Lillie Morell's Podcast

The transition to college classes can impact student-teacher connections. While large lecture classes can make it difficult to form relationships, smaller labs and discussions provide opportunities for more meaningful connections. These relationships are important for academic success and can positively impact grades. Building relationships with professors and TAs can also benefit students beyond the classroom, helping them understand material better and fostering positive academic-related emotions. Positive teacher-student relationships lead to enhanced persistence, self-regulation, and goal striving. Participating in class and having positive educational aspirations contribute to student success. Although it may be challenging to form close relationships with professors in college, smaller lab sections can still provide opportunities for interaction. These relationships are crucial for students in developing life skills and future career opportunities. Forming bonds with teachers is Hello and welcome back to how the transition to college classes impacts student-teacher connections for Episode 2. Today we will be talking about how relationships formed with teachers in high school are similar to bonds formed with professors slash TAs in labs and discussions at the university level and why these relationships are so important. At large universities, lectures tend to have around 300 students, whereas labs and discussions typically only have around 20. It may seem that it is easier to develop more meaningful relationships with your teachers in high school than in college. However, universities do not consist of solely large-based lecture classes. They also require students to take labs and discussions. Typically, these discussions are much smaller and similar to high school classes. Not only do they reflect the class size that is seen in high schools, they also require students to participate and share their ideas, just like a high school class. So, why do universities require some classes to have a lab or discussion section? After hearing from two students at the University of Connecticut and discussing the results from a study in the Journal of Educational Psychology and a study done by Christopher Urain at Weldon University, we will find out. When the class size is smaller, it is much easier to build relationships with your professor or TA. These relationships are the building blocks to academic success. Let's hear from a freshman at the University of Connecticut. How many people would you say is in your lecture? In my lecture, it's about 300 people. And how many kids or people are in your lab? My lab is much smaller. It's only about 20 people. And how often would you say you participate in lecture? I don't. I rarely participate in lecture. I never do because there's so many people and it's overwhelming. How well would you say that you know your biology professor? I don't know my biology professor at all. Have you ever talked to him in person or emailed him? I have never talked or emailed him. And how well would you say that you know the TA in your biology lab? In my biology lab, I know my TA very well. How often do you talk to him during lab or email him outside of class? I talk to him all the time in lab and he always answers my questions and outside of lab, I'm comfortable emailing him and clarifying anything that I have trouble with while studying. That's good. And how do you think this relationship with your TA has impacted your grade? My relationship with my TA has made my grade, impacted my grade positively because it has allowed me to ask questions even outside of the classroom by emailing him and even asking what I should focus on to study and clarifying whatever I need to be focused on. And would you ever email your biology professor? No, I would never email my biology professor. Why? Because I would never email my biology professor because I'm just uncomfortable. I don't really know who he is and it's just intimidating. How do you think your biology grade would be different along with your relationship with a teacher be different if your lab class had the same number of people as your lecture? My relationship with my TA would be completely different because if my lab was the same size as my lecture, it would be uncomfortable and intimidating to even ask or talk to or go up to the TA. So do you think you would struggle if this was the class size? Yes, I think it would be much harder to learn lecture. So do you feel that every class that you take should require a discussion or a lab? I do because it allows students to be more open to asking questions and to participating with their peers and even the TA. Do you think these smaller lab classes and discussions have helped you with the transition from high school to college? Yes, because it has allowed me to even meet more fellow peers and students and make connections while also learning how to talk to teachers and TAs while in college. Now that we understand why it is crucial for higher level classes to include a discussion or lab section, let's get into how building relationships with your professors can benefit you beyond just academic success. Not only will you understand the material better and therefore get better grades in the class, these relationships are also vital for your success beyond the classroom. One study assessed students' interpersonal relationships with teachers in English, Mathematics, Science, History, and Geography classes in high school. It is noted that self-determination theory places how basic psychological needs are satisfied through support from significant others, including teachers. Positive teacher-student relationships lead students to internalize some of their teacher's beliefs and values. These beliefs and values are held by students to function to direct behavior and cognition via enhanced persistence, self-regulation, and goal striving. These are all crucial behaviors for academic success. It was also found that positive teacher-student relationships have an energizing function that activates positive academic-related emotions. These positive emotion responses can drive achievement behavior in the form of engagement. Engagement and participation in class are the building blocks to successful education. When students actively participate in school, enjoy school, and have positive educational aspirations, they typically are very successful. In regard to participation, learning environments fostering students' participation enhance their commitment to learning and achievement. In terms of aspirations, several researchers have shown that when students have positive academic intent, they tend to attain greater achievement, are more motivated, and have more aspirational future course intentions. It is clear that positive teacher-student relationships are very important for student success beyond just the classroom. They push students to strive for greater goals. However, this study was done on high school students, so is it still possible in college to have close relationships with your professors or TAs? We are now going to hear about an experience that a junior at the University of Connecticut had. And on average, how many people would you say are in your biology lectures? I'd say about 300. And have you had a lab section with every one of these lectures? Yes. And how many kids or people would you say are in your lab section? About 20 people. Okay. And have you formed any kind of relationship with any of your bio teachers in any semester that you've taken it? Not really. I kind of just go to the lectures to take my notes and I listen to them, but I never really interact with them. So have you ever needed them in any life things? Yeah. So recently, I actually needed to formally reintroduce myself to one of my professors because I needed a letter of rec to get me into an internship at Hartford Children's Hospital. Okay. And were there any concerns that you had when asking this teacher for letters of rec? Yeah. Considering that it was a 300-person lecture, I was a little apprehensive that they wouldn't really know who I was or be able to write a good letter about me because they didn't even know me. I've said hi to them maybe once. Okay. And how would you describe your relationship with your TAs who teach the lab sections? Oh, I love my TAs. They're literally so great. I always talk to them, ask them questions, and they help me out one-on-one, which is really great. So that's pretty nice to have that. So one problem I ran into with my letter of rec for my internship was that they don't allow you to get the letters from TAs, and this was really tough for me. I just feel like the TAs know me much better, so they would have wrote a better letter. I'm a little nervous I'm not going to get into my internship now because I don't know how genuine my professor's letter will be. It is clear that the relationships you build with your professors and TAs are so important because they set you up for success by helping you build essential life skills and aiding you in your career journey. As you can see, your relationship with your professor helps you beyond just getting good grades. It can even help you get an internship or job one day. Forming bonds with your teachers is crucial for students of all ages. These positive relationships foster success in the classroom and beyond. That is why it is essential for universities to require a smaller lab or discussion section that mirrors high school classes. Some college lectures house over 300 students. Overall, it is clear that smaller class sizes promote positive relationships between teachers and students. In college, labs and discussions are where an immense amount of learning takes place. Because it is where students build relationships, it allows students to participate and obtain a greater understanding of the content.