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E3s: A Gateway Drug to Better Faculty Student Interaction

    

 

So why is the author of the E3 newsletter writing about faculty student interaction? Well because, as the title implies, not only do everyday examples increase student interest and improve student learning, they can lead to all kinds of changes in faculty student interaction and boy can that make a difference.  

 

For example:

  • As students become more interested, they get more involved, talk more in class and even ask more questions. And when students interact with you and others in the course, their satisfaction increases and, especially women students, get more interested in going on for advanced degrees.
  • Since everyday examples use, well, everyday stuff to illustrate concepts, they provide perfect opportunities to link academic coursework what engineers actually do. And when course work is linked to future engineering careers, students:
    • are more motivated;
    • are more engaged in learning;
    • view their classes as more relevant and important to their future.
  • At Drexel integrating everyday examples into the teaching of fundamental concepts increased women's recruitment and retention in engineering. When Carnegie Mellon did the same thing in computer science, guess what happened.  Yes, women's recruitment and retention in computer science increased!

Ah this is powerful stuff. The next thing you know you will be waiting three seconds after you ask a question before you call on students for answers (try it, it makes an amazing difference in terms of the quantity and the quality of the responses) and regularly inviting groups of students home for dinner (ok that probably won't happen- at least not regularly).  

 

So if you aren't using everyday examples, start and if you are, check out the impact using everyday examples may be having on your interaction with students.

 

Oh yes ---of course I have references, let me know if you want them.

 

    

NSF LogoThis material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0833076. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.