Connections Matter
Students who participated in the three fall-term focus groups indicated that their wellbeing is supported when they feel connected to the subject matter, the instructor and their peers.
Students seem to feel a sense of connection with the subject matter when they see the relevance of the course topics to their studies or future career plans. Some students indicated that having applied learning opportunities, either through practical assignments with classmates or through community-engaged projects, increase their interest in learning:
“It was about community building and actually having a project outside of the university, building it and designing it yourself. Feeling proud to actually showcase something that was my work” (Student 8, Arts).
Presenting the material in an engaging manner also seems to increase student interest in the course. Students were generally in favour of active learning methods, such as in-class worksheets and discussions. Besides, instructors can also spark student engagement by showing their passion and excitement for the course, and using humour or sharing anecdotes when appropriate.
In addition to increasing students’ engagement with the material, these practices also seem to foster a more personal connection with the instructor. Feeling connected to the instructor seems to increase students’ motivation to attend class and reduces the barriers for seeking extra help when required. In addition to using interactive teaching practices, instructors can foster this sort of connection by learning (or attempting to learn) student names
“Profs that tries to remember a student’s name even though if they don’t get it right, you see them get, uh, make an effort to connect with the students and it makes you wanna…you know, be friends with him and that helps with the learning and also the mental wellbeing” (Student 1, Science).
Students also benefit from feeling a sense of connection with their peers. Having friends among their classmates helps students keep up with the course material and overcome both academic and personal challenges. One science student noted that “if you have the support network, you can really weather whatever storm may come your way” (Student 2). Instructors can help foster connections between peers by incorporating icebreaker and other interactive activities into the classroom. Fostering a safe classroom environment seems to make these activities more effective:
“I’ve had really positive experiences in big classrooms like a hundred plus people where I do make friends and that’s because the professor is incredibly talented at creating this supportive kind of empathy promotion environment where they do a lot of icebreakers and they do a lot…this kind of let’s talk about our experience foundational like aspect to what you are studying.” (Student 7, Arts)