“Professor, I don’t know what it is about you, but you scare me,” I heard from a student as I was beginning my Introduction to Speech Communication course. Perhaps there was sarcasm behind her voice, but this comment resonates closely to the reality of college students and their relationships with their professors. My concern is that this trend is a nation-wide phenomenon. As professors, it is our duty to interact with our students to build immediacy, the perceived closeness of a relationship. When students experience immediacy, they feel important rather than feeling like number in a crowd. Positive immediacy is proven to increase student cognitive and affective learning, motivate students, and increase overall attendance and retention rates. I want to share with you a few strategies that I use to build immediacy:

1. Learn student names. Students know when you go out of your way to learn their names and they feel special when you do! First, I give myself a deadline of two-to-three weeks to adhere to. I tell my students that I promise to learn their names in a certain timeframe, but they need to hold me accountable. Next, I have my students e-mail personal introductions and upload an image that will allow face-name recognition. As I round out the first week, I ask students to tell me their name before or after they contribute to a discussion/activity. This is a way for students to learn each other’s names, too! Lastly, I force myself to hand back assignments without asking for help. This is great for face-name recognition. By the third week, I have names down and the semester is off.
2. Respond to student e-mails. While I don’t allow e-mails to consume my life, I always give student e-mails a glance and prioritize my response time based on their inquiry. While responding, I like to touch base with students by asking them questions. A simple “how is your day?” or “how is everything going with the assignment?” demonstrates that you care. This also allows students to follow-up with concerns they have but have been too afraid to ask. When a student asks a question that’s answers is on the syllabus, even a simple response to asking them to check the syllabus shows initiative. Your response may even open dialogue about a course policy you have. The moral of the story is to respond to your student e-mails to build relationships with them!
3. Offer extra credit. Do you already offer extra credit? Great! Now offer extra credit or points to incentive students to visit you during office hours. As large assignments are approaching, I offer students extra points to visit with me. Students love to take advantage of this and I often have a line of students waiting outside my door to visit with me. Once students visit for the first time, this decreases any nerves they had about visiting in the first place. The points are simply a bonus! The time I spend with students allows me to comment on their work and to have an informal check-in about their life and their progress in my course.

These simple actions genuinely show interest in students and contribute to their overall success. Use these ideas to build a student-centered classroom that demonstrates you care.

Author Information

Alyssa Harter

Department of Communication Studies, Winona State University

Alyssa.harter@winona.edu