Connecting in the Online Classroom: Building Rapport between Teachers and Students

by Rebecca A Glazier

Building rapport with students can revive the promise of online education, leading to greater success for students, more fulfilling teaching experiences for faculty, and improved enrollment for universities. More students than ever before are taking online classes, yet higher education is facing an online retention crisis; students are failing and dropping out of online classes at dramatically higher rates than face-to-face classes. Grounded in academic research, original surveys, and experimental studies, Connecting in the Online Classroom demonstrates how connecting with students in online classes through even simple rapport-building efforts can significantly improve retention rates and help students succeed. Drawing on more than a dozen years of experience teaching and researching online, Rebecca Glazier provides practical, easy-to-use techniques that online instructors can implement right away to begin building rapport with their students, including • proactively reaching out through personalized check-in emails;
• creating opportunities for human connection before courses even begin through a short welcome survey;
• communicating faculty investment in students' success by providing individualized and meaningful assignment feedback;
• hosting non-content-based discussion threads where students and faculty can get to know one other; and
• responding to students' questions with positivity and encouragement (and occasionally also cute animal pictures). She also presents case studies of universities that are already using these strategies, along with specific, data-driven recommendations for administrators, making the book valuable for faculty, instructional designers, support staff, and administrators alike. The science-backed strategies that Glazier provides will enable instructors to connect with their students and help those students thrive. Speaking to the paradox of online learning, the book also explains that, although the great promise of online education is expanded access and greater equity―especially for traditionally underserved and hard-to-reach populations, like lower-income students, working parents, first-generation students, and students of color―the current gap between online and face-to-face retention means universities are falling far short of this promise.

Genres: Teaching

264 pages, Paperback

Published December 7, 2021

Reviews

[Robert Bean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been teaching online for about three years, and it has been a learning process to say the least. While this book is geared towards institutions of higher learning, the faculty that teach there, and how to make online class offerings better for the students enrolled, I think those that teach outside of a university setting, but through an online format, will find a lot of relevant and useful information in this book. Dr. Glazier puts not only her thoughts and insights into this matter into the book but also research driven data, giving those insights a solid foundation.

This isn't a technology driven text but rather a look at how to create a more humanizing and rapport-based experience for everyone involved (and how the data supports those efforts to do so). Understanding what is happening on the student side of the class as an instructor can help those of us that teach better understand how to connect with them, even if it is through a computer screen rather than in a face-to-face class setting.

If you're a teacher who uses online formats in your classes, this book is something I highly recommend you pick up and take a look at. I think it will help your teaching efforts in the virtual classroom.

[Robert Lytle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I assigned this book in a teaching at the college level class and found it to be a fantastic overview of the value, importance, and guidance online education in social sciences. I especially enjoyed the guidance offered for generating rapport-based teaching methods in online courses. Dr. Glazier also does a great job of encouraging instructors (and students!) to seek out human connections in online instruction as even incremental improvements in rapport can have notable impacts on student learning and engagement.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glazier and I share teaching styles and so it was refreshing to see the hard work/heart work of building rapport with students being recognized as a key element in online course success and retention.

I would have liked for "rapport" to be more fully fleshed out in the first chapter, instead of far back in the book. Other than that we have a couple copies in our library for other teachers to (hopefully) check out.