Professors as Performers and Motivators

Reconciling the Congruent and Contrasting Roles of Social Work Teacher, Student and Practitioner

“…It is well known that instructors demonstrating knowledge, expertise and empathy are highly valued by students (Kurland, 1991;Lowman, 1994). Because we identified with our students as empty accounts (especially in teaching), we had a tendency to overcompensate for our perceived lack of expertise by being overly kind and empathic towards them.…”

“…While emotional aspects of the student-teacher relationship are also important (Lowman, 1994), instructors must draw a clear line between helping students express themselves and encouraging them in appropriate self-disclosure. In our experience, troubled students did not always appreciate this line.…”

Exploring the Relationship between Professor/Student Rapport and Students' Expectancy for Success and Values/Goals in College of Agriculture Classrooms

“…Additionally, these results show that the instructors involved in this study should possess traits such as caring for and respecting their students, mentoring students, being approachable, communicating well, being enthusiastic, exhibiting fairness, and displaying an eagerness to help students (Wilson et al, 2010). The NRC (2009) and Lowman (1994Lowman ( , 1995 hypothesized that the instructor traits associated with rapport lend to the effectiveness of the instructor. Therefore, students' perceptions of their rapport with the instructors in this study could lead to the conclusion that these instruc-tors should be exhibiting characteristics that enhance their teaching effectiveness.…”

“…Lowman (1994Lowman ( , 1995 called this interpersonal rapport and stressed the importance of this concept to being an effective teacher. Lowman (1995) indicated that teachers who build rapport have been characterized as caring, welcoming, encouraging, positive, democratic, and have expressed a genuine interest in their students.…”

“…Alderman (2008) further suggested that highquality out of class contact involves four characteristics: instructors must be personable and approachable; instructors must show enthusiasm and passion for their work; instructors must care for students; and instructors must be mentors to students. Researchers have hypothesized that frequent, substantive interaction between faculty and students (Cox et al, 2010), caring for students by faculty members (Meyers, 2009), and relationship building between faculty and students (Lowman, 1994(Lowman, , 1995Wilson et al, 2010) can have the effect of increasing student affect (Benson, Cohen, & Buskist, 2006;Wilson & Locker Jr., 2008), motivation (Henning, 2007;Wilson, 2006;Wilson & Locker Jr., 2008;Wilson & Taylor, 2001), and achievement (Volkwein, King, & Terenzini, 1986). Pintrich (2003) posited that motivational theories have consistently asked two basic questions, "what gets students moving (energization) and toward what activities or tasks" (p. 669).…”