Search for: All records

This study explores the effect of assigned group work in an asynchronous online physiology laboratory course on student motivation and belonging. Students’ perceptions of belonging and competence-related beliefs were higher, and effort and psychological costs were lower, when assigned to groups compared to students not assigned to groups. Students assigned to groups noted peer interactions as the most inclusive aspect of the course, whereas instructor interactions were noted as inclusive by those not assigned group work. 

ABSTRACT Building rapport between instructors and students is a challenge, especially in large classes and in online environments. Previous work has shown that non-content Instructor Talk can foster positive student-teacher relationships, but less is known about non-content talk in electronic instructor messages. Here, we used the established Instructor Talk framework to craft positively phrased electronic messages that were sent through the course’s learning management system to students enrolled in an introductory biology course at a large public institution. We examined both close- and open-ended survey responses (n= 226) to assess students’ perceptions of the electronic messages, the course, and their instructor. Of the established Instructor Talk categories, the building student/instructor relationship category was most memorable to students. Encouragingly, 61% of students indicated they “liked the course more” and 88% indicated they “liked the instructor more” in response to the electronic messages. This demonstrates that implementing positively phrased Instructor Talk into electronic communication is an effective way to build rapport between instructors and students.