College TIP: Communicate with People (and Visually)!

Weeks 2 to 3 in a College Professor’s life can be complex – finalizing roll sheets, managing little todo items and all that boring gunk. One of my nice steps (when I can make time) is emailing the non-active students on my rollsheets to check in and say “Hey What the Truck?” (Not really what the truck, more like “Will you be able to participate?”) I do this before I have to mark them as NO-SHOW, which disallows financial aid for that course (so they don’t accrue financial aid debt for a class they’re not completing).

I was about to email this student who hasn’t done much when I saw their photo in one of our system, and I RECOGNIZED it. I thought, “Where have I seen that?” and it slowly started to come back that this student, among my 165 students, emailed me about some issues 2 weeks ago. I was able to reference that and then write a more clear email. (Have I mentioned that I have no memory? What is that about?)

Why share this? Two main reasons:

1) COMMUNICATE with your PROFS. Even me. (I prefer email and TeamsChat, not Canvas Messenger or not Just that.) When you communicate, we can help you better and can check in (sometimes) in different ways. It helps us know your story and not think of you as just “one of the 165.”

2) Use PHOTOS in Your Profiles when you can – Avatars Communicate too (Canvas and/or Teams!)

I only remembered that I had spoken to this student because of their photo. I’m a visual guy – visuals help me remember you. (This also matters when meeting virtually, you ONLINERS. Share your video when you can so I remember you better.)

But that also means, when possible, get creative. Sure A smile and pic is great. But a color avatar of Eric Cartman can also share a bit of your personality and be memorable also.

Or a CAT. Or a face of you, with fire behind you! (Oh, exciting, now I want to do that… Don’t light your hair on fire though… Speaking to myself here.) How might YOU express some of your personality? Spend some time with that (but don’t overthink – they can be changed/updated).

Don’t forget that this isn’t just for your profs – it’s also for your classmates and other humans looking to connect with cool people who also love Grogu or DeathNote.

Have some fun, and remember to take time to connect!