Is Communication the Key to a Great Student, Professor Relationship?
One issue that seems to be a topic of conversation for some Morningside students is Are Professors out of touch with students. This conversation has stemmed from many different conversations when people feel the professors aren’t “Modern” or “With the times” enough. These conversations seem to be a topic that some people feel passionate about. Morningside represents a Gen Z student population. Can professors relate?
I talked to three different Morningside Students about this issue. Some of the people I interviewed would like to remain anonymous. I will refer to them as Student 1, 2, and 3. All three of them are in their second year at Morningside University.
When talking to Student #1 and asked if they think some longer teaching professors are out of date here was her response “I’d say most are but not all of them.” Student #3 agrees with her response but student #2 has a different response.
Student #2 states “I believe it depends on the professor themselves.” She also goes onto say “If a professor works to communicate and understand their students, then they are not out of reach.”
In the end student #2 had this to say about whether a professor succeeds in their findings “If a professor works to communicate and understand their students, and fails, I don’t believe they are out of touch either, because their attempt may be seen as important and/or endearing.”
Student #2 takes the more descriptive and realistic approach to the questions offering more ways that she feels make them out of reach. Student #2 offers a little more grace with her answer feeling that if they try and try then they are ok, but she finishes off with “However, if a tenured professor makes no attempt to communicate and understand their students, or are unwilling to make an attempt at all, then I believe they are indeed out of touch.” So, student number #2 thinks the action of trying to modernize with their students to make them more in the loop of things rather than if they don’t try then they’re out of touch and that is a very fair assumption.
My last question to these three was “What should they do to change?” All three students offered some very helpful feedback and feel that they can make positive changes.
Student #1 believes that they should have the students come up with some ideas for them and allow them to incorporate them into their class at some point. Student number #2 states “Communication with students is very important.” Finally, Student #3 mainly touched on the use of Technology and incorporating it more.
Student #2 goes on to talk about how they have a professor (tenure is unknown) that is always updating her course plans and ask for the student’s feedback. But student number #2 expresses that it’s the willingness to take her students feedback and change that makes her a great professor.
Lastly, before leaving them I asked if they had any further comments. Two students said no but Student #2 talked about Even though they may fail at reaching out to students it’s the “Willingness to change” that is the key factor to “Being in touch with their students”.
After interviewing students about this issue, I reached oy to Professor Lillian Lopez, a Professor of Political Science in the Social Sciences Department, about these issues and what professors do to relate with their students.
When asked if she thinks about if Professors are out of touch with students she states, “I cannot speak for all professors, just myself.” and then goes on to talk about how Morningside has allowed her and other professors to learn new ways of teaching and to get away from the normal, old-fashioned lecture. Professor Lopez touches on ways that faculty have adjusted their teaching methods. Examples of those are Role Play, Group Work, and a flipped classroom where they dive in on a concept.
Professor Lopez also brings up an example of how some students think that way of learning is the Professor not being prepared for class. When we go back to the original question of Are professors out of touch with students? It may not just be professors; it can be students who resist the new ways of teaching. Professor Lopez brings up a good example stating that “The new ways of pedagogy and teaching are not always perceived by the students as valuable.”
Professor Lopez brings up another interesting thing regarding a previous quote saying, “I can give you the option end of the spectrum, I don’t tend to lecture, I do question and answer approaches to learning, and I hear students saying, I wish you lecture.” So, with both of those being said she tries to find a “Happy Medium” with her approach to teaching. With her approach to teaching and changing her style of teaching to help her students learn, we can connect that to the response of a student talking about how good professors are listening to their students and changing their methods of teaching.
Professor Lopez states, “I continue to think your question is very relevant and important” and then goes on to say that “of course we want to connect to our students.” She also goes on to talk about how she and other professors want their students to succeed and learn and how sometimes things are unpleasant, but we still must do them.
Professor Lopez talks about her experience teaching a Critical inquiry and Communication Class (CIC). Out of her almost 30 years here at Morningside this is the first time she’s ever taught a CIC Class. She goes on to talk about the importance of this class and relating her to the first-year students.
When talking about ways of finding new techniques she states, “We are very good as a faculty borrowing ideas and instructions from each other.” She also goes on to talk about how some things are trial and error as some things don’t work with one class but do work with another class.
When asked about ways that she institutes alternative ways of teaching in her class she states “What has worked best for the types of classes that I teach is more of the Role Model. I do a Mock Trial in my class Intro to US Law with students portraying people like lawyers, and other people because I see the value in that type of class.” Prof. Lopez then goes on to lack about how group work is effective but it’s easy to lose students when doing for whole class periods.
Finally, when asked What advice would you give a student in a class that is more of the traditional lecture she states, “There is a place for lectures.” She uses a science class as an example when teaching a Chemical Reaction could happen to be a lecture type. She then states, “You need to know the class in front of you.” Using her 8 am class as an example, she must do interactive work the first 15 minutes to get them engaged. When referring to homework Professor Lopez states that “It’s always safe to mix and match.”
In a final statement talking about how some students prefer the lecture concept she states, “It depends on discipline.”
When looking at the comparison of the answers from the students and Professor Lopez there are some overlaps in the answers. One being an answer from a student about incorporating more techniques into their class and professor Lopez talking about how Professors try and incorporate many different teaching methods into their classes.
Is Communication the Key to a Great Student, Professor Relationship? From the discussion stemmed from the topic both sides have the reason they feel the way they do but there is common ground in the middle.