Faculty Accessibility Cues: Opening the Doors for Classroom Interaction

Kevin Eagan, Tanya Figueroa, Sylvia Hurtado, Josephine GasiewskiAIR Annual Forum, New Orleans, LA

June 6, 2012

BackgroundImportance of student-faculty interaction in

STEMAcademic performanceMotivationPersistenceCritique of introductory STEM courses as cold

and intimidating classes that encourage passive learning

Accessibility cues and an ethic of care as antecedents to interactionSignal faculty’s interest in undergraduatesStudents use these cues in deciding whether,

when, and how to interaction with faculty

PurposeTo examine the individual- and classroom-level factors that predict the extent to which students perceive their professors as demonstrating an ethic of care in introductory STEM courses.  

Theoretical FrameworksDevelopment of rapport

Mutual attentivenessPositivity (e.g., mutual liking, friendliness)Coordination (e.g., balance and harmony in

interaction)Importance of nonverbal cues

Interactional justiceQuality of interpersonal relationshipsEmphasis on individual dignity and respect

Accessibility Cues and Ethic of CareAccessibility: physical and psychological

Attitudes, beliefs, and values of faculty regarding interaction with students

Actual presence and availability of faculty Accessibility (Positive Behaviors)

Demonstrate interestReassure students by welcoming their inquiriesTreat students as individuals

Faculty Behaviors and Characteristics Signaling an Ethic of CareEmpathySense of humor

Belief that professors play an important role in students’ lives

Valuing teaching and investing time in instructional improvement

Avoid intimidation or embarrassment of students

Sequential, Explanatory Mixed Methods DesignCollected, analyzed, and integrated both

quantitative and qualitative data during the research process

Quantitative data collected first; informed selection of institutional sites for qualitative data collection

Data fully integrated during the analysisQuantitative data provided a broad picture of

students’ engagementQualitative data more deeply explored

student views regarding their introductory classroom experience

QUANTITATIVE Data Collection

Integrating Quantitative &

Qualitative Results

Connecting Quantitative & Qualitative

Phases

Qualitative Data Collection

Qualitative Data Analysis

QUANTITATIVE Data Analysis

Quantitative MethodologyFour data sources

Pre- and post-survey for students in introductory courseOne-time survey for faculty teaching introductory

courseSample

15 colleges and universities76 introductory STEM courses3,205 students

52% White 61% Women 42% aspired to earn a medical degree 21% aspired to earn a Ph.D. or an Ed.D. 75% reported majoring in a STEM discipline.

Quantitative MethodologyOutcome variable – Student Perception of

Faculty Ethic of CareAlpha = 0.88Items: faculty provided feedback, cared about

students’ well-being, encouraged questions, valued diverse life experiences, was open to alternative viewpoints, effectively handled classroom controversy, was sensitive to multicultural issues

Quantitative MethodologyIndependent variables

Background characteristicsHigh school preparationIntroductory STEM course experiencesFaculty behaviors and attitudes

Quantitative MethodologyWeighted data to adjust for non-response biasMissing values analysisHierarchical linear model

Qualitative MethodologyEight sites

1 HBCU, 1HSI, 6 PWIsTwo data sources

Students: 41 focus groups (n = 241 students) 54% White 21% Asian/Asian America 14% African American 8% Latino 3% Native American 62% Women

Faculty: 25 in-depth interviews with faculty Chemistry, biology , mathematics, & engineering

Qualitative MethodologySemi-structured interview protocol

Experiences in introductory STEM courses, motivation, course structure, learning, instruction, & assessment

Goals and objectives for introductory STEM courses, pedagogical approaches, structure, forms of assessment, & institutional support for teaching

Emergent code developmentOpen coded in NVivo8

Inter-rater reliability: 80-85%Re-validated coding architecture

Linked codes to participant attributes

Background and Pre-College PredictorsWomen (+)URM (-)Higher HS biology grades (+)Honors/AP chemistry courses in HS (-)

Caring about Students’ Well-BeingI have to feel like I’m cared for, not necessarily that I need to learn. If the professor shows that, oh, you were sick one day. “Oh, well, how are you?” or “You seem like you didn’t do too well on the last test or something. Did something go wrong with you?” or kind of stuff like that…More about caring about me as a person more than a student. (Western Private Masters University)

Learning Students’ Names and Their Stories

On our first recitation [the professor] called each one of us up and was like, “I connect names with stories so tell me your name and tell me something about you,” and then by the second recitation class he knew everyone’s name. He actually took the time out of his daily schedule and he went home to really, really understand who each of us were, first name, last name out of his over 150 students... it was amazing that he actually cared to do that while it was such a big lecture, and I wouldn’t have expected that. (Scott, Northeastern Private Master’s College

