Survey questions student-teacher interaction

Matt Griesmyer

The Signal Staff

Recently, The Signal staff and the Communication Association at the University of Houston-Clear Lake concluded a year-long survey to determine how technology has changed the student-teacher interaction in the classroom.  Surveys were distributed via the Internet and through print surveys handed out at various campus activities.

Technology has changed the face of higher education, for better or worse.  Survey says students now expect instant interaction between the teachers and themselves, and even for some of the work to be done for them.

Classroom formalities

Prior to the advent of the Internet, college campuses were much more tangible. Students had to physically attend classes and meet their professors in person.
Now, it seems, much of the interaction between college professors and students occurs through the illusionary forum of the Internet.  This change in the classroom dynamic has affected the attitudes of the students of higher-education institutions.

For example, although not always practiced, 51.2 percent of the online participants and 46 percent of written participants of The Signal’s survey were aware that electronic mail should be treated as a formal means of correspondence, keeping the written traditions of a salutation, introduction, body and close.

Instant gratification

Human beings have developed into a population that requires instant gratification and information because the Internet has evolved into an environment that can provide immediate information and contact between people.

E-mail responses from professors, according to survey participants, should be answered within one day of being sent.

Taking into account the time it takes to potentially obtain information regarding a particular student, and by extension their request, the time that it takes for a professor to reply can take quite a bit longer than expected by students, yet a high majority — over half of the replies — expect an answer within 24 hours of the first contact with said professor.

“We have become a society that seeks more information in a quicker timeframe than in years past,” said Anthony Jenkins, dean of students at UHCL.  “We operate under the assumption that once we send an e-mail that the recipient is sitting idly by waiting to receive it with nothing else to do; thus, we have come to expect an instant reply. In my opinion that is unreasonable.”

Online availability of course material

Before the advent of technology in the classroom, professors gave students a handout of their syllabi on the first day of class.  It was the students’ responsibility to follow and keep up with the pace of the course as outlined in the syllabus.

This, however, is not the mentality for today’s students.

More than two-thirds of the survey participants agree that the syllabus, handouts and notes of a class should be accessible through an online source, provided by the teacher.

The majority of students want to see an end to the days where they are frantically writing in spiral-bound notebooks, burning through multiple pens and trying to keep up with a professor who is speaking so fast they could rival the best auction caller in the world.

Now, students prefer the availability of printing the class notes ahead of time and merely, if at all, making personal notes in the margins of their printed pages of prepackaged postulations.

In this day, the ability exists to download a pre-recorded version of a professor’s lecture, erasing the need to show up on campus even for face-to-face lectures.
As a result, many students see classroom attendance becoming less and less necessary with the arrival of class notes, homework and other class materials online. The belief that students should come to class a majority of the time is currently in flux.

Thirty-eight percent of online survey participants and 36 percent of written participants concur that attendance should only count for 10 percent of a course grade.  Competing with that statistic is, in a close second, the belief that it should count for more than 50 percent of the grade.

It seems that current students are torn between those who feel that there is a need to be present in a classroom and those who feel that students should simply do the work — and there is definitely a difference between the two.  There is less conflict, however, in students’ belief that faculty should be required to keep up with modern technology and incorporate it in their classrooms.

“Students are now demanding that faculty members face the realities of the ever-increasing technically savvy student: utilize technology the university has invested in for students of which the students are already paying for,” said Steven Steiner, vice president of the Student Government Association at UHCL.

Student entitlement

Despite differing opinions on the way information is disseminated, there is still strong belief in the academic system and the precepts that college degrees require hard work and effort.

Seventy-six percent of written survey participants believe that either college is supposed to be hard and/or passing a college course should be an assurance that a student has accomplished a certain level of academic achievement in that subject. Twenty-three percent believe that if significant effort is presented in a college class, a passing grade is warranted. The remaining 1 percent insist that the payment of college tuition and fees entitle students to an automatic degree.