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Starting the Conversation: An Exploratory Study of Factors That Influence Student Office Hour Use
Abstract
As part of best practices for increasing faculty-student interaction, higher education institutions across the country require faculty members to hold office hours. Various studies have reported factors affecting student use of office hours; however, results are unclear at best and in some cases conflicting with respect to which factors matter most, as in the case of instructor approachability. We present results from a survey of undergraduate student perceptions at a large, mid-Atlantic public research university. Factors that significantly (p < 0.05) affect student use of office hours are largely out of instructors’ control with at least one important exception: usefulness of instructor feedback. We offer best practices for increasing student use of office hours and suggest directions for additional research on the use and purpose of office hours.
... Practically speaking, some students view OCC as an imposition on their time. In Griffin et al.'s (2014) study, the perceived convenience of office hour time and location was a leading predictor in use. Despite this finding, modern college students expect to engage interpersonally with instructors. ...
... Bippus et al. (2003) tested 17 factors and found that career and course mentoring and social accessibility (e.g., an instructor's willingness and desire to be available) were most predictive of a student's perception that OCC will be rewarding, more so than psycho-social mentoring or physical accessibility. In contrast, Griffin et al. (2014) conducted a similar test and found that the factors affecting students' use of office hours were largely beyond the control of individual instructors, such as whether the course is a major requirement, the availability of peer tutors, and class size. However, one exception to this was the instructor's use of feedback, which positively predicted students' use of office hours. ...
... To explore students' perceptions and experiences approaching faculty outside of class, this study used qualitative methodology. Griffin et al.'s (2014) quantitative study of student motivations called for qualitative data to understand student attitudes and perceptions in depth. After receiving approval from the university's Institutional Review Board, we conducted six semi-structured focus group interviews of three to 12 participants. ...
Research shows that students benefit from outside-of-class interaction with instructors (Guerrero & Rod, 2013; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) yet rarely take advantage of visiting faculty during office hours (Abdul-Wahab et al., 2019; Bippus et al., 2003; Griffin et al., 2014). We interviewed 39 students in six focus groups to learn more about why this is the case. Our transcribed focus group discussions revealed six barriers students experience interacting with faculty during office hours and six ways students perceive faculty mitigating the barriers. From these data, we note three implications for instructors as they understand and manage their interaction with students outside of class.
... The above-mentioned early interventions attempted to integrate aspects of student and faculty interaction. Research has shown that interactions with faculty increase student satisfaction and performance, provided they are high quality interactions rather than felt as being remedial [26][27][28][29], which may explain the mixed success in some of the early intervention programs. Rewarding faculty-student interactions have also been positively correlated to various affective outcomes among students, such as personal and social development and sense of belonging, as well as positive self-concepts and greater academic confidence [28,30]. ...
... Some work suggests that it is important, supported by the fact that it is one of the main drivers as reported by students [26]. Other work claims that it has limited effect [27]. On the other hand, both sets of studies agree that perceived usefulness is an important factor [26,27]. ...
... Other work claims that it has limited effect [27]. On the other hand, both sets of studies agree that perceived usefulness is an important factor [26,27]. Students who perceive the instructor's feedback as useful are more likely to attend. ...
... Given the importance of faculty-student relationships for sense of belonging and student success, scholars have begun to explore factors that facilitate these interactions, though this body of research is still small. Some research indicates that the physical layout of the classroom (de Borba et al., 2020), office hours being at a convenient time or location (Griffin et al., 2014), using active learning pedagogies (O'Brien & Iannone, 2018;Umbach & Wawrzynski, 2005), or being in a group or activity that brings students in contact with faculty (Cotten & Wilson, 2006) facilitate these relationships. There has also been some research addressing what hinders student faculty relationships. ...
... There has also been some research addressing what hinders student faculty relationships. Students' busy life schedules, student uncertainty about whether faculty want to interact with them, and large class sizes all discourage faculty-student interaction (Cotten & Wilson, 2006;Griffin et al., 2014). Cotten and Wilson (2006) found that negative interactions with a single faculty member undermined a student's motivation to seek interaction with other faculty members. ...
... Outside, you can go to KEYS and then get information, so yeah. (Michelle) Previous quantitative studies have demonstrated the importance of out-of-classroom interactions (Goldman et al., 2016;Griffin et al., 2014;Kim & Lundberg, 2016), and these student quotations provide additional information about why these faculty-student interactions might be so important in supporting student success. Even in small classrooms, some students do not feel comfortable asking questions in front of their peers. ...
This qualitative research study explores student perceptions of how they build relationships with faculty, including factors that facilitate or undermine these relationships. Building such relationships is an important part of mentoring. Interviews with students reveal the importance of both innovative institutional supports and faculty initiative. Institutional supports that facilitate relationships include small classroom sizes and centralized, open locations for faculty to hold office hours. Faculty initiatives, like reaching out to and encouraging interaction with students and engaged teaching activities, are critical for building relationships with students. Consistent messaging that questions are welcome may be particularly important for underrepresented and first-generation students. Students reported frustration when faculty members were less engaged in the classroom, which undermined that relationship. Finally, interactions can create an iterative cycle within which positive faculty-student relationships develop. The culmination of these is a local culture where faculty-student interactions are welcomed and normal, thus encouraging additional interaction.
... There is a noticeable gap in knowledge on how students perceive office hours in the life sciences and in non-research intensive (R1) universities. For example, past work has been limited to single courses or a closely linked series of courses, primarily in R1 universities and within engineering (Griffin et al., 2014;Robinson et al., 2015;Smith et al., 2017;Briody et al., 2019). These studies have found that most students at these universities do not attend office hours, and that students view office hours as a mechanism of "last resort" for asking questions (Smith et al., 2017). ...
... These studies have found that most students at these universities do not attend office hours, and that students view office hours as a mechanism of "last resort" for asking questions (Smith et al., 2017). Other studies at large public universities have found that students indicated that students are more likely to attend office hours if they provide useful feedback, are held at convenient times and locations, or are for smaller enrollment courses (Griffin et al., 2014). Similarly, work on instructor perceptions of office hours has also been limited; for instance, Andrade et al. (2020) interviewed three engineering faculty on their perspectives on virtual office hours before the COVID pandemic, but there has not been a broader attempt to characterize instructor perceptions of office hours. ...
... We did not collect student grade data, so it is challenging to determine whether those not attending for certain classes did have a strong grasp on the material, or if students overestimate their own ability in STEM courses, given that past studies have shown that students tend to be poor judges of their own learning (Deslauriers et al., 2019). Interestingly, these data contrast with past studies at large public research-intensive universities where the clarity of content during class was found to not be a predictive factor of students' office hours attendance (Griffin et al., 2014). It is possible, however, that this difference stems from the higher percentage of students attending office hours in this study versus previous studies in which most students have not attended office hours, leading to differences in student motivations and barriers for attending office hours. ...
