The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) lists “faculty-student engagement” as one of the benchmarks of effective educational practice. Indeed, multiple studies have confirmed the benefits of faculty-student interaction. Astin found that all forms of faculty-student interaction have a positive impact on both cognitive and affective student development, and increased student satisfaction in their schooling. Pascarella and Terenzini found a “correlation between faculty-student interaction and positive student outcomes.” Positive student outcomes include improved grade-point averages, plans for graduate study, and “greater commitment to the institution. Kezar and Moriarty determined that there was a positive association between student-faculty interaction and students’ self-assessed leadership skills and self-confidence.
Unfortunately, increasing the level of faculty-student interaction at university can be a hard to reach goal. One stumbling block may simply be that students don’t understand the role of faculty members, or how interacting with faculty can benefit them. Cotten and Wilson found that students, particularly those in their first or second year of university, were completely unaware of what faculty members do besides teach.
This confusion can lead to all sorts of misunderstandings. For instance, while a student might perceive a faculty member's hurried conversation as a sign that the faculty member is uninterested in talking, the faculty member may in fact merely be short on time due to other professional commitments. Similarly, students may perceive criticism from faculty as disrespectful or overly harsh, while faculty members see the criticism as part of a dispassionate academic process. Students may be seeking emotional validation and thus perceive faculty comments as hypercritical, making it unlikely that they will approach a faculty member for advice again.
Furthermore, the effects of student-faculty interaction may be conditional. The willingness of students to engage with faculty outside of class and the effectiveness of these interactions in improving student outcomes may depend on the social-class or first-generation status of the student. For instance, in their survey of over 58,000 students from the University of California system, Kim and Sax found that students from upper-class families and/or whose parents attended college were more likely "to assist faculty with research for course credit, communicate with faculty by email or in person, and interact with faculty during lecture class sessions, and that "upper-class and non-first-generation students are more satisfied with their interaction with faculty than their... lower-class and first generation counterparts."
So how can faculty-student interaction be increased at Ryerson? A review of recent literature has yielded the following suggestions. Each suggestion is accompanied with helpful resources developed by the LTO:
- The attitude that faculty project towards students can affect the amount of interaction they have with their students. Nadler and Nadler found that "empathy and credibility are positively related to out-of-class interaction." Learn more:
- When faculty have a more interactive teaching style, express active interest in contact with students, disclose something personal about themselves, or show a sense of humor, students feel that faculty are more approachable. Even something as simple as an open facial expression can make students feel more comfortable interacting with faculty. Learn more:
- It is not enough to simply post office hours—students have to be repeatedly encouraged to approach faculty with their thoughts and ideas. Learn more:
- When faculty have a more positive opinion of student programs at the university, it is more likely that students will participate in these programs. In institutions where faculty stated that learning communities were "very important," for instance, first year students participated at a rate of 55%, as opposed to 3% participation in institutions where faculty said the same program was only "somewhat important." Learn more:
- Because of the conditional effects that student-faculty interaction can have on different groups of students, it is important that faculty be aware of the implications of their actions, and to try a variety of approaches when attempting to reach students. For instance, according to Sax et al. “faculty should pay particular attention to the fact that dismissive comments made to female students can have a deleterious effect on their academic confidence and sense of physical well-being.” Learn more:
Cotten, S., & Wilson, B. (2006). Student–faculty Interactions: Dynamics and Determinants. Higher Education, 51(4), 487-519. doi:10.1007/s10734-004-1705-4
Cox, B., McIntosh, K., Terenzini, P., Reason, R., & Lutovsky Quaye, B. (2010). Pedagogical Signals of Faculty Approachability: Factors Shaping Faculty-Student Interaction Outside the Classroom. Research in Higher Education, 51(8), 767-788. doi:10.1007/s11162-010-9178-z
Cox, B. E., & Orehovec, E. (2007). Faculty-Student Interaction outside the Classroom: A Typology from a Residential College. Review Of Higher Education, 30(4), 343-362.
Einarson, M.E. & Clarkberg, M.E. (2004). Understanding Faculty Out-of-Class Interaction with Undergraduate Students at a Research University. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education in Kansas City, MO, November 5, 2004.
Kazmi, A. (2010). Sleepwalking through Undergrad: Using Student Engagement as an Institutional Alarm Clock. College Quarterly, 13(1).
Kim, Y., & Sax, L. (2009). Student–Faculty Interaction in Research Universities: Differences by Student Gender, Race, Social Class, and First-Generation Status. Research in Higher Education, 50(5), 437-459. doi:10.1007/s11162-009-9127-x
Sax, L. J., Bryant, A. N., & Harper, C. E. (2005). The Differential Effects of Student-Faculty Interaction on College Outcomes for Women and Men. Journal of College Student Development, 46(6), 642–657. doi:10.1353/csd.2005.0067
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"The LTO Best Practices" is produced monthly by Michelle Schwartz, Research Associate at The Learning & Teaching Office of Ryerson University.
Do you have any thoughts, suggestions, or best practices that you would like to see appear in this newsletter? Please send all submissions to michelle.schwartz@ryerson.ca. We look forward to including your contributions in our next issue!
Location: Kerr Hall West, room KHW373.
Phone: 416.979.5000 x6598
Email: lto@ryerson.ca
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