Faculty-Student Interaction and Its Impact on Well-Being  in Higher Education for STEM

Cortney Holles

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: ERM: Mental Health and Wellness
Page Count: 18
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41094
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41094
Download Count: 530

Paper Authors

biography

Cortney Holles Colorado School of Mines

visit author page

Cortney Holles is a Teaching Professor in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at Colorado School of Mines where she has taught and developed the required first-year ethics and writing course for STEM majors since 2004. She also teaches science communication and service learning. She defended her educational criticism/action research dissertation on “Faculty-Student Interaction and Impact on Well-Being in Higher Education” and earned her Ed.D in 2021. She is now engaged in the action steps resulting from her study, continuing to interact with faculty and students about their experiences of well-being on college campuses and advocating for reforms that better support students and faculty as whole people. Email cholles@mines.edu or text 303-250-5490 to connect!

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Christe’s literature review on “The Importance of Faculty-Student Connections in STEM Disciplines” makes the case that “STEM disciplines must seek a change in academic culture away from survival of the fittest to a nurturing experience that supports achievement” (p. 22). This study was motivated by the desire to explore problems faculty and students experience with overwhelm and burnout in STEM programs and investigate how our interactions with each other can help or harm during these times. Case and Light argue that engineering education research needs to incorporate more methodological frameworks from the general field of education, and this study offers an example of how qualitative inquiry and action research and can advance engineering education research, in particular in regards to curriculum studies. This action research study and educational criticism, based on the work of Eliot Eisner, contributes new knowledge to the field of engineering education research by examining the impact of faculty-student interactions and relationships on well-being within STEM curricula. The study was conducted in the spring of 2020 to better understand the impact that faculty-student interaction within the learning environment has on individual faculty and student intentions and perceptions. Data were collected at an engineering school from five faculty (4 participants and the researcher) and their students primarily through interviews, focus groups (with 16 student participants), and a student questionnaire (with 73 student respondents). Data analysis was structured with Uhrmacher, McConnell, and Flinders’ instructional arc, so that both the intended and the received curriculum could be studied through intentions of teachers and perceptions of students. I expanded the model to include student intentions and faculty perceptions of these interactions as well. Faculty and students described what academic interactions are supportive and unsupportive of their well-being and indicated that there are different ways to give and receive care. These findings call for both a language and a system for expressing care needs in higher education, through better valuing of relationships and teaching, that can support faculty and students in their academic pursuits. In higher education, and particularly in STEM programs, I argue that we can mitigate overwhelm by implementing new policies and practices to better support well-being of faculty and students through financial and structural support and via the evolution of curriculum, including analyses of hidden curriculum and grading practices. It is also critical to consider how care work is defined and gendered within an institution, especially in regard to contingent or non-tenured faculty. I created the flow of care model to express the ways in which supportive care can either be blocked or allowed to flow throughout the hierarchy of higher education. Administrators can enhance faculty well-being by restructuring responsibilities and funding for teaching and care work. Faculty can increase student well-being by modifying pedagogy, curriculum, and language to recognize individual student circumstances and abilities. Incorporating care and support for faculty and students in engineering education is crucial to a stable and healthy foundation that is supportive for all. Future studies should examine interaction among different types of faculty or levels of students and explore the impact of interaction on the well-being of people of color, underrepresented groups, and marginalized populations.

Keywords: well-being, faculty-student interaction, care, flow of care, engineering education, curriculum reform

Citation
Format

Holles, C. (2022, August), Faculty-Student Interaction and Its Impact on Well-Being in Higher Education for STEM Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41094

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Christe’s literature review on “The Importance of Faculty-Student Connections in STEM Disciplines” makes the case that “STEM disciplines must seek a change in academic culture away from survival of the fittest to a nurturing experience that supports achievement” (p. 22).  This study was motivated by the desire to explore problems faculty and students experience with overwhelm and burnout in STEM programs and investigate how our interactions with each other can help or harm during these times.  Case and Light argue that engineering education research needs to incorporate more methodological frameworks from the general field of education, and this study offers an example of how qualitative inquiry and action research and can advance engineering education research, in particular in regards to curriculum studies.  This action research study and educational criticism, based on the work of Eliot Eisner, contributes new knowledge to the field of engineering education research by examining the impact of faculty-student interactions and relationships on well-being within STEM curricula. The study was conducted in the spring of 2020 to better understand the impact that faculty-student interaction within the learning environment has on individual faculty and student intentions and perceptions.  Data were collected at an engineering school from five faculty (4 participants and the researcher) and their students primarily through interviews, focus groups (with 16 student participants), and a student questionnaire (with 73 student respondents).  Data analysis was structured with Uhrmacher, McConnell, and Flinders’ instructional arc, so that both the intended and the received curriculum could be studied through intentions of teachers and perceptions of students.  I expanded the model to include student intentions and faculty perceptions of these interactions as well.  Faculty and students described what academic interactions are supportive and unsupportive of their well-being and indicated that there are different ways to give and receive care. These findings call for both a language and a system for expressing care needs in higher education, through better valuing of relationships and teaching, that can support faculty and students in their academic pursuits.  In higher education, and particularly in STEM programs, I argue that we can mitigate overwhelm by implementing new policies and practices to better support well-being of faculty and students through financial and structural support and via the evolution of curriculum, including analyses of hidden curriculum and grading practices.  It is also critical to consider how care work is defined and gendered within an institution, especially in regard to contingent or non-tenured faculty. I created the flow of care model to express the ways in which supportive care can either be blocked or allowed to flow throughout the hierarchy of higher education.  Administrators can enhance faculty well-being by restructuring responsibilities and funding for teaching and care work.  Faculty can increase student well-being by modifying pedagogy, curriculum, and language to recognize individual student circumstances and abilities. Incorporating care and support for faculty and students in engineering education is crucial to a stable and healthy foundation that is supportive for all. Future studies should examine interaction among different types of faculty or levels of students and explore the impact of interaction on the well-being of people of color, underrepresented groups, and marginalized populations.

Keywords: well-being, faculty-student interaction, care, flow of care, engineering education, curriculum reform
AU  - Cortney Holles
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Faculty-Student Interaction and Its Impact on Well-Being  in Higher Education for STEM
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41094
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41094
ER  -