Office hours are one of the most common support mechanisms found in courses. Despite the prevalence of office hours in life sciences classes, there has been little investigation of how science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students perceive office hours, particularly at non–research intensive universities or other institutions where a majority of students attend office hours. We surveyed more than 500 students, representing most life sciences majors at a comprehensive university, to investigate their motivations and barriers for attending office hours. We then compared instructors’ perceptions to students’ conceptions of office hours. We identified key themes in student and instructor comments using inductive, grounded theory, finding that students view a more limited range of benefits for office hours than instructors. Students likewise cited a larger number of barriers for attending than instructors perceived. In addition, while there were minimal differences in rates of office hours attendance and perception of office hours based on key demographic factors, we identify areas where students of different class years and gender perceive differences, suggesting areas of future research. Finally, we explored students’ views of in-person versus online office hours, providing insight for instructors to better reach all students.
... Office hours provide faculty members with the opportunity to answer students ' questions, thereby strengthening the communication between them. Through these office hours, a faculty member can learn students' interests, concerns, and understanding of the course content (Anderson & Carta-Falsa, 2002;Griffin et al., 2014). ...
... Therefore, the researchers called for further studies to shed more light on behaviors that enhance students' academic performance and increase their tendency to use office hours. Griffin et al. (2014) contended that the factors affecting student decisions to use office hours were largely beyond the control of faculty members. They also pointed out that students' feelings of fear prevented them from taking advantage of office hours and should not be overlooked or underestimated. ...
... Students' dissatisfaction with faculty members was noted in 32.0%. A study by Griffin et al. (2014) found that a student's positive impression of a faculty member was an important factor that contributed positively to a student attending office hours. Faculty members not complying with office hours (25.8%) was the eleventh most frequently given reason for students not attending office hours, followed closely by a student feeling that there was a barrier between him and the faculty member (25.6%). ...
This paper focuses on investigating students’ reasons for their reluctance to attend faculty members’ office hours. Study participants included 500 male and female students from the Colleges of Engineering (n = 248) and Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) (n = 252) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). The study followed a descriptive-analytical approach, and a questionnaire was utilized to collect people’s views. The results of the study indicate that the rates of SQU students’ attendance to office hours were low, and some students (11.2%) do not attend at all as they consider these office hours a waste of time. The main reasons behind the students’ lack of interest in office hours were busy student timetables, conflicts between faculty office hours and students’ timetables, and easier and faster ways of getting information than visiting faculty members. Additional reasons were related to faculty members’ personalities and their discouraging attitudes toward attending office hours. The researchers recommend that SQU adopt a new strategy for encouraging faculty members to hold office hours, familiarizing students with the importance of office hours and assigning part of a course’s grades to meeting with faculty members’ office hours.
... Despite being a widely-established institutional practice, office hours remain largely underutilized on a global scale (Smith et al., 2017). Studies have explored the phenomenon and have identified factors hindering office hour visits by university students, including a lack of time, timetable constraints, inconvenience, absence of need, fear of disturbing faculty or being rejected, lack of knowledge regarding the usefulness of office hours, and a preference for electronic communication over in-person visits (Abdul-Wahab et al., 2019;Briody et al., 2019;Griffin et al., 2014;Smith et al., 2017). Empirical findings confirmed the positive impact of office hours on student academic performance and grades (Guerrero & Rod, 2013), even though few students visit professors during office hours. ...
... Junior and seniors usually interact more frequently with faculty, due to an increased level of comfort (Griffin et al., 2014), while first-year students are shier and more reluctant to engage (Romsa et al., 2017). Students' personalities can impact interactions, as well as, suggested by a study conducted in Oman identifying students' character, study habits, and self-reported laziness as factors influencing office hour visits (Abdul-Wahab et al., 2019). ...
... Kang & Metcalfe, 2019;Jungyin Kim & Ruzmetova, 2019). Smaller class sizes can facilitate student-faculty interactions, contrary to larger classes (Griffin et al., 2014;Romsa et al., 2017). ...
In the realm of the internationalization of Korean higher education, the number of international students enrolled in Korean universities is on the rise. International students, like all college attendees, benefit from interacting directly with faculty members. Student-faculty interactions remain infrequent, despite being beneficial for student experiences and outcomes. Rare interactions between students and professors in South Korean tertiary education are problematic, especially for international students who face additional challenges. The phenomenological study explored the nature of international students’ lived experiences of student-faculty interactions while attending a Korean university. Through semi-structured in-depth interviews, 17 participants shared a wide range of experiences of direct student-faculty interactions inside and outside the classroom. The study identified eight prevalent meaning-making themes and 31 sub-themes evidenced in participant experiences. Despite infrequency, student-faculty interactions were deemed consequential for international students, who wanted to connect with professors beyond book-based knowledge. Factors such as professor demographics, language proficiency, and means of instruction influenced the quality and frequency of interactions. Immediacy was deemed important in meaningful relationships with faculty, while certain elements of the Korean educational culture hindered contacts. International students emphasized distinctions between in-person learning and online classes, as the COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted instruction and student-faculty interactions. The study findings filled a gap in literature and may guide administration and faculty efforts towards genuine internationalization of the Korean higher education system, of which recruitment of international students is a crucial element.
... Office hours are one institutional practice that are designed to provide opportunities for such interactions. Yet, office hour offerings are consistently under-accessed by students [15,18,22]. Little research exists to outline best practices for office hour implementation which reduce barriers to access and promote more frequent, highquality interactions between students and instructors. ...
... Office hours, whereby instructors commit between one and several hours weekly to meeting informally with students, are an institutionally supported practice designed to promote student-instructor interactions. Yet, office hour offerings are consistently underaccessed by students [15,18,22]. Factors related to scheduling, convenience, and instructor availability are all cited as significant barriers to student engagement with office hours [15,[22][23][24]. ...
... Yet, office hour offerings are consistently underaccessed by students [15,18,22]. Factors related to scheduling, convenience, and instructor availability are all cited as significant barriers to student engagement with office hours [15,[22][23][24]. Meetings by appointment and virtual office hour offerings both represent alternatives to the traditional format which may alleviate some barriers, while establishing others. ...
Meaningful student‐instructor interactions during an undergraduate degree course can have important effects on student learning. Despite this, the format by which those interactions are made possible can vary greatly. We investigated the preferred modality of contact and students’ reasons for contact across several platforms in a first‐year biology course. We tracked student‐instructor contact for two course instructors (one female‐presenting, one male‐presenting) who team teach collaboratively (rather than sequentially) across two course sections. Both instructors had identical scores on student evaluations of approachability. Student‐instructor contact was facilitated using five ‘student hour’ modalities: 1) in office by appointment, 2) 1 hour per week, in office drop in, 3) 1 hour per week, virtual chat, 4) by email, 5) 10 minutes immediately after class, for two instructors in two sections of a co‐taught, first‐year biology class. Though email was the preferred method of contact, the period immediately following the class instruction was the most popular of the face‐to‐face options. We note significant differences in the distribution of workload across the two instructors that are consistent with their sex‐presentation and make recommendations for increasing the accessibility of student‐instructor contact and for equity in workload to support student learning.
... Understanding students' use (and lack of use) of instructor office hours requires insight into how students perceive them. One study of particular relevance to this study (Griffin et al., 2014) is titled "Starting the Conversation: An Exploratory Study of Factors That Influence Student Office Hour Use." This study includes the results of an online student survey (n = 625) conducted at a large public research university in the United States that attempted to determine what factors influ-ence student attendance at office hours. ...
