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Advocate Online
In the Know
Faculty-Student Interaction
An annual survey of faculty finds
professors more involved with their students than in the past and increasingly
concerned about their academic and personal success.
Faculty members at the nation’s
colleges and universities are becoming more involved in the academic progress
and personal development of their students, according to a recent report
entitled The American College Teacher, from the Higher Education
Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Researchers surveyed 32,840 full-time
faculty members at 358 colleges and analyzed their student interaction
based on daily activities, job satisfaction, and professional goals.
In comparison to a similar survey published
by the Institute in 1989, the number of faculty members who are aware
and concerned with their students’ academic difficulties and personal
problems has risen from 76 percent in 1989 to 83 percent in 2001.
The report attributes this rise in faculty
involvement to greater student accessibility to faculty outside of class
and faster communications with professors via e-mail. Larger universities
have also facilitated more faculty-student interactions with residence-hall
apartments for professors. Faculty members reported that developing connections
with students outside of the classroom gave them greater flexibility in
their teaching methods.
Another component of greater faculty involvement
is a shift in faculty goals and priorities. In the 2001 survey, only 53
percent of professors placed high importance on becoming an authority
in their field, research and publishing, and attaining tenure as compared
to 66 percent in 1989.
As professors continue to shift their
focus, the report notes, students are the greatest benefactors with increased
faculty attention resulting in better grades, a reliable support system,
and a greater chance to complete their academic goals.
Also in the 2001 report, faculty say they
are more concerned with being good colleagues and expanding their institutional
portfolios for the benefit of the institution rather than vying for academic
acclaim. But critics are doubtful that faculty members are earnestly cultivating
a community environment with their students and believe that many are
simply mimicking the university’s goals.
The American College Teacher
is available from the Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA Graduate
School of Education and Information Studies, 3005 Moore Hall, Box 95121,
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521 or by calling 310/825-1925
| From The
Lectern |
| The best
undergraduate education for the twenty-first century will be based
on liberal education that produces an individual who is intentional
about learning and life, empowered, informed and responsible. To
achieve these goals, liberal education will need to change in two
major ways from its earlier incantations. First, liberal education
must define itself as the best and most practical form of learning
for a changing world and then strive to meet that standard. Second,
it needs to become available to all students, not simply the self
selected or privileged group of the past. Such a liberal education,
as the framework for the entire college experience, is not limited
to selected disciplines or the introductory level. The aims of liberal
education for the future can only be achieved when all parts of
the educational experience, from high school through college, focus
on them.
—Greater
Expectations, a report from the Association of American Colleges
and Universities |
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