U N I V E R S I T Y  O F  P I T T S B U R G H

Teaching Awardees Discuss Interacting with Students

Since student-faculty interaction promotes lasting learning and strengthens academic commitment, instructors who recognize students as individuals, as well as learners, have an impact beyond the course. In this annual Teaching Times , faculty recipients of major University of Pittsburgh teaching awards in 2006 share ways that they cultivate this dynamic interaction.

Faculty-student interaction takes many forms. Although feedback on assignments can be provided in written notations, face-to-face discussions of student work have even more impact. Such discussions motivate students to persevere through challenging assignments.

Even within a large class, students are energized when faculty interact by sharing personal experiences to illustrate or clarify course content. While individual students benefit from personal conversations with faculty about careers or research, instructors’ anecdotes and insights shared with an entire class have a similar beneficial effect for all students.

Furthermore, student interactions with one another also enhance learning. Faculty who facilitate students’ sharing resources and working collaboratively are promoting thinking and interpersonal skills beyond the course learning objectives.

Highlights of faculty reflections follow. These are taken from full comments on pages 3–8.

2006 Chancellor’s Awards for Distinguished Teaching
	Helen Cahalane, School of Social Work: “The norms we establish from the outset, ranging from starting class on time to knowing who comprises the student group, convey not only respect, but the message that what we are doing together over the next 15 weeks is a shared process and an important one.”
	Richard Henker, School of Nursing: “When students observe me in a clinical setting, they realize that my lectures are not only based on what is presented in textbooks and the latest information from journal articles but also from hands-on experience. I have the opportunity to help the students link what I have taught them in lecture with the way a patient presents or responds to clinical therapies.”
	Amy Seybert, School of Pharmacy: “I share my daily clinical experiences with students to give them real-world perspectives on what they are learning. I foster learning environments where students have open lines of communication with other students as well as with me. This enables them to share their knowledge and develop confidence in their skills.”
	Margaret Smith, School of Education: “We develop ideas by examining real practice, and then we take ideas and apply them to our own practice. This practice-based view of teacher education says that learning needs to be situated in the actual work that teachers do.”
2006 Tina and David Bellet A&S Teaching Excellence Awards
	Anthony Bledsoe, School of Arts and Sciences, Biological Sciences: “There are concrete ways for an instructor to connect with students, even in large classes. One is to make clear, through explicit and frequent statements, that you are there to help them, that you are an ally for their advancement, that you want them to succeed, and that you are willing to do whatever you can to make that happen.”
	Daniel Mossé, School of Arts and Sciences, Computer Science: “In addition to making the material interactive, personal, and light, I have high expectations for myself and for each student. I personally expect to engage the students throughout the learning process, and I expect each student to think about the material both inside and outside the classroom.”

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