... Some studies paint a different picture, however. In the large-scale study by Griffin et al. (2014) and the follow-up analysis of Smith et al. (2017), results regarding the role of instructor approachability are mixed. Griffin and colleagues found no significant correlation between perceived instructor approachability and student likelihood of attending office hours. ...
... Whether questions were sufficiently addressed during class time was cited by students in the Smith study as a factor in whether to attend instructor office hours. However, Griffin et al. (2014) found that the usefulness of in-class discussions and clarity of classroom explanations were not reported with statistical significance as factors in office hour attendance decisions. Our findings are similar to Griffin in that 75% of our students disagreed that paying attention during class should eliminate the need to attend office hours. ...
Professors in a university setting questioned if requiring students to take in-class notes for points towards final grade would affect student quiz scores post-lecture. Students were assigned one of two conditions, no-notes-required control and required note-taking experimental. A Mixed-design ANOVA was used to test mean differences among groups in quiz scores over time. Across the 106 student participants, those in the experimental condition scored better on post-lecture quizzes than those in the control condition. Students not required to take notes indicated that they may voluntarily take notes regardless of the expectation in class and “somewhat agreed” that they would take better notes if they were being graded.
... Our quantitative analysis showed that factors commonly believed to be important for the use of office hours, like instructor approachability or that students are commuting or working full-time, did not matter for students' self-reported use of office hours (Griffin et al., 2014). This study presents the qualitative analysis from 724 comments in response to two open-ended questions: 1) What would make you more likely to use office hours? ...
... Many students report that in-person interaction through office hours is a last resort, and they would only attend if instructors were not responsive through email. A quantitative analyses found the vast majority of students (94%) reported that instructors were "responsive" (as opposed to "not responsive" or "not available") via email (Griffin et al., 2014). Therefore, students can rely on email as a consistent communication mechanism. ...
... Scholars have not reached a consensus regarding the role played by faculty's approachability in fostering student-faculty interaction. Some quantitative analyses showed that instructor approachability was not a significant factor (Griffin et al., 2014). Bippus, Kearney, Plax, and Brooks (2003) reported that perceptions of instructor outof-class approachability derived from observations of in-class behaviors are less influential than those instructors' specific invitations to engage in out-of-class communication. ...
Office hours reserve time and space for student-faculty interaction, a benchmark for engaging students in educationally purposive activities. Our study finds a mismatch between the institutionally intended purpose of office hours and student perceptions of office hours. We examine student perceptions of office hours with results from a survey administered at a public research institution. We conclude that it is necessary for institutions — large public research institutions, particularly – to do more to demonstrate to students the value for interacting with faculty and to consistently support the development of relationships between undergraduates and those who teach them.
... Office hours provide faculty members with the opportunity to answer students ' questions, thereby strengthening the communication between them. Through these office hours, a faculty member can learn students' interests, concerns, and understanding of the course content (Anderson & Carta-Falsa, 2002;Griffin et al., 2014). ...
... Therefore, the researchers called for further studies to shed more light on behaviors that enhance students' academic performance and increase their tendency to use office hours. Griffin et al. (2014) contended that the factors affecting student decisions to use office hours were largely beyond the control of faculty members. They also pointed out that students' feelings of fear prevented them from taking advantage of office hours and should not be overlooked or underestimated. ...
... Students' dissatisfaction with faculty members was noted in 32.0%. A study by Griffin et al. (2014) found that a student's positive impression of a faculty member was an important factor that contributed positively to a student attending office hours. Faculty members not complying with office hours (25.8%) was the eleventh most frequently given reason for students not attending office hours, followed closely by a student feeling that there was a barrier between him and the faculty member (25.6%). ...
This paper focuses on investigating students’ reasons for their reluctance to attend faculty members’ office hours. Study participants included 500 male and female students from the Colleges of Engineering (n = 248) and Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) (n = 252) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). The study followed a descriptive-analytical approach, and a questionnaire was utilized to collect people’s views. The results of the study indicate that the rates of SQU students’ attendance to office hours were low, and some students (11.2%) do not attend at all as they consider these office hours a waste of time. The main reasons behind the students’ lack of interest in office hours were busy student timetables, conflicts between faculty office hours and students’ timetables, and easier and faster ways of getting information than visiting faculty members. Additional reasons were related to faculty members’ personalities and their discouraging attitudes toward attending office hours. The researchers recommend that SQU adopt a new strategy for encouraging faculty members to hold office hours, familiarizing students with the importance of office hours and assigning part of a course’s grades to meeting with faculty members’ office hours.
... Although strong evidence exists that FSI benefits students' professional and personal growth, FSI outside of class remains low. Griffen et al. (2014) reviewed numerous studies and conducted one of their own at a large, public research university in the U.S. In response, another U.S. university produced a comical video styled on pharmaceutical advertisements suggesting the remedy to students' academic troubles is to attend faculty office hours (Jaschik 2016). Given the widespread recognition among educators of the many benefits of FSI, why does FSI, particularly outside the classroom, remain so low? ...
... Students value learning from faculty generally (Helterbran 2008), with informal interactions having a positive influence on students (Martin 2000;Komorraju, Musulkin, and Bhattacharya 2010). Most FSI has been documented inside classrooms (Kuh and Hu 2001;Cox and Orhevoc 2007;Hernandez, Ravn, and Valero 2015) and studies indicate that comparatively, rates of out-of-class FSI are lower than inclass (Milem, Berger, and Dey 2000;Cox et al. 2010;Griffen et al. 2014) and tend to be lowest in research-intensive universities (National Survey of Student Engagement 2017). Delaney (2008) argues that students do not seek interactions with faculty out-of-class due to time constraints and feelings of insecurity. ...
... Indeed, a recent survey revealed that 66% of undergraduates (i.e. post-secondary university students) never visited office hours, and only 8% attended more than once per month (Griffen et al. 2014). ...
Studies have found that Faculty–Student Interaction (FSI) has many positive benefits for students including academic support, professional development, mentoring, and career planning. Research-intensive universities exhibit the lowest levels of faculty–student interaction within higher education. This article utilises qualitative methods to explore faculty, student, and staff perceptions of faculty–student interactions, particularly those that take place out of the classroom, at a research-intensive public U.S. university. We identify social distance between faculty and students based on unequal status within a rigid, hierarchically-organised culture as a key barrier to FSI. We then discuss methods that some of the faculty in our study used to mitigate their social distance with students in an effort to increase FSI.
... However, students usually do not take advantage of these supplementary opportunities. For example, Griffin et al. (2014) found that approximately 66% of students never attended office hours for the target class during the semester. That is, students largely neglect the chance for additional contact with faculty and constructive feedback which have been associated with improved student satisfaction (Lee, 2014) and grade outcomes (Demir et al., 2019;LeBlanc III, 2005). ...
... According to Prentice and Miller (1992), even a small effect is of importance when considering the magnitude of the change relative to the effort involved in administering the independent variable. Taking into account the relative ease by which the current independent variable was incorporated into the course procedures, the study illustrates an applicable method to bolster attendance toward combating the frequent disengagement observed in higher education (Griffin et al., 2014). Future research may wish to attempt to augment the effect with e-mail notifications of vote-winning topics to signal available reinforcement, with more systematic means of assessing topic preferences, by alternating choice and bonus awarded for attendance, or by using the chance to vote as reinforcement for other desirable class behaviors. ...
