As class sizes across the country continue to rise, many community college students struggle to connect with instructors. Students must strive to build positive working relationships with instructors to combat some of the potential issues of over-sized classes or to even further benefit from smaller classes.
Building positive student-instructor relationships allows students to gain more personal assistance, work through the course material more effectively, and ultimately perform better.
Benefits of Building Positive and Professional Relationships with Instructors
Improved Course Work
One of the primary benefits of building effective relationships with an instructor is a student’s ability to receive more specific feedback and instruction, whether they are taking prerequisite or elective courses. Students who establish positive professional relationships with instructors can obtain more insight into creating a particular course plan for increased progress.
As Jacobson suggests, students should meet with instructors after large assignments or tests are returned. A “mini-conference,” or meeting with an instructor, allows both parties to focus on the finished final assignment, essay, or test. With this idea, Jacobson also asserts, “this approach may seem time-consuming, it rarely becomes a daunting process […] Once some of (students) major […] problems have been identified and correction methods have been explained, most of the students begin to use the specific information they have received to self-monitor their (work).”
Additionally, according to Jacobson, the more students meet with instructors early in the course, the less time students will need to meet with an instructor later – as you