Mentor programs often include lists of mathematicians, scientists, historians and other professionals who have generously volunteered to assist with class projects. As a consideration to people who are donating their valuable time, compile an interesting list of questions and send it in one e-mail. This will save the mentor from sorting through 20 or 30 individual e-mail messages from your students. For more information on mentor programs and how to search for a topic specialist, check out the Mentoring Center created by the National School Network. Perhaps your students can hand in their assignments the same way.
Some teachers even make their e-mail addresses available for homework questions.
This, of course, takes a lot of extra time and energy on your part, so an initial trial run may be necessary to determine the volume of mail you will likely receive. Make sure your students are e-mail savvy. Let your students know the time and day that you will be sending the assignment so they know to check their mail. Be specific with your message subject title. Instruct your students to use the Reply to Sender button in Outlook Express so you can sort your mail using the subject title that you have specified.