Student–faculty interaction and attendance have been demonstrated to positively influence a student’s overall course satisfaction and grade outcomes. Still, students often fail to participate in supplementary classes, study sessions, or office hours offered by instructors. The present study evaluated a brief, low-effort choice intervention designed to improve attendance in weekly supplementary class sessions. In a graduate-level online course, the teacher’s assistant (TA) conducted weekly, optional class sessions and recorded student attendance. The instructors randomly alternated weekly sessions to include class-as-usual or a choice intervention consisting of presenting anonymous online polls with which students could vote for topics for the TA to specifically address in the next session. The results showed an average attendance increase of 12% in the choice condition compared to class-as-usual, supporting the use of student choice as a method to increase student engagement in supplementary learning experiences.
... However, most of these studies primarily investigate student experiences at large research-intensive universities and within engineering disciplines (Griffin et al., 2014;Robinson et al., 2015;Smith et al., 2017;Briody et al., 2019). These studies have indicated that students prefer to not attend office hours and view them as a last resort for asking questions (Smith et al., 2017) or that students are more likely to attend office hours if they perceive them as helpful, if they are scheduled at convenient times, or if they are for a smaller sized course (Griffin et al., 2014). ...
... However, most of these studies primarily investigate student experiences at large research-intensive universities and within engineering disciplines (Griffin et al., 2014;Robinson et al., 2015;Smith et al., 2017;Briody et al., 2019). These studies have indicated that students prefer to not attend office hours and view them as a last resort for asking questions (Smith et al., 2017) or that students are more likely to attend office hours if they perceive them as helpful, if they are scheduled at convenient times, or if they are for a smaller sized course (Griffin et al., 2014). While most of the current literature on office hours for STEM students focuses on engineering, there are a few exceptions. ...
We conducted a phenomenographic study to investigate how instructors of STEM courses experience office hours and how these experiences may impact their approaches to promoting and managing office hours. We identified variations in the promotion, the modality, and how instructors facilitated learning during office hours.
... [17] Cox et al. tested the actual concept of psychosocial approachability related to in-class pedagogical practice but found it less likely to predict SFI than, perhaps, inherent instructor characteristics such as tone of voice or body language. [18] Newer literature finds that faculty approachability, accessibility, and responsiveness may not be as valued by students [6,19] while others see specific qualities of the faculty, such as nurturing, as being pertinent to student success [20] or student willingness to attend office hours. [21] Findings amongst older studies and newer ones suggest that there is no consensus among scholars about the influence of faculty approachability on cultivating SFI. ...
... The literature addresses SFI outside the classroom, sometimes in relation to office hours. Many studies focus on students and student perceptions; [6,8,14,15,[19][20][21][22][23]26] some address both student and faculty perspectives [2,13,27] and fewer delve into faculty perceptions. [18,25,28,29] While qualitative and mixedmethod studies have been conducted, most literature has been quantitative. ...
Objective: Student-faculty interaction outside the classroom in higher education is a well-studied phenomenon and is linked directly to office hours. Research has shown the significance of these interactions on student success; however, underuse of office hours remains a problem. Historical research has examined perceptions of students while fewer address faculty. There is limited investigation into nursing, where students must be successful on high stakes NCLEX testing after graduation. This study investigated nursing faculty perceptions of student-faculty interaction outside the classroom in relation to office hours.Methods: A qualitative design elicited responses from full time nursing faculty at one university school of nursing in the southeastern United States. Ten participants were interviewed using a semi-structured script. Data analysis revealed nursing faculty perceptions in relation to office hours.Results: The following themes emerged in relation to office hours and nursing faculty perceptions: (a) “At any point my door is always open”, (b) “I like having that flexibility, it does help”, and (c) “I’m basically 24/7. I really am”. Technology was embedded throughout the themes. Some limitations existed, such as reflexivity of the researchers, small sample size, and final sample bias.Conclusions: Findings from the study can guide policies in higher education, specifically the way office hour mandates are implemented. Increasing student-faculty interaction outside the classroom is a worthwhile goal that is important in schools of nursing where success on high stakes NCLEX testing reflects the integrity of the school.
... Before changes brought about by COVID, students infrequently or rarely took advantage of faculty office hours. [1] Sadly, the underuse of office hours is exaggerated in underrepresented students. Students underrepresented on college campuses (those with disadvantaged backgrounds, first-time college students, and students from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups) traditionally need support in identifying promotive factors, assets, and resources that foster academic achievement. ...
... Studies have reported that faculty-student interactions are essential for student engagement, academic success, and professional development. [1,3] Academic institutions often mandate computations to determine the number of office hours required by faculty. The rationale for office hours is to promote faculty-student interactions, thereby, fostering student success. ...
Office hours are a higher-education tradition. Unchanged for past-decades, the upheaval due to the COVID pandemic, transitioned office hours in many institutions from face-to-face to virtual and other formats. Historically office hours are a resource underused by students. Faculty-student interactions are considered a high-impact activity aimed at promoting student success. One purpose of office hours is to increase student access to faculty. It is time to revitalize and revamp this tradition. Increasing student engagement, clarifying course requirements, and role modeling professional behavior are potential goals for office hours and student-faculty interactions. To meet these goals, faculty will need to undertake activities that are much more active than the typical passive activity of office hours.
... second, the profs-in-Commons program is an attempt to increase students' uptake in attending an important academic success resource -faculty members' office hours. studies have shown that attending office hours is a highly effective strategy, but literature in the field show that it is common for first-year students to not attend for a variety of reasons, such as confusion about the concept, timing issues, perceptions that the interaction will not help them, and feeling intimidated interacting with professors (griffin et al., 2014;smith, Chen, berndtson, burson, & griffin, 2017). third, the profs-in-Commons model leverages the status of academic libraries as a space for collaborative learning and community interaction (montgomery & miller, 2011). ...
... therefore, profs-in-Commons is a key strategy in our approach to enhancing student engagement, satisfaction, learning, and involvement via student-faculty communication in the ClC. the professors in the program are visible, approachable, and available to all students when they are in the ClC, and the existence of the program sends a message to students that faculty are accessible and interested in opportunities to connect and converse with students. the profs-in-Commons model responds to research indicating that faculty-student interaction is a strong predictor of student retention, satisfaction, and academic performance (astin, parrott, Korn, & sax, 1997;griffin et al., 2014;Kim & sax, 2017;pascarella, 1980;pascarella & terenzini, 2005;romsa, bremer, & lewis, 2017;trolian & parker, 2017). despite the scope of the activity taking place during a student's first-year at university, of paramount importance is the perception a first-year student has that they are supported by the university's faculty members -their instructors, professors, lecturers, and librarians (astin et al., 1997;Kim & sax, 2017;pascarella, 1980;pascarella & terenzini, 2005;romsa et al., 2017;trolian & parker, 2017). ...
... al 2014, Guerrero andRod 2013). Griffin et al. (2014) sought to find out why students do not attend office hours, and if any of these reasons were within the instructor's control. Six hundred twenty-five students were surveyed across all four years of their academic study. ...
... Similar to other studies, 54% of the students in these courses never attended office hours and 29% reported attending once or twice. Thirty-six percent of students surveyed claimed that the office hours did not fit into their schedule, which is consistent with the findings of Griffin (2014). Twentyseven percent claimed they forgot to attend, 24% claimed they did not need help, and 13% claimed they were too hesitant to ask for help (Guerrero and Rod 2013). ...
