by Denise Wilson, July 6, 2022
It's a teacher's worst nightmare, right? You see a student in your class -- looking a little isolated. You want to help. You reach out. You try to connect. You want the student to feel included, accepted, and welcome in your class. You reach out again. Offer help. And then, the unthinkable happens. Good intentions lead to bad outcomes. Instead of feeling more included, the student feels even more left out. Isolated. Unwelcome.
Unfortunately, this may not be "just a nightmare" but rather is grounded in reality. In our recent six-year study of engineering undergraduates, the data suggests that this fear may actually ring true. For those students that we as teachers may see as isolated or less integrated with peers, more interactions with the teacher go hand-in-hand with a lower sense of belonging -- more isolation, less sense of acceptance -- exactly the opposite of what most faculty want when they work with and interact with students. This is scary.
To be fair, our data is cross-sectional -- taken only at a single point in time. But to add fuel to the fire, we do know that, more so than K-12 teachers, college faculty are intimidating to students -- even scary. Going to office hours may be the last thing that many students want to do. Interact with the Professor? No way. And so, it is indeed possible that although correlation does not prove causality, some, many, or most interactions with faculty may actually be impairing students' sense of belonging -- pushing students out rather than drawing them in.
Fortunately, we have some good news from that global bearer of bad news over the past several years -- the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual office hours reduce the barrier between faculty and student. This effect is similar to the way that holding office hours in a student space (rather than in the professor's office) can reduce that barrier. Interactions held in spaces that are more comfortable, familiar, and overall safer for students can counteract the intimidation effect that those with the three letters PhD after their last name seem to unintentionally have on students. Students who talk to professors in more familiar spaces feel less like imposters, are more likely to ask frequent questions, and are likely to see faculty as more approachable.
This is good news for our worst nightmare. Faculty can overcome the potentially negative impacts on student belonging that the mere act of interacting with students can invoke -- by making simple changes in how, when, and where interactions with students take place.
Whew. Time to spruce up my home office for this evening's virtual office hours.
Reference:
Misra, S., Kardam, N., VanAntwerp, J., and Wilson, D.M. (2022). How Did the Landscape of Student Belonging Shift During COVID-19? Journal of Engineering Education, in review.
Denise Wilson is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Her research interests in engineering education focus on belonging, engagement, and instructional support in the engineering classroom.
