Benefits of Fostering the Student-Faculty Relationship

by Jamie Amero, Pharm.D., PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Resident, The Johns Hopkins Hospital

If asked “What contributes to students’ success in college?” many would respond with answers such as hard work, motivation, or talent. All of them are important contributors, but there is another component to success that often gets overlooked. Many people do not realize a positive relationship between the student and educator can have a large impact on a student’s success.

The influence the student and teacher relationship on student success in college courses has been examined.  Researchers have found that a positive relationship between students and the teacher increases student motivation, satisfaction, confidence, and learning.^1,2 One study by Marina Micari and Pilar Pazos evaluated the impact of faculty-student relationships in an organic chemistry course using a survey tool. This study was designed to evaluate if there was a correlation between the students’ perceived relationship with the professor and their performance and confidence in the course. The results found favorable student outcomes were correlated with certain student feelings such as looking up to the professor and, in return, feeling respected by the professor.  Student success was also correlated with feeling comfortable approaching the professor. Positive relationships with the professor resulted in higher final grades and increased the students’ confidence.²  Other positive benefits include increases in student motivation to learn, influences on professional career choices, and increases in class attendance.^3-6

Thinking back on my years as a student, the educators who made the biggest difference were the ones that created meaningful relationships with me. It is often easy to get “lost in the crowd” when sitting in a lecture of over 160 students.  Those educators which took the time to get to know me were hands down my best professors. Having a relationship with the professor made it easier to ask for help when I was struggling and I was more interested in the course material. There are a variety of ways to build relationships with your students.  Here are a few suggestions:

Conduct one-on-one meetings.  Make it a requirement for students to schedule a meeting with you at least once during the first month of the course. These meetings will give you a chance to learn more about the students and get to know them. One professor met with each student individually within the first four weeks of the class and found positive results from these meetings. The professor had created a questionnaire about basic personal information for the student to fill out and bring to the meeting. About 95% of the students reported they enjoyed the meetings and felt the meetings showed the professor was interested in them as more than just a student. Students also felt it was easier to speak up during class because of the rapport built from the one-on-one meetings.¹

Know your students’ names.  It may sound obvious, but, learning someone’s name is essential to building a relationship. This small act demonstrates respect and personal investment in your students’ wellness. Dr. Mary McKinney, recommends to take roll call the first day of class, obtain a list of names from the registrar to use as a guide, try and connect the students’ names to another person you know with the same name, or frequently call your students by name.⁷

Make yourself available.  Hold office hours! Office hours are a time to make yourself available for students to come and ask questions. This helps create the image that you are available to help and take time out of your own busy schedule to give attention to students in need. The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Teaching Academy at the University of Illinois states office hours allow educators to help students by facilitating deeper learning, coaching students early to avoid poor performance as the course progresses, and learning how to guide a student who is struggling with the materials.⁸

Incorporate personal stories into the lectures.  Adding a personal story or anecdote related to the material can help students connect with you as a person and not just as the educator. It also helps create more of a conversational feel to the delivery of lectures. Wright and colleagues conducted a study to try and distinguish what characteristics make a teaching physician a great role model and teacher. The survey results found that if a physician took the time to share information about him/herself with learners, in this case residents, then they were more likely to be classified as an “excellent” role model.³ Being viewed as a role model can help create that positive relationship between yourself and the students.³

Provide prompt and meaningful feedback.  When delivered appropriately, feedback can greatly enhance a student’s success. Make students aware of areas for improvement and provide some suggestions on what they can do to improve. Chickering and Gamson include prompt feedback as part of the “seven good principles for good practice in undergraduate education.” They believe learning can be more focused by providing feedback to help the student become more aware of their weak areas.⁹

Taking the time to build rapport and creating meaningful relationships with students can provide numerous positive results for you and the students.  It will help you be an effective educator by increasing student engagement, commitment, and participation in group discussions. It will also help you earn respect.

As an educator, it may seem as if there is no room in your schedule for relationship building. I encourage you to find the time. As a professional who recently graduated, the impact of positive relationships with (some) faculty is fresh in my mind. I contact those professors for help both in my work and personal life.  A couple of hours a week can build relationships that will have a lifelong impact for both the learners and you.

References

1. Starcher K. Intentionally building rapport with students. College Teaching. 2011;59:162.
2. Micari M, Pazo P. Connecting to the professor: impact of the student-faculty relationship in a highly challenging course. College Teaching. 2012; 60:41-47.
3. Wright et al. Attributes of excellent attending-physician role models. N Engl J Med. 1998;339:1986-1993.
4. Haidet P et al. The role of the student-teacher relationship in the formation of physicians. J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21:S16-20.
5. Rimm-Kaufman S. Improving students' relationships with teachers to provide essential supports for learning. American Psychology Association [Internet]. Washington (DC), 2014 [cited 2014 Mar 10].
6. Fjortoft N. Students' motivations for class attendance. AJPE. 2005; 69: Article 15.
7. McKinney. What's your name again? Successful Academic News [Internet]. Chapel Hill (NC), 2005 [cited 2014 Mar 10].
8. The Liberal Arts and Sciences Teaching Academy (LASTA), University of Illinois. Making the Most of Office Hours [Internet]. Urbana (IL) [cited 2014 Mar 10].
9. Chickering A, Gamson Z. Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. AAHE 1997;39:252-262.