The purpose of this investigation was to determine if attending a face-to-face midterm exam review with the instructor predicts final exam performance in an Anatomy and Physiology I course. Students were invited to attend office hours in small groups to review their midterm exams. Multiple linear regression was used to test whether attendance at an exam review appointment, midterm exam score, and/or high school grade point average (GPA) significantly predicted the final exam score. Alpha levels were set a priori to p<.05. Attendance at an exam review appointment and high school GPA significantly predicted final exam grades (Beta =.081, p=.042; Beta =.126, p=.002, respectively) but midterm exam scores explained most of the model variance in final exam scores (Beta =. 736, p<.000). Taken together, the three predictors in the model explained 58% of the variance in final exam scores (adjusted R 2 =.58). The results of this study suggest that exam review appointments should be continued but enhanced to include a more structured analysis of the midterm exam. Follow up with students on the implementation of new study strategies should occur prior to the final exam.
... Students benefit from individual instruction, but most classes do not allow for it [24,25] and students frequently do not take advantage of opportunities for in-person individual instruction, such as instructor office hours [26,27]. One common reason that students give for their lack of attendance at office hours is that the time and/or location of office hours was not convenient; Griffin et al. [27] found that convenience had a greater impact on student office hour attendance than a number of other factors, such as whether the instructor was perceived as approachable and whether material was explained clearly during class. ...
... Students benefit from individual instruction, but most classes do not allow for it [24,25] and students frequently do not take advantage of opportunities for in-person individual instruction, such as instructor office hours [26,27]. One common reason that students give for their lack of attendance at office hours is that the time and/or location of office hours was not convenient; Griffin et al. [27] found that convenience had a greater impact on student office hour attendance than a number of other factors, such as whether the instructor was perceived as approachable and whether material was explained clearly during class. Online tutoring sessions allow students to access material at a time and place that is convenient for them, and thus this may increase engagement with these sessions. ...
This study explored the effectiveness of online instructional modules for providing supplementary instruction in basic mathematics and physics concepts. The modules were developed in accordance with a cognitive apprenticeship model. Participants (N = 47) were students enrolled in a required Statics course at a midwestern university. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention or control group. The results show that the intervention group performed significantly better on post-tests through using the online instructional modules, while there was no significant improvement of performance in the control group. Based on survey results, students expressed their engagement to the instructional materials. Furthermore, they expressed a self-paced learning experience through providing feedback that they had control over the course materials by using the developed online instructional modules. Survey results also were indicative of students’ approval of using the modules as a supplemental material to classroom lectures.
... Older participants, or those further along in an undergraduate program, did not express such concerns. Findings corresponded to relevant literature documenting differences in reluctance to engage with professors based on age and class year (Griffin et al., 2014;Romsa et al., 2017). ...
This phenomenological study explored lived experiences of student-faculty interactions of undergraduate international students in Korea, in a higher education context where direct contacts between professors and students are infrequent. Guided by Astin’s theory of student involvement, the study investigated students’ experiences of direct interaction with faculty members, inside and outside the classroom. Seventeen foreign students participated in semi-structured interviews, during which they shared experiences, recollections, and perceptions of direct interactions with professors. Participants explained how certain factors, such as professor demographics, language proficiency or means of instruction, influenced the quality and frequency of interactions. They also expressed a clear desire to reduce the distance with faculty and connect beyond course-related content. Through the lens of Astin’s I-E-O model, findings reveal how the Korean higher education environment, including professor demographics, means of instruction, language, and power dynamics, have the most impact on student-faculty interaction experiences for international students. Such results address a gap in the literature and may inform administrators and faculty efforts towards genuine internationalization of Korean higher education, of which international student recruitment is a crucial element.
... Guerrero et al. (Guerrero and Rod, 2013) noted that students fail to take advantage of office hours when they are available despite the fact that the use of office hours correlates with performance. Griffin et al. (Griffin et al., 2014) extended this work by working to identify distinct factors that influence students' use of office hours. To that end, they developed a survey with 625 valid responses from undergraduate students at a large public university. ...
... Guerrero et al. [8] noted that students fail to take advantage of office hours when they are available despite the fact that the use of office hours correlates with performance. Griffin et al. [7] extended this work by working to identify distinct factors that influence students' use of office hours. To that end they developed a survey with 625 valid responses from undergraduate students at a large public university. ...
In computer science education timely help seeking during large programming projects is essential for student success. Help-seeking in typical courses happens in office hours and through online forums. In this research, we analyze students coding activities and help requests to understand the interaction between these activities. We collected student's help requests during coding assignments on two different platforms in a CS2 course, and categorized those requests into eight categories (including implementation, addressing test failures, general debugging, etc.). Then we analyzed the proportion of each type of requests and how they changed over time. We also collected student's coding status (including what part of the code changed and the frequency of commits) before they seek help to investigate if students share a similar code change behavior leading to certain type of help requests.
... Ideally, a supervisor is expected to help M.A. students move toward competent participation in producing knowledge (Pare et al., 2011). Practically, though, supervisors could be either welcoming and supportive, and thus help these emerging scholars turn into exemplary researchers (e.g., Karpouza & Emvalotis, 2018;Komarraju et al., 2010;Lillis, 2011;Lundberg & Schreiner, 2004;Umbach & Warwrzynski, 2005); or, at times, discouraging and disheartening and, therefore, dampening the novices' academic motivation (e.g., Cotten & Wilson, 2006;Cox et al., 2010;Cox & Orehovec, 2007;Grantham et al., 2015;Griffin et al., 2014;Kim & Sax, 2009;Richardson & Radloff, 2014;Vianden, 2009). ...
This study aimed to explore various types of positioning used by master's students in supervisor-supervisee dyads. Conducting a mixed-methods conversion design with a multiple case study as its qualitative phase, we collected data by asking three TEFL master's students to share with us all their supervisors' feedback, messages, and supervisory interactions. To track patterns of positioning, in-depth interviews and metalinguistic commentaries were utilized. Analysis of the data using the Appraisal model indicated that two of the supervisors positioned themselves as authoritative and inarguable within the dyad, which caused their supervisees to reposition themselves from novice researchers to passive students. The supervisees, in turn, positioned these professors as unapproachable and irresponsible. On the other hand, while the third professor offered enough space to his supervisee to position herself as an independent scholar, she retained her passive position throughout the process, thereby suggesting that positioning was influenced by both academic discursive practices and non-academic factors. Overall, despite being a sin qua non of scholarly identity formation, fruitful supervisory relationships could not be fostered among the present participants. Hence, it is suggested that institutional policy makers and educational departments specify clear-cut road maps defining roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in supervisory interactions. © 2022 Published by Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. All Rights Reserved.
... To explain students' under-utilization of office hours, studies delve into the factors that affect students' attendance of office hours. Generally speaking, instructors' influence and approachability to students and ease-of-access issues affect students' attendance [6,7,8,9]. Researches also notice that instant messaging and Internet-based technology is used to conduct office hours. However, while some scholars believe the instructor-student interaction benefits from information technology while some others not [5,10]. ...
