The obvious solution for this problem is to provide two versions of the study material for students. One designed to be displayed on screen and other to be printed. In theory this sounds good but in practice, providing a document for printing purposes will have practical difficulties due to the number of different operating systems and word processors currently available. Most of these difficulties could be overcome by providing documentation in standard formats, e.g. Microsoft Word and Postscript. For both of these formats there are free viewers available on the Internet.
Personal contact can be a problem geographically - getting two people together in one place.
Also temporarily - finding times when it is convenient for both parties. Communication by telephone whilst in some ways more convenient, can also be a problem with the ridiculous worst case scenario involving voicemail returning messages to impersonal voicemail. Neither of these communication methods supplies a natural record of the communication content. Written communication has advantages. The very act of formalising a problem to be able to document it often prompts the student to find their own solution.