person's job.   

[bcantaire]

Well, I did decide to notify the dean to ask to withdraw because I was right on a deadline for that.
I felt really guilty notifying the dean, but I would like to feel like I am really learning the material and I don't feel supported at all by this teacher. I was able to withdraw from the course and I think even receive a refund. I don't like getting people in trouble, but I was thinking that with all the PhDs I see looking for jobs on here, there must be someone who would love to do my instructors job and do it well for the students. Maybe this teacher is great in the classroom, I don't know. Hopefully they can find someone who can do a better job online. At the very least, maybe the teacher will realize that it is neglectful to act like this.

[kamiakin]

Unfortunately this is not an uncommon scenario when slacker professors teach online.

[choirguy]

Online courses take discipline from student and instructor, alike.  Many students have registered for online classes thinking that they were "walks in the park" only to find that the personal discipline and commitment required are much more than a classroom class.  The same holds true for faculty.  Don't feel bad about reporting this professor for her/his poor performance.  The university and your student colleagues appreciate it.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

The instructor has a different day job

That right there is part of the problem.  - DvF

[bcantaire]

The instructor has a different day job

That right there is part of the problem.  - DvF

Yeah. I had another teacher who had a day job and only came online once a week, BUT he participated every week in the discussion forums and read all our comments and responded. So far in the math class, we've only had one discussion post and the teacher didn't comment or anything. And the first teacher who commented also gave out his cell phone. I would call him whenever I needed to ask questions and he'd pick up right away and answer me. He was great to talk to and very helpful and never hurried the conversation.  And even though his e-mails took awhile, he never once ignored them.
It seems that a day job and teaching can be done, but that if you are going to do that, you have to make sure you make yourself available to the students.

[sporosarcina]

I teach at an online university to supplement my ever-decreasing full-time teaching gig salary (when you account for inflation).  Both my F2F and online schools have a standard 48 hours policy for responses to students, and I have never had a problem with it.  Really, it only takes a few minutes in the evening to get online and check your emails and I would assume anyone teaching online would have high-speed access.

That being said, you always have to take student complaints in the online environment with a grain of salt.  The distance between faculty and students caused by a purely online environment lends to a freedom to be more bold than normal in accusations.  I have had a number of students complain about the 'tardiness' of my response even when it is less than 12 hours (documented in the computer system).  These types of complaints usually crop up when I student waits till the last minute to look at an assignment and then fires off a frantic email mear hours before the work is do.  Not to say there are not bad apples, but it is always a two-sided story.

[msoexpert]

I've taught at places where the school or department had a policy regarding when instructors must respond. And it generally ranged from 24 to 48 hours. So within a day or two, you should hear something from your instructor.

Other places leave it up to the individual instructor as to when he or she wants to respond. I try my best to log in twice a day; once in the early morning and once again later in the evening. But depending upon my day, I may not be able to do this. However, I try extremely hard not to let any day go by without logging in.

Now I do tell my students, and have it in my syllabus, that response time during weekends and holidays may be longer. So if you write to me late on Friday, I may not be able to respond until Monday. But if it's during the week, then I try to respond within at most 2 days. The vast majority of my replies though are within 1 day at the most. But I leave that extra day as "wiggle room."

With regards to discussions, I make sure I read them pretty often. I may not read all postings, but I select a few to get an overall sense of what students are saying. Or choose ones that are incorrect or raise other questions. I've discovered over the years that the worst thing for students is to feel they have an absent professor. So I always  make sure I maintain regular contact with my students so they know I'm around!

I learned years ago that online teaching is more demanding in terms of how much time it requires from instructors. You simply can't post and then drop-off the face of the Earth. If you do, then you'll be roasted when eval time comes! And yes, you'll probably run into students who will say, "I e-mailed you 5 minutes ago and you didn't respond."

The bottom line is that students want to feel their instructor is present and actively engaged in class. So you have to participate often enough to make them feel that way. And in my experience, letting any more than 2 days go by during the week without student contact is a killer!

[justaprofessor2]

The policy where I work is we have 48 working hours and this is posted in the syllabus.  However, I have found when I go by this I get bad reviews on my evaluations that students turn in and these are used to determine a certain amount of our raises (I'm told anyway).  So, basically I am on-line everyday even on the days where I am sick and call in.  This may be why I'm burned out though, so I don't think it is a good policy that I have.

[mathprofdk]

However, I have found when I go by this I get bad reviews on my evaluations that students turn in

This may partly be due to a lack of communication regarding your policy.  If they're asked to think about it, most students don't really expect you to reply within 10 minutes.  You need to give a clear explanation of your policy (I use 24 hours, but 48 should be OK).  It's also good to include some times when you're sure to be online and will reply within 15 minutes.

[medieval_spectacle]

The place at which I'm about to start teaching mandates that instructors log in to their classrooms every 48 hours minimum, and that they take no more than 48 hours to respond to any student communications, whether e-mails or discussion board posts. OP, check your student handbook--you may be able to find some guideline like that. When I actually start teaching at my new place, I think I'll try to make explicit what my own response time is likely to be within that window--it sounds like that might be a good way to forestall student complaints.

[magistra]

However, I have found when I go by this I get bad reviews on my evaluations that students turn in

This may partly be due to a lack of communication regarding your policy.  If they're asked to think about it, most students don't really expect you to reply within 10 minutes.  You need to give a clear explanation of your policy (I use 24 hours, but 48 should be OK).  It's also good to include some times when you're sure to be online and will reply within 15 minutes.

Chime.  It's ok to let them know that it'll take longer over weekends -- tell them that you're taking Saturdays off and stick to it if you're feeling burnt out.  As long as you tell them it's not a big deal.  I choose Saturdays because they're not going to be online either -- it just recognizes that you all have lives.  (I'm assuming you don't have any major assignments due the next day).

Regular online office hours can also help.

[cmdenes]

I state in my syllabus that I will answer anything in the "Ask the Instructor" Discussion Board or an email within 2 days. However, I usually log in about 2-3 times per day and tend to answer within 10 hours. The 48 hours in an outside limit for me, just in case I get sick or my computer goes down.