To integrate with international standards, the University of Sanya explores European experiences in teaching and management. In 2016, the university promoted a campus-wide office-hour policy to improve student-teacher communication after class. However, after four years of implementation, most teachers believe such a policy failed to achieve the goal. Therefore, the author delivers questionnaires and interviews to students and teachers from selected business majors. This paper finds that office hour was an inferior way to communicate as in China students are allowed to have teachers' personal contact information. And students learning behavior is key to off-class communication. Moreover, the working environment affects teachers attitudes towards office hour. Office hour is a small case but can be inspiring to the future adoption of foreign experience in education as pre-investigation and localization do matter.
... Third, although TMOCC is important, it is only one piece of the educational puzzle. As the use of technology expands, TMOCC may become an even more important component of the overall classroom experience (especially if office hours really are a past-but-not-present form of OCC; Griffin et al., 2014). Future research can examine OCC and TMOCC to determine the impacts each context has on students. ...
Proliferation of technology has provided additional means of out-of-class communication. This paper focuses on the relationship between technologically-mediated out-of-class communication (TMOCC) and variables crucial to successful instructional communication. A proposed model predicted perceived immediacy to mediate the relationship between immediacy behaviors (i.e., verbal and computer-mediated behaviors) and instructional outcomes (i.e., student state motivation and affective learning). While the proposed model was not supported, a model of best fit depicts perceived immediacy as a mediator for the relationship between verbal behaviors and motivation, which then impacts affective learning. The implications of these findings are discussed, as well as limitations and opportunities for future research.
... This often takes place through in-person office hours, which have been seen as an opportunity for help seeking outside of the classroom (Acitelli, Black, & Axelson, 2003). However, existing studies suggest that office hour visits are generally brief and underutilized (Bippus, Kearney, Plax, & Brooks, 2003;Griffin et al., 2014;Jaasma & Koper, 1999;Nadler & Nadler, 2000), which is partly due to students' discomfort in one-on-one conversations with the course instructor. Based on these concerns, some educators have recommended alternatives that would increase the chances of making use of inperson discussions, such as structured topical office hours and group discussion sections (e.g., Weimer, 2015). ...
Distance learning is expanding rapidly in universities. While theoretical and qualitative literature stress the critical role of effective interpersonal interactions in motivating students and facilitating learning in online environments, quantitative evidence on the benefits of increased interpersonal interactions on student learning outcomes is limited. This study examines the effect of providing a voluntary meeting time and increasing instructor e-mail activity on student grades in a fully online Pre-Calculus course at a public university. Student selection into courses was minimal since students only had access to one condition at a time. We further use a propensity score matching strategy to address demographic variations in student characteristics across cohorts. Our results indicate that the increased interpersonal interaction opportunities increased final exam scores by 0.22 standard deviations and improved passing rates by 19 percentage points. The Rosenbaum’s sensitivity analysis indicates that it is unlikely that these results are due to omitted variable bias.
... For example, we cannot omit the numerous studies on the student-faculty interaction, examining both its dynamics and determinants (e.g. Cotten and Wilson 2006;Cox and Orehovec 2007;Cox et al. 2010;Grantham, Robinson, and Chapman 2015;Griffin et al. 2014;Kim and Sax 2009;Richardson and Radloff 2014;Vianden 2009) as well as its positive impact on students meaningful (Schwartz and Holloway 2012) or dual relationships (Kolbert, Morgan, and Brendel 2002;Schwartz 2011) between teachers and students or meaningful interactions that constituted critical incidents for their relationship (Schwartz and Holloway 2014) or exclusively caring (Hawk and Lyons 2008;Rossiter 1999). Thus, with the current study we aimed at enriching the relevant discussion, exploring the following research question: How does the teacher-student relationship in graduate education develop (and gradually evolve), based on the perceptions and experiences of both university teachers and students? ...
Despite its significance, the teacher-student relationship in higher education remains an under-researched field. The current study used constructivist grounded theory, in order to enrich the relevant discussion. More specifically, it aimed at exploring how the teacher-student relationship in graduate education develops (and gradually evolves) based on the perceptions and experiences of the parties involved. Data was collected through intensive interviewing with twenty teacher educators and by five focus groups with twenty-five graduate students in Educational Sciences. Based on the combined constant comparative analysis of the teachers’ and students’ perceptions and experiences, the teacher-student relationship in higher education surfaced as a complex dynamic process. Despite the teachers’ hierarchical superiority, it is characterised by reciprocating in all its manifestations: mutually wanting to relate, developing characteristics of a meaningful relationship, overcoming obstacles, maintaining boundaries and experiencing the positive outcomes.
... According to Acitelli, Black, and Axelson (2016), instructional methods used during office hours should incorporate active learning strategies that improve the quality of learning. The literature recommends asking students to verbalize what they know and actively draw out what they are thinking, so faculty may optimally assess baseline understanding, gain insights about problem solving capacities, and offer supplemental instruction (Acitelli et al., 2016;Griffin, et al., 2014). Multimedia resources such as Explain Everything ™ (an interactive whiteboard application), may be used during office hours to digitally record narratives alongside insightful illustrations. ...
... I am not alone in this struggle. Though outside-of-the-classroom faculty-student interactions improve student performance and satisfaction, students rarely use office hours (Griffin et al. 2014;Nadler and Nadler 2000). ...
Students, particularly underclassmen, often do not take full advantage of office hours. When, instead, they trickle into an instructor's office unannounced during non-office-hour times, this can lead to detriments in the quality of assistance that instructors can provide. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to detail the success that one instructor had in re-branding additional office hours as “tutoring” time in order to bring more structure to student visits.
Applying readily available data, we quantify a persistent, negative impact of the shift to emergency remote teaching (ERT) on a measure of student-faculty interaction (SFI) among first-year medical students. A gender-based component to these effects is also discussed. Before, during, and after COVID, physiology emerged as the most engaged-with discipline as measured by office hour (OH) appointment volume.
This social-constructionist review of research illuminates the ways in which feedback, reflection, and revision are all inherently relational processes. Research suggests that university students’ perceptions of feedback shape their revision processes, though it appears that their preferred types of feedback may not always lead them to make effective revisions.
Using weekly Writing Accountability Groups in intro-level writing courses provides benefits for both instructors and students without taking up synchronous class time.
The internationalization of Anglophone universities could allow English-dominant students to benefit from experience with English speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds, but US students have often complained of difficulty communicating with such instructors, especially International Teaching Assistants (ITAs). Research has largely focused on helping ITAs assimilate linguistically and culturally, although many applied linguists suggest that ITAs’ students would also benefit from training in skills for communication across linguistic difference, through attention to their language attitudes, familiarity with diverse Englishes, and communication strategies. We report on an intervention designed to address all three, here focusing on students’ willingness to engage in collaborative communication strategies. The intervention, conducted in a computer science department and reaching over 300 first-year students from varied linguistic backgrounds, included an online and an in-class component, each lasting about an hour. This brief intervention resulted in small but significant gains in domestic undergraduates’ ( n = 174) stated intention to engage in collaborative behavior with their ITAs, although our detailed examination of qualitative responses suggests important areas for continued improvement of the intervention. We discuss the potential for such interventions to facilitate institutional and cultural change, encouraging the recognition of the shared responsibility for successful communication.
