Amplify Your Teaching Impact: Capitalizing on 1-on-1 Instruction
Description
With ever greater focus on the issues of expansive class sizes, electronic learning management systems, big data and digital tools in the classroom, we can lose focus on one of most effective tools in teaching: the 1-on-1 encounter. As instructors, we encourage our students to seek out opportunities to interact with their faculty 1-on-1, whether meeting with us during office hours, engaging in an honors project or performing research in the field. When used to their full potential, such interactions can set a student on a trajectory for personal and professional success. When handled poorly or with little care, these interactions can set a student on a wrong track or foster self-doubt and fear. Yet, given the great potential of these encounters for good or ill, we may not give 1-on-1 interactions the same careful consideration as class room settings with respect to developing learning objectives and providing individual feedback. Such interactions also provide essential opportunities to gauge the intellectual and emotional well being of our students, with some of whom we can expect to develop life-long professional partnerships.
In this session, I will share some of my experiences in 1-on-1 student instruction and my thoughts on ways to boost the impact of our individual interactions with students. My goal for this hour is to convince you of the importance of being deliberate in your 1-on-1 interactions with students, that by focusing on individual student goals and by being sensitive to student needs and perceptions, we can capitalize on 1-on-1 instruction to the benefit of both faculty and students.
Amplify Your Teaching Impact: Capitalizing on 1-on-1 Instruction
With ever greater focus on the issues of expansive class sizes, electronic learning management systems, big data and digital tools in the classroom, we can lose focus on one of most effective tools in teaching: the 1-on-1 encounter. As instructors, we encourage our students to seek out opportunities to interact with their faculty 1-on-1, whether meeting with us during office hours, engaging in an honors project or performing research in the field. When used to their full potential, such interactions can set a student on a trajectory for personal and professional success. When handled poorly or with little care, these interactions can set a student on a wrong track or foster self-doubt and fear. Yet, given the great potential of these encounters for good or ill, we may not give 1-on-1 interactions the same careful consideration as class room settings with respect to developing learning objectives and providing individual feedback. Such interactions also provide essential opportunities to gauge the intellectual and emotional well being of our students, with some of whom we can expect to develop life-long professional partnerships.
In this session, I will share some of my experiences in 1-on-1 student instruction and my thoughts on ways to boost the impact of our individual interactions with students. My goal for this hour is to convince you of the importance of being deliberate in your 1-on-1 interactions with students, that by focusing on individual student goals and by being sensitive to student needs and perceptions, we can capitalize on 1-on-1 instruction to the benefit of both faculty and students.