Caring about Student LearningHe really cares that you learn the material, and he will do almost anything to help you learn it like time-wise. He’ll spend enough time, which is really rare. I had a really good Chem II teacher who would take evenings out and have his students – this was over the summer even, and the students would come in the evenings and he would just work through problem after problem. So it just, it really showed that he cared. (Kate, Southwestern Private Research University)

Class Discussion Predicts a Stronger Sense of CareMost of my, my professors, they’re pretty much approachable like, you know, they always ask us do you have any questions or not, like am I going too fast, do you understand, and we’re allowed to like raise your, we’re allowed to like interact with him, you know, to show that we understand. (Marc, Southeastern Public Research University)

Getting the students to talk to you in class … and having the other students see your interaction is huge, yeah, and it really helps, rather than just standing up and saying stuff, but stopping and getting that interaction. It’s hard to do. It’s hard to get them—it’s hard to get them to talk, … It’s always a challenge. (Professor Reyes, Western Public Research University)

Affirming Students’ ParticipationI try to make whatever answer they say to be the right answer to some question…I’ll say, “That would be true if we were doing this, but now we’re doing this, so why is this not true?” I think you can ask without making a student feel—I think they know I care about them. I think they know that I want them to learn....I think they know when I don’t let them off the hook it’s because I care about them. I’ll kinda joke, “This is that tough love stuff. Come on, you can do it.” (Professor Alpert, Southwestern Private Research University)

Embarrassing StudentsIf you ask a question he’ll like make you stand up, and explain it to the class. You’re like, “Okay clearly if I’m asking a question I don’t know what’s going on. So why should I explain it to the class?” And so you’re just kinda standing up there like really awkwardly, and you like point at something. And obviously you’re saying something’s wrong. And he’s like, “Does anybody have any comments?” And so people would be like, “Yeah that’s wrong.” And you’re like, “Okay let me sit down then. Someone else explain it.” Or I don’t know maybe you could teach. So it’s like really frustrating. (Jasmine, Midwestern Public Research University)

Boredom vs. Excitement in the ClassroomThe secret to teaching is to make it not boring. Math classes inherently are sort of boring, so you have to make jokes and things like that. (Professor Pace, Western Research University)

My Stats teacher [is] just not normal. I don't know how to explain him. But the class is fun, I enjoy it, I hardly ever yawn or anything in there, even when I'm just really tired. But it makes me engaged, and it makes me wanna learn, because you know, he's always yelling or -- not yelling at us, but you know, yelling. Just to be weird. But. I mean, it makes it exciting and it makes me say, "Okay," and it actually helps when it comes time for asking questions. I ask a million and one questions in that class…I still really enjoy the class because of my teacher. (Southwestern Private Research University)

Office Hours and Co-Curricular ExperiencesShe will sit down with you one-on-one. If you just, all you have to do is just ask her. She’ll sit down with you one on one. She’ll work through the problem step by step by step until you get it, and if you exhaust – for some reason if you exhaust all the problems inside of our textbook, she’ll make up other ones right on the spot and work with you step by step by step until you actually get it. (Madison, Northeastern Private Masters College)

I’d rather go to my TA. Less intimidating. (Karly, Western Public Research University)

Faculty Awareness of Classroom Dynamics

There is a huge gap between the atmosphere that you think you are creating in your course and the atmosphere that you are. I am constantly trying to remember that. I want to have a classroom where my students never feel inhibited about telling me I have just done something wrong or saying, ‘[Professor Hume], I don’t understand you.’ I am constantly getting the feedback to my students from my students so I think I am the nicest guy in the world but then I get feedback from my students that I intimidate them in class and they are afraid to point out things and so then I have to back up and apologize, and reiterate that that is not the kind of classroom atmosphere I am trying to build. (Professor Hume, Southeastern Public Research University)

DiscussionStudents seek minimal level of care

Recognize students and learn something about them

Large classes are no impedimentMutual responsibility of students

Take advantage of office hours, other opportunities to connect with faculty

Faculty signal care and attentiveness through verbal and nonverbal cuesEncouraging questions and affirming

participationEmbarrassing students or dismissing questions

ConclusionDemonstrate care through enthusiasm in the

classroom and dynamic instructional strategies

Develop an awareness of classroom dynamics

Contact Info

This study was made possible by the support of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH Grant Numbers 1 R01 GMO71968-01 and R01 GMO71968-05, the National Science Foundation, NSF Grant Number 0757076, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH Grant 1RC1GM090776-01. This independent research and the views expressed here do not indicate endorsement by the sponsors.

Papers and reports are available for download from project website:

http://heri.ucla.edu/nihProject e-mail: herinih@ucla.edu

Faculty/Co-PIs:Sylvia HurtadoMitchell Chang

Tanya FigueroaGina GarciaJuan Garibay

Postdoctoral Scholars:Kevin EaganJosephine Gasiewski

Administrative Staff:Dominique Harrison

Graduate Research Assistants:

Felisha Herrera

Bryce HughesCindy

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