The purpose of this education innovation was to facilitate office hour (OH) instruction for student nurse athletes due to training schedules and off-campus travel. Effective integration of technology, learning theory, and multimedia resources provide strategies to enhance student athlete access to faculty OH and associated learning opportunities. Explain Everything™ software, a digital interactive whiteboard space, enables students and faculty to collaborate and learn across distance. This innovative approach enriches learning, ensuring OH access among student athletes.
Column description. Special Libraries, Special Challenges is a column dedicated to exploring the unique public services challenges that arise in libraries that specialize in a particular subject, such as law, medicine, business, and so forth. In each column, the author will discuss public service dilemmas and opportunities that arise in special libraries. Special or subject-matter librarians interested in authoring a piece for this column are invited to contact Patti Gibbons and Deborah Schander.
This article is written by Meryl Brodsky. Meryl is the Business Librarian at Eastern Michigan University. She holds a MLS from Southern Connecticut State University and an MBA from Cornell University. This article explores a case study at Eastern Michigan University and how the Business Librarian transitioned from traditional office hours to an appointment-based system to better meet the reference needs of current students. The article examines the LibCal online scheduling program, how it was rolled out at EMU, its effectiveness and reception.
Modern academy traces its roots back to the medieval universities established between the 12th and the 14th centuries [1]. Much has changed in the world of academia during the millennium that separates a modern university from a medieval one.
Background:
Students can have problems transitioning into nursing education, and nursing instructors can have an impact on this transition by using an active coaching role.
Objectives:
The objective of this study was to evaluate how early an academic coaching intervention helped students progress during the beginning of their first nursing semester. Student perceptions of the intervention were also explored.
Design:
This study followed a descriptive non-experimental design. A nonprobability convenience sample was used.
Settings:
A four-year Bachelor's nursing program at a private college in central Pennsylvania.
Participants:
The sample included 22 first semester students enrolled in their first nursing course.
Method:
For the first five weeks of the semester students were asked to meet with their nursing course instructors for "five minute check-ins". Students were coached on time management, study skills, access to resources, stress management, upcoming assignments, and grades. An online survey was also sent to students regarding their check-in experience.
Results:
The student coaching needs changed throughout the five week intervention. At first students heavily needed time management coaching. Study skill coaching was a steady need through the second through fifth week, and stress management coaching increased during the last week of data collection, which was along the same time as their first exams. Students who attended four to five of the weekly visits had higher first test scores and higher overall course grades. The majority of students reported benefits for attending check-in visits including organization, study skills, and feeling more connected to the instructor.
Conclusions:
Students reported an overall benefit to attending check-in visits. Course instructors were able to intervene early with students' academic problems, and help students gain access to resources. Although the check-ins were to be brief visits, there was an impact on instructors time during the check-in weeks.
This article presents an “ethnographic revisit” of Making the Grade, Becker, Geer, and Hughes’s (1968) study of student-faculty interaction. A three-year ethnographic study of student-faculty interaction at a U.S. research university shows undergraduates engaging in practices of negotiation unheard of in the study by Becker, Geer, and Hughes. These practices of negotiation include (1) defining effort prior to interaction with faculty; (2) expressing entitlement to such definitions with references to “measurable virtues”; and (3) eliciting empathy to restore desired definitions of effort when they appear to be challenged. I refer to these practices altogether as “making my grade,” and I explain why privileged students are more likely to enact them.
The use of Web-based learning technologies has increased dramatically over the past decade providing new opportunities and avenues for students to interact with their professors virtually using computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies. In this article, the authors share their experiences and findings with the use of virtual office hours as a medium for students to communicate with their professors using a Web 2.0 technology, namely Facebook's instant messaging (IM) client. Participants in the study included both traditional and nontraditional undergraduate students enrolled in on-campus MIS courses at a public U.S. university in the southeast. The findings suggest that students' use of virtual office hours is not significantly different from their use of traditional office hours; however, participants in classes that offered virtual office hours reported higher levels of satisfaction with office hours than students in classes that offered only traditional face-to-face office hours. Implications for faculty designing courses using virtual office hours as a teaching and learning tool are discussed.
Encouraging first year undergraduate students in large lecture-hall classes to seek out and actively engage their professors is a perennial problem in science education. This problem is especially acute for commuter and minority populations. Thus, because personal relationships between students and professors are well known to promote student learning and academic success, fostering new ways to connect students and faculty is essential for reducing attrition at inner-city colleges. In the current study, we demonstrate that the use of instant messaging (IM) is highly effective in fostering student-teacher interactions in the lecture-hall setting of an introductory major-level biology course at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a senior college within The City University of New York. We found that not only did the use of IM allow more students to directly contact their professors through the internet, but also formed the basis for a personal relationship, leading to increased in-person interaction during office hours. This argues that new internet-based communication technologies can help break down barriers between students and professors at the undergraduate level. We also discuss some of the further enhancements that are possible given these preliminary successes with IM. Clearly, increased use and development of Instant Messaging can play a vital role in the active engagement of students in the learning process.
This article investigates the effect of e-mail subject lines on survey viewing and survey response. Using two samples of students (low involvement with the survey sponsor and high involvement with the survey sponsor), the authors tested a variety of combinations of subject lines: the reason for the e-mail contact (survey), the sponsor of the e-mail (Liberal Arts University), a plea for help (request for assistance), and a blank subject line. The authors found a modest effect of subject line for the low-involvement sample, with blank subject lines yielding the highest response.
Although hundreds of studies investigate in‐class communication in higher education, few assess student‐faculty interaction outside the classroom. This study explores students’ and instructors’ perceptions of “extra‐classroom” communication (ECC). Substantive differences are posited in four categories: frequency, content (self‐disclosure and task‐orientation), immediacy, and satisfaction. Since no instrument existed to measure such communication exclusively, parallel inventories for students and faculty were created using the ECC context. A community college was selected to test the efficacy of the inventories and to generate preliminary findings. Data were subjected to within group univariate analysis of all items by all factors; correlation, regression analysis, and MANOVA of summary variables; and matched between group comparisons of both individual and summary variables based on student or faculty status. Significant differences were found relative to status, sex, age, years in college, major, GPA, and other descriptors.
Reasoning from Sunnafrank's theory of predicted outcome value (POV), this investigation examined how students' assessments of their teachers' accessibility and mentoring abilities influenced their perceptions of the predicted value of engaging in extra class communication (ECC). Student perceptions of teacher physical and social accessibility, along with teacher mentoring abilities (including career, course, and psychosocial), were all substantially and positively related to students' ratings of the POV of ECC. However, only social accessibility, course mentoring, and career mentoring emerged as significant predictors of POV in the regression model. These findings validate POV theory by confirming that students readily assess what they have to gain (or lose) from potential ECC encounters based on what their teachers can offer them. These findings are discussed with regard to understanding how students may be motivated to realize the benefits of ECC.
This study examined whether the effects of student–faculty interaction on a range of student outcomes—i.e., college GPA, degree
aspiration, integration, critical thinking and communication, cultural appreciation and social awareness, and satisfaction
with college experience—vary by student gender, race, social class, and first-generation status. The study utilized data on
58,281 students who participated in the 2006 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES). The findings
reveal differences in the frequency of student–faculty interaction across student gender, race, social class and first-generation
status, and differences in the effects of student–faculty interaction (i.e., conditional effects) that depended on each of these factors except first-generation
status. The findings provide implications for educational practice on how to maximize the educational efficacy of student–faculty
interaction by minimizing the gender, race, social class, and first-generation differences associated with it.
