“What We’ve Got Here is Failure to
Communicate”:
A Review of Communication Research
on Student-Teacher Relationships
Natalie Sadler, M.A.
Cameron University
[email protected]
Actual Student Email
or Fake?
Which of the following are actual student emails posted The Chronicle
of Education Forum entitled “Favorite Student Emails” and which
ones are creatively made up? Link to the Forum
Email or Fake?
#1
"hi, this is ___and I'm in your ___ class but
have been golfing in [sunny vacation
destination] for the past couple weeks so i
have missed the first few classes. just
wondering if there is anything important
that i have missed ... please let me know
what i should do."
Email or Fake?
#2
"I missed class last week. when can i get
a copy of oyur notes or do u have
powerpoints? email would be best, but i
guess i could drop and get copies from
u later."
Email or Fake?
#3
"I just did not expect the first test to
be that hard. I did not even buy the
book, so I hadn't read the chapters. I
guess I am just trying to explain why
I have gotten off on the wrong foot."
Email or Fake?
#4
“I do not like math much at all.... I am a
liberal arts type of person. ;) But I have
been a 4.0 student all my life, and I want
to contiue that way through
college. What I want to know is, what do
I ahve to do to get a "A" or "B" in your
class?”
Email or Fake?
#5
"i lost totally can u send
help"
Introduce yourself to your table
partner and discuss the following:
•
Share about a time that you were impressed by a
student’s ability to communicate via email.
•
Share about a time where you were less than impressed
by a student’s ability to communicate via email.
•
What do you think says about the students we advise?
Generation C
• Connected
• Computerized
• Communicating
• Community-
• Content-centric
oriented
• Continually
clicking
Generation C
•
Morreale et al. (2015) found that:
 Student actually chose email for communicating with
instructors and professor
 However, students reported they preferred face to face with
faculty.
•
In general, their responses showed that college
students tend to see themselves as highly skilled at
computer mediated communication.
•
If most perceived themselves as “above average,”
some perhaps overestimated communication
abilities.
Texting/Posting and Learning
Experiment with no
distraction, lowdistraction, and highdistraction
 In the free-recall test:
 Control group scored 36%
higher than the moderate and
51% higher than the actively.
Kuznekoff & Titsworth (2013)
Evaluation of the details
recorded by detail in
student notes:
 Control—33% of the details,
low-distraction—27%, Highdistraction—20%.
 While there was a significant
difference between control
and the high-distraction,
there was no significant
difference between control
and moderate.
Technology in the Classroom
“Students not only want/expect to be able to
use their wireless devices in the classroom
for educational purposes, but they also want
their teachers to regulate use so
technological access does not interfere with
learning” (Finn & Ledbetter, 2014, p. 227).
Where do we come in?
“Within a mentoring relationship, memorable messages
can remain salient throughout students’ college
experiences and post-college careers” (Wang, 2012, p. 337).
•
Five college memorable messages (Wang, 2012 ):
Pursuing academic success, Valuing school, Increasing future potential,
Making decisions, and Support and encouragement
5 Types of Memorable Messages
1.
Pursuing academic success
 Finding appropriate resources to be
successful after a failure
 Finding a balance between
educational and social activities
 Making intelligent decisions that
would pay off in the future
2.
Valuing school
 Valuing the degree
 Valuing the college experience
and time spent pursuing the
degree
3.
Increasing future potential
 Greater financial stability
 Greater career options
4.
Making decisions
 Course selection
 Major and/or minor selection
5.
Support and
encouragement
 Motivation
 Solidarity
• If
we were to make a sixth memorable message
about the importance of communication and
technology, what messages would we want
students to remember from us?
• What
strategies can we use with our students to
make those messages memorable?
References
•
Finn, A. N., & Ledbetter, A. M. (2014). Teacher Verbal Aggressiveness and
Credibility Mediate the Relationship between Teacher Technology Policies
and Perceived Student Learning. Communication Education, 63(3), 210-234.
•
Kuznekoff, J. H., & Titsworth, S. (2013). The impact of mobile phone usage
on student learning. Communication Education, 62(3), 233-252.
•
Morreale, S., Staley, C., Stavrositu, C., & Krakowiak, M. (2015). First-Year
College Students' Attitudes toward Communication Technologies and Their
Perceptions of Communication Competence in the 21st Century.
Communication Education, 64(1), 107-131.
•
Wang, T. R. (2012). Understanding the memorable messages first-generation
college students receive from on-campus mentors. Communication
Education, 61(4), 335-357.