Welcoming Student Feedback to Improve the Teaching Process

by Jackie Tran, Pharm.D., PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Resident, Howard County General Hospital

Going through pharmacy school, the biggest thorn in my side was filling out those end of the course/rotation evaluation forms. These lengthy forms seemed to take ages to complete and with each instructor or preceptor came the same set of questions. This process seemed very cumbersome to me and I always wondered if the instructor (or preceptor) really cared or read what I had written. I’ll admit that I didn’t take them very seriously or make much effort to fill them out.  Looking back, I feel that I committed a disservice, not only to the instructors but also myself and future students, because without providing my feedback, how would people know how things can be improved? Feedback, regardless of whether it is positive or negative, is something we should seek to receive as it fosters improvement. There are many ways to solicit feedback but it’s perhaps more important to have the right attitude when receiving feedback and, once received, using it to foster improvement.

Soliciting Student Feedback

End of the year course evaluations are not the only method to gather feedback. There are many approaches that instructors can employ including focus groups and learning logs. Each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses. Below are examples of approaches suggested by Hoban and Hastings after a 10-year collaboration to investigate approaches to optimize the gathering of student feedback.¹

1.    Student interviews / Focus Groups

In this approach, the instructor uses open-ended questions to interview students. The interview asks students to discuss the effectiveness of the instructor’s teaching process as well as identifying effective strategies that reinforced the learning.

2.    Student Learning Logs

Students are asked, at the end of each lesson, to write down what they learned and how they learned (e.g. what the instructor did to facilitate their learning). This approach can be helpful in ensuring that students are achieving the goal of the lesson but students often have difficulty with describing how the instructor helped facilitate the learning.

3.    Surveys

This last approach is the most commonly used method. The survey needs to be formulated in a manner that would allow the instructor to reflect on their teaching approach. For example, useful questions might include “My instructor uses things I already know how to help me learn new ideas” or “Across the term, my teachers’ lessons build on one another to develop better understanding.” Additionally, having both student and instructor complete the survey, instructors are able to compare their perceptions with the students’ perceptions.  This allows the instructor to gain a bigger perspective when reflecting on their teaching process.

The list above is only a small representation of the many methods that could be employed to collect feedback from students. It is up to the instructor to decide which is most appropriate for their audience and setting.

Instructor Attitudes Towards Student Feedback

Receiving student’s feedback poses a potential challenge because most often the process will elicit a psychological response. Instructors should separate their emotions when receiving feedback as this will facilitate a more reflective and cognitive consideration of the information. This will help instructors to deal more effectively with some of the more critical comments.²

Vanderbilt University has developed strategies that can assist instructors with receiving feedback. When reading/receiving feedback, some of the strategies include: ³

• Pick out a good time and place so that you have the privacy and space to analyze the information
• Identify trends in the students’ feedback; look for what is working well and what needs improvement in the teaching process
• Gain perspective on the student feedback by considering current experience with teaching
• Realize that all instructors will receive negative feedback. Negative feedback can still be used to identify areas of improvement.

Using Student Feedback

Once instructors have read and reflected on student feedback, the next step is to use it to identify things that need to be improved in the teaching/learning process. Stanford University’s Center for Teaching and Learning offers a stepwise approach:⁴

1. Reflect on the goals of the course. This step will allow instructors to place student feedback into perspective by allowing instructors see where they and the students differ on their view of the course
2. Determine your personal strengths and weaknesses as an instructor.  Student feedback can be used to pinpoint some areas of strength and weakness.
3. Target areas of improvement   This last step is where the instructor identifies the change they will make to improve the teaching process. Instructors should focus on one to two changes that can be feasibility implemented. It’s important to remember that improvements in student feedback may not be seen instantly. It can take days, months and even years before the desired outcome is achieved but that should not deter an instructor from continuing their efforts to push for the improvement.

References:

1. Hoban G, Hastings G. Developing different forms of student feedback to promote teacher reflection: A 10-year collaboration. Teaching and Teacher Education. 2006 11;22(8):1006-19.
2. Using Student Feedback [Internet]. Eugene (OR). University of Oregon, Teaching Effectiveness Program. [Cited 2013 Feb 17].
3. Student Evaluations [Internet]. Nashville (TN). Vanderbilt University, Centers for Teaching. [Cited 2013 Feb 17].
4. Stanford University. Using Student Evaluations to Improve Teaching. Standford University Newsletter on Teaching, Fall 1997, Vol 9, No.1.