Decades of research demonstrate that college students benefit from positive interaction with faculty members, although that
same evidence suggests that those interactions are far from common, particularly outside the classroom. Moreover, relatively
little is known about which, when, how, and why faculty members choose to engage with students outside of the classroom. Guided
by the theory that faculty members use in-class behaviors to signal their “psychosocial approachability” for out-of-class
interaction with students (Wilson et al. in Sociology of Education 47(1):74–92, 1974; College professors and their impact on students, 1975), this study uses data from 2,845 faculty members on 45 campuses to identify the personal, institutional, and pedagogical
factors that influence the frequency and type of interaction faculty members have with students outside of the classroom.
KeywordsCollege teaching-Student–faculty contact (interaction)-Psychosocial approachability-Faculty gender-Contingent faculty-Pedagogical signals
A survey of faculty members at six diverse colleges and universities indicates that the amount of interaction college faculty have with students outside of class is related to faculty accessibility for such interaction. Further, among the most important indicators of accessibility were the teaching practices used by faculty members inside their classrooms. It is asserted that these teaching practices communicate to students how accessible a teacher is for interaction outside the classroom, especially in discussion areas not usually prescribed by the faculty-student role relationship. Data suggesting some of the consequences of out-of-class interaction for faculty are also presented.
This study explored college students' willingness to seek help from college instructors as a function of student age, class size, and whether a supportive statement was placed on the syllabus. Students (N = 104) read brief syllabi of two courses in which class size and an offer of outside-of-class help from the instructor were manipulated. The results showed that the students were more likely to express willingness to seek support from an instructor when the instructor explicitly offered outside help on the syllabus. In addition, there was a significant effect of age on support seeking. Younger (under 25) and older students did not differ significantly in their willingness to seek help in the supportive condition, but younger students were significantly less willing than older students to seek help in the neutral condition. These findings suggest that instructors might be able to encourage more students to seek outside-of-class help by placing supportive statements on the class syllabus. However, further research is needed to determine whether students' expressed willingness to seek help would translate into actual behavior.
Since research has established the important and positive relationship between informal student‐faculty interactions and student retention, this study investigated the relationship between immediacy, trust, and student motivation and student‐faculty out‐of‐class communication (OCC). Results indicate that verbal immediacy and student motivation are related to OCC.
In this study, a social capital framework was adopted to investigate the extent to which academically focused interactions with faculty and other institutional agents serve as social capital for college students, using National Survey of Student Engagement data from a large, science, technology, engineering and math-focused institution in Puerto Rico. As expected, previous achievement variables were the strongest factors in explaining college grade point average. Perceived quality of relations with faculty members was more important than frequency of interactions in explaining performance. Further research utilizing more specific measures of student-faculty interaction is necessary. Institutional interventions can help increase student-faculty interaction and cultivate broadened access to this form of social capital.
Using a longitudinal sample of 7,063 students, this study examined through multilevel regression analyses the impact of interracial interactions on student-faculty relationships and intellectual self-concept. Interracial interactions were positively related to each type of student-faculty interaction, while student-faculty interactions were significant to students' self-perception of academic ability and intellectual self-confidence.
Faculty members play a key role in the identification and training of the next generation of scientific talent. In the face of the need to advance and diversify the scientific workforce, we examine whether and how specific institutional contexts shape student interactions with faculty. We conducted a mixed methods study to understand institutional contextual differences in the experiences of aspiring scientists. Data from a qualitative five-campus case study and a quantitative longitudinal study of students from over 117 higher education institutions were analyzed to determine how aspiring scientists interact with faculty and gain access to resources that will help them achieve their educational goals. Findings indicate that important structural differences exist between institutions in shaping students' interactions with faculty. For example, students at more selective institutions typically have less frequent, less personal interactions with faculty whereas Black students at HBCUs report having more support and frequent interactions with faculty.
Using a longitudinal sample of 1,422 African American and Hispanic students, the purpose of the study was to examine the effects of faculty constructive criticism on students' GPA and educational satisfaction. The main premise suggested that student-faculty interactions, interpreted more broadly under the concept of constructive criticism would offer a more useful approach for understanding the complex nature of faculty feedback on students' educational outcomes. While the general premise was supported, it was concluded that constructive criticism within an educational environment of 'wise-schooling' could offer useful opportunities for faculty to enhance minority students' academic success and educational satisfaction. (Contains 3 tables.)
The experience of baccalaureate-level students in the United States is considered with particular attention to the way college structures and procedures affect students' lives. During fall 1984, site visits by 16 observer-reporters were made to 29 colleges and universities representing liberal arts colleges, comprehensive colleges, doctorate-granting institutions, and research universities. National surveys of 5,000 faculty members and 4,500 undergraduates were also undertaken to obtain information about faculty and students: their age, sex, ethnicity, academic achievement, and their views about teaching and learning. To learn about a student's transition from school to college, a special survey of grade 12 students and their parents was conducted, based on a random sample of 1,187 students in 196 high schools, along with telephone interviews with 232 high school counselors and admissions officers at the 29 site visit colleges. The status of general education was examined through a survey of 1,310 chief academic officers. Key issues identified include the marketing of higher education, discrepancy between students' academic preparation and faculty expectations, fragmented curriculum, faculty divided loyalties and conflicting career concerns, and confusion over goals. Several special studies were commissioned to provide additional information. A "Guide to a Good College" is included as the epilogue. (SW)
While many scholars recognize that the process of education extends beyond the formal classroom, relatively little research has focused on the role of communication in this area. This article focuses on out of class (OOC) communication between faculty and students. First, the benefits of OOC contact for students, faculty, and educational institutions; the frequency of such contact; and what is known about the roles of student and instructor sex in such contexts are explored. Then, the results of a study exploring the roles of faculty perceptions of instructor empathy, relational topoi, and instructor sex are reported. The findings indicate that these variables all relate to the amount and kinds of OOC communication that occur.
Examined the effects of student-faculty interaction on student satisfaction and on a range of self-reported learning and personal development gains associated with attending college of 5,409 full-time undergraduates from 126 4-year colleges and universities. Findings show that the frequency of student-faculty interaction increased from 1st year through the senior year. Although its net effects were trivial, such interactions had substantial positive effects on students' efforts in other educationally purposeful activities, which had non-trivial effects on their estimated gains and satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper documents the results of a qualitative study of student–faculty interactions. The work explores the frequency and
nature of interactions, sheds light on the determinants of interactions, and reveals the dynamic processes that underlie contact
between faculty and students. Focus group results indicate that students have minimal contact with faculty outside the classroom,
and do not appear to be aware of the importance of interacting with faculty. Results also illustrate key factors that deter
and facilitate student–faculty interactions. The findings and their implications should be beneficial to faculty, student
life professionals, and administrators alike.
Leaving College University of Maryland Undergraduate Student Self-Reported Racial Identity
- V Tinto
Tinto, V. 1983. Leaving College. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. " University of Maryland Undergraduate Student Self-Reported Racial Identity. " 2011. Retrieved from http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/facts/ quickfacts.cfm