POV: Student Perceptions — The View from the Other Side of the Desk

      SPECIAL REPORT:    DISTANCE ED       

POV

Think back to your favorite elementary, secondary, or college teacher. What memories come to mind? Do they take you back to a particular time and place? Why does this teacher stand out among all of the teachers you have had? How did your favorite teacher impact your educational experiences? How did this person change your life?

Evelyn N. Waiwaiole Director NISOD	Coral Noonan-Terry Associate Director NISOD

Answers to these questions may help you to reflect upon how a teacher can make a difference in a student’s life. At the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), we work with faculty members from across the United States, as well as several countries throughout the world. For more than 30 years, NISOD has been focused on serving, engaging and inspiring faculty by celebrating and recognizing them with the NISOD Excellence Award; sharing teaching techniques in Innovation Abstracts and at NISOD’s International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence; and disseminating findings from exemplary teachers.

A rich database of information has been created about what works to help students be successful and is available on the NISOD website (www.nisod.org). Over time, NISOD’s scope has broadened to extend beyond the classroom to staff members and administrators. But the student perspective has been missing.

That is changing. In 2008, Community College Week and NISOD joined forces to create the Community College Week — NISOD Student Essay Contest. Participants are asked to describe their most rewarding learning experiences with a faculty, staff member, or administrator at their community college. NISOD was seeking information about teaching effectiveness, but this time the voices were not those of teachers or administrators, but those of students, sharing their perspectives about life on the other side of the desk.

The inaugural contest was viewed as a pilot. We anticipated receiving not more than about 100 submissions. But we received more than 1,500. The next year, we were inundated with essays. We have been shocked, moved and inspired all at once.

The essays have at least a couple of things in common. Students rarely mentioned a teachers’ knowledge of the discipline, but almost always noted the instructor’s passion. This is not to say that deep content knowledge is not important. It most certainly is. But the essays show that what resonates most with students is an enthusiasm for teaching.

Three themes relative to teaching consistently emerged from the essays. Effective teachers, students believe:

• Are accessible and approachable,
  
  
• Believe in their students, and
  
  
• Coach, encourage and mentor their students.

Accessible and Approachable

The overwhelmingly popular response regarding community college students’ most rewarding learning experiences related to teachers taking time to meet with their students, including spending time with them after class. Students notice this extra touch. Many students observed that their own hectic schedules with work, school, family and other obligations conflicted with the professor’s posted office hours and made it difficult to find a mutually convenient time to meet.

But when professors made time for their students outside of class and outside the scheduled office hours professors communicated: “I care about you. Your learning is important to me. I want you to be successful in my class. I am here for you.” College students may look confident and steady on the outside, but many have had negative educational experiences, or are first-generation students who are especially fragile in this unfamiliar environment. By making time for them, teachers provide a safety net for students who are walking the tightrope of higher education.

Believe In Me

Students also discussed the difference it made when faculty members had confidence in them. Many students mentioned that they had been out of school for a long time and doubted their own abilities. Others had been told they were not college material. Still others wrote about family members telling them they should not be in college. In their essays, students repeatedly lauded teachers, advisors, counselors and others who believed in them and emphasized the impact that this confidence had on their learning. Some examples:

“Dr. Kumamoto taught me about pride, confidence, and self-worth, but most importantly, I learned that having someone believe in you could make all the difference.”
— Student, College of DuPage (Ill.)

“Each class, Mrs. Bennett treated me as if I had equal chance of reaching my goal as my younger peers and her can-do attitude of me kept me coming back.”
—Student, Hartford Community College (Conn.)

Coaching

In their essays, students explained how their teachers coached, mentored and encouraged them. In addition to having someone believe in them, students yearned for coaching on how to manage their educational challenges. They welcomed advice, counseling, and guidance when faculty assumed the roles of mentor and encourager. For example:

“After 22 years as an executive assistant, I was back in college. After the first week, I thought…’What have you gotten yourself into?’…..My instructor, Laurie, coached me, made learning fun and insightful, and is the perfect mentor.”
—Student, Palo Alto College (Texas)

“It’s been almost 40 years since I have graced the halls of higher learning….My instructor seems to sense my uneasiness because she addressed the class with words of encouragement and reassurance.”
—Student, Craven Community College (N.C.)

What students consistently describe as their most rewarding learning experience is the “humanness of teaching.” Students want a connection; they want the relationship inherent in successful teaching and learning. Students want faculty to invest in them.

This is a new era. President Obama has called for significant increases in the current college completion rates. NISOD has joined with five other community college organizations to sign a pledge to boosting completion rates. Other national initiatives such as Achieving the Dream and the Center for Community College Student Engagement are declaring that success counts and that student engagement is critical for student learning, persistence and attainment. And from more than 2,300 student essays, we are learning from students that the “humanness of teaching” is a powerful motivating factor.

As a professional development organization, NISOD is committed to using the knowledge collected from students who write about their experiences, share their perspectives, and give voice to the human conditions that are helping shape their lives and their success. This shared knowledge is a compelling tool by which we can better serve, engage, and inspire faculty, staff, and administrators. Look for a follow-up article in a future edition of CCWeek in which we will describe the array of strategies community colleges are putting into place, and the tools they are using to support faculty and staff efforts to improve student success.

Comments: editor@ccweek.com

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