Student Tips

Positive behaviors (or, what you SHOULD do)

  1. Use the correct title. Dr. or Professor is usually appropriate, while Mr. or Ms. is not.
  2. Identify yourself. When you contact professors by telephone or email, always include your name and which class you are in. We can't necessarily tell who you are just by your email address (studmuffin83@aol doesn't give us much to go on).
  3. Read the syllabus. The answers to your questions can often be found there!
  4. Know when office hours are. Again, read the syllabus.
  5. Come ask us questions when you need to. Our main reason for being here is to help you learn, and we can only do that if you come and ask.
  6. Attend class. Attendance is not optional, even if it doesn't formally contribute to your grade. If it were optional, there'd be no point in having class.
  7. Participate in class. Ask questions, share experiences, raise your hand. Show that you care about the class.
  8. Take responsibility for yourself. If you don't understand something, come ask us about it. If you didn't do well on a test, go over it with the professor and evaluate your own study habits. You have to spend time and effort to fix your problems.

Negative behaviors (or, what you SHOULD NOT do)

  1. Don't make excuses. Don't blame your problems on class schedules, sports, work, mean professors, hard tests, etc. Don't try to "excuse" your performance by thinking that you're "just no good" at math or at taking tests. We expect you to be adults who take responsibility for your own learning.
  2. Don't ask to do "extra work." Letting you do something extra is extremely unfair to everyone else in the class who is not given that opportunity.
  3. Don't do other things during class. This is very disrespectful. We are not TV shows that you can choose to ignore when they are not entertaining enough for you.
  4. If you missed class, don't ask "Did I miss anything?" Of course you did! Do you think we all just sat around exchanging recipes because you weren't there?
  5. If you lose points on an exam, don't claim it's because you didn't "say it the way the professor wanted." We want you to give a clear and correct answer. If you don't do that, you won't get the credit. It's not a matter of what "we" want. It's a matter of communicating your knowledge clearly.

These webpages are in no manner representative of official University policy, positions, or the University in general. Likewise, official University policy, positions, and the University in general do not necessarily represent my views.
©1999-2009 Wendy Braje