Do Professors Send the Internet Friend Requests?

As of 2011, the Internet plays a large role in the lives of many college students. Whether we want to admit it or not, we depend on it. It is how students reach out to old friends, stay in touch with current ones, and access information as quickly as possible – especially in the busy world of college.

This applies not only to our social lives, but to our academic lives as well. For instance, many students now use email to contact their professors – which they do not necessarily mind.

"Email is an excellent means of communication especially for quick questions or to let me know they will be absent or late," says Laura Fox, a theatre professor at Harford Community College in Bel Air, Maryland. "It is also great for allowing students to send their papers/homework electronically." She adds, "I think my students interact with me more than I ever did with my professors, and email is a big reason why. It makes it easier for them to ‘talk' to me and is less scary and more convenient than coming to my office."

But some aspects of the high usage of the Internet by students concern professors as well, especially when it comes to research for essays and papers. Fox's concern is that "they do not evaluate the quality of the sources they choose. Often, if a source says what they want to hear, they will choose that source regardless of who or what it is."

Dr. Lyle Weiss, a religious studies professor at the College of Notre Dame, agrees that the Internet can be used far too often for papers." The use of books and peer-reviewed professional journals are the best sources for scholarly research. There is much on the Internet that is of no or little value that has not been through a review process for publication that would validate it as a serious resource for research."

As head of the Academic and Career Enrichment Center (ACE), Diane MacKenzie McCann sees the impact of the Internet on the students she deals with quite often. She sees the Internet as something that, whether positive or negative, is something we have to accept. "The Internet is a new phenomenon that is all about connections, one way to get in touch (with prospective employers) - however, there are other ways."

McCann is also concerned that the casual nature of emailing and social media has made students forget how they should approach professors and professional contacts. "Students need to polish their professionalism. The Internet makes them too informal." She also believes that students put too much public information on social networking sites that might hurt them in the eyes of future employers – as well as their current professors who might happen to come across certain pictures or posts.

According to McCann, it would help if professors would discuss social networking with their students. The ACE Center, meanwhile, is doing its part to make sure students know how to use the Internet in relation to school and work - there is a workshop held once a semester called Polish Your Professionalism, and social media is one of the topics that the workshop covers.

Overall, it seems that many professors do not feel the Internet has harmed their ability to reach students, nor their students' ability to succeed – so long as it is used wisely and not depended on too much.