The when, where and how of contacting staff
A realistic Guide to life at UCLan - written by students!
OK, as a former SLO I know that sometimes students try to contact staff but just can’t seem to get a reply. There are no set rules at UCLan but it’s fair to say that it’s understandable to expect a response if you are trying to contact your lecturer. So the following will give you a bit of a heads up on steps to take to ensure you can communicate with your lecturers.
Seeing them face to face:
The first thing to remember is staff are not always in their office. The role of an academic is not just teaching and marking, as they have other responsibilities at UCLan.
If they are teaching staff, they should have some time allocated each week to see students. How they do this may vary; some have an appointment sheet up on their door, others have drop in times, and others may ask you to email for an appointment. You will usually find this information in the module information you are given at the beginning of the year. If not, grab them at the end of a class and ask them!
Calling staff:
Academic staff tend to have voicemail facilities on their work telephone numbers. I am terrible at voicemail messages as I talk very quickly and often people can’t understand me so learn from my mistakes.
Remember to leave a clear message don’t just say “Hi it’s Lucy, please call me back” or even worse “Hi, please call me back” (yes it does happen!). Chances are they teach more than one Lucy (it’s not just your year they teach) and they are not likely to recognise your voice!
Leave a clear message so they know who you are; full name, course / module and year; what you’re calling about and how they can reach you. Not all staff have access to the student record system and would have to contact the school office to get your details so it’s quicker to leave an email address or a number so they have the information there and then!
Emailing Staff:
When emailing staff you should be aware that the number of emails staff receive can be huge and despite most spam being filtered, staff still receive an awful lot. Many staff have filters on their email so only certain email domains will be delivered to their inbox, such as only emails from @uclan.ac.uk. Therefore if you are using another email account it may get lost in the junk.
Here are a few hints and tips to get your email answered.
1) It is best to use the UCLan email account you were provided as this makes it very clear that the email is from a UCLan student or member of staff. If you chose not to, think about the email address you’re using.
If you got an email from ‘no1hotchick@generalmaildomain.com, subject: Hi’, would you think it was spam?
2) Think about the subject line. Many staff manage the ton of emails they receive by looking at the subject line so be very clear about your email i.e. use the code allocated to the module or be very clear what the email is about i.e. “AA0001 – Assignment query”. Or “Student request for appointment”.
3) Allow time for a response. I would personally advise you allow 5 working days. Don’t wait till the day before an assignment is due in to email them!
4) Track your email. If you use the UCLan email system, you can set up tracking so you will know if your email has been delivered, read and deleted. You will then know if there are any technical problems.
5) Make sure you are not emailing about something they said they wouldn’t respond to. Sometimes academics may say they will not answer emails on particular topics such as assignments because they want all questions posted where all students can see the answers.
If you feel that you can’t ask your question in a public area, make sure you explain this in your email.
6) If you haven’t had a reply contact the school office to check that the member of staff is in work.
If they are absent or working away, the school office may be able to help you find another academic to help.
7) Let someone know you can’t get through!
Hopefully this is unlikely as the hints and tips above should ensure your email is seen. However, if you are not getting a reply try sending the email again, give it a few days and then either mention it to your course rep, who can raise the issue in the staff student liaison meetings or mention it to your SLO, who can talk to the member of staff on your behalf to find out why they haven’t replied.