Two key college questions: What do I want to do with my life? Where does inspiration come from?
Lauren Dodds UA’26 and Jim Stellar
We two connected in psychopharmacology when the course content discussion spilled over into talking about college, and how students and faculty connect as people. LD was worried that she wouldn’t perform well in this class because it had a neuroscience underpinning that was not strongly in her background. We did not need to worry. She did great. And that led to this blog.
Our first conversation was about the contrast between her beginning her career compared to my (JS) more “time honored” career. We also talked about cognitive-emotional integration and the idea of how it might underlie the inspiration mentioned in the title. LD is a psychology major, a writer, and has a minor in creative writing. She also is a second semester junior with about 18 months to figure out her career plans.
I (LD) always try to get to know my professors, particularly my writing professors. It is a habit and a strategy. However, I find it difficult to connect with professors who have a stand-off attitude, and preface the class saying it is our responsibility to make sure we’re doing well. (Whether that means keeping up with readings, courseload, etc.) The problem with this is that it’s off-putting to the student, and results in intimidation that shuts down further connection. I (LD) think professors should be invested in students’ development, as it’s their job as a teacher to make sure students understand content. Reaching out for help can be intimidating alone, but with a professor who doesn’t seem to want to help, it feels pointless.
We agree that a good part of teaching should involve caring about the student’s learning, and extending to the student themselves and not just their performance. This getting direct contact with students is an issue with large classes, which we recognize are budget-efficient and common in most universities. But we also note that they can get in the way of individual student-faculty contact. It is just harder for a professor to get to know their students if there are so many of them. But it is also important that students feel invited to learn from their professors as people. For example, too many professors say students must make sure they stay up to date on their own and that suggests a value of process over caring. Caring can happen best when teachers of all types foster a human connection. Not every student will make the effort to know their professor, but every professor should make a space for each student if they were to try. Of course, the student should also be interested in the topic.
Some call this the Ivory tower problem (not a good thing for connections) and it can occur from both a student and a faculty perspective. The student feels disconnected from their ivory tower university and may look to leave or discourage others from even coming. The professor has a more lonely life, as teaching is a key duty, but now seems remote and not interested in connection. I (LD) have experience with the opposite. I have a large (150 students) lecture class with an energetic professor who comes up to students every class and asks for our names. Every time someone asks a question, he asks them to say their name first, and will call out in search of people he remembers. Connection can be this simple, and it is extremely effective. I have had less than 20-person discussion courses with a professor who is less engaging than this. Professors set the groundwork for what the class can become. In my opinion, energy and effort are everything. If the student sees the teacher making an effort to care, chances are they will be more inspired to care themself, and perform much better than had the professor not engaged them.
So from where does the human connection come? First, it comes from cognitive-emotional integration on both part of students and faculty. The cognitive part is really the content and operational plan for the course. The emotional part is something that happens when a professor compliments a student or a student asks an engaging question about the topic. There is a second level of simultaneous communication that serves this emotional part. It comes through facial emotions, context, and other non-verbal factors that go along with the cognitive or process-based plan for the course. When students are noticed, they feel appreciated. This inspires them to pursue their goals more than if they flew by unseen.
Body language can help achieve this. Maintaining eye contact when a student asks a question or stays after class for help will let them know they’re being heard. Addressing the class as a whole with excited motions and energetic teachings keeps the focus up front. Students will want to engage.
In general, when our emotions are aligned with our goals, the chances of fulfilling them increase greatly. In the university, students will be excited to go to class, pay attention, go home and feel secure about what they learned. It could become a positive feedback cycle; the more the student is complimented or encouraged, the more they will want to try, and so on. This could even save a student whose motivation has fallen to the point of failing, or dropping out entirely. Engaging with them and getting them excited to learn and grow will elicit a change in behavior. Feeling excited to go to class opposed to obligated will help them focus on lectures. Teachers can further reinforce this by encouraging questions and discussions. An open line of communication removes the intimidation of asking for help. Engagement goes a long way in removing the Ivory Tower issue
