University enrolment has increased dramatically over the last two decades. This exponential growth, combined with tightening budgets, means it is now often the norm for many post-secondary students to be sitting in classrooms alongside hundreds of other students. Growing evidence suggests that larger class sizes can generate many challenges for educators, notably increased negative student evaluations of teaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This study suggests that one strategy for countering some of the shortcomings of the large classroom is to take a relational teaching approach. We coded the relational communication behaviors of professors teaching in large in-person classrooms and found that encouraging participation as well as having a relaxed body position were most prevalent among instructors with typically high course evaluation ratings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, correlations between relational teaching behaviors and students\u2019 course evaluation reports found that instructors with the highest scores were more likely to make eye contact and to smile. We argue verbal and nonverbal relational teaching behaviors may have an impact on students\u2019 perceptions of teaching quality. Despite some limitations, these findings provide interesting insights into more effective relational teaching in the large class, in particular demonstrating that the most prevalent relational teaching behaviors are not necessarily the most important or effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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University enrolment has increased dramatically over the last two decades. This exponential growth, combined with tightening budgets, means it is now often the norm for many post-secondary students to be sitting in classrooms alongside hundreds of other students. Growing evidence …<\/p>\n