A ‘Common Ground’ post
What does this entail?
Educators learning more about their students in order to maximise rapport between them.
Why do it?
Research studies indicate that when educators get to know their students and discover what they have in common, this can improve a student’s sense of belonging, well-being and, ultimately, their attainment and that this is particularly significant for disadvantaged students (1). The educator participants in our Common Ground project reported that when they actively engaged in rapport-building activities with their students this led to a range of positive outcomes including a greater sense of belonging and connectedness (2) as well as improved attendance, engagement and trust (3).
How to do it?
The educators we interviewed engaged in a range of activities and behaviours to get to know their students:
Making contact before taught sessions start has been shown to improve rapport (4). “I usually send out an email in the first week, kind of like an introduction and just letting them know how tutorials are going to work and that kind of thing, just to say hello.” (Ms J, Law)
Many find it useful to greet students individually as they come into a room (or log in online) and to learn their names and how to pronounce them. “I think names are a good starting off point for knowing who people are and recognizing people and feeling as if you’re known.” (Dr K, Medicine)
Making it easier for students to use the names of faculty members can also improve their sense of belonging. The biochemistry department ran an innovative induction session that involved students solving a mystery where the suspects were members of staff. “We wanted them to start using our names because obviously it can be quite hard when the students first arrive, you don’t know whether you have to use Doctor, so we were just using first names throughout.” (Dr G, Biochemistry)
Another popular strategy is to include learning activities that encourage students to share stories about themselves with their peers. One participant observed that certain subjects more naturally lend themselves to this sort of activity. “In this language module, we teach them in the communicative way so when the students sign up for our classes, they know exactly that they’re going to talk about themselves, their families and their interests.” (Ms E, Modern Languages)
Some educators organise informal social meet-ups to enable students and faculty to get to know each other outside the classroom. One participant described how it works in practice: “It’s a social event where you get to know each other better, where you can network a little bit, where we can have a conversation. Maybe you have questions that you would not ask in a seminar setting. Mostly this is about my biography, how I became a lecturer, some students are interested in talking about pursuing a PhD in the future, so they may have these kind of questions, but sometimes it’s just hobbies.” (Dr A, International Relations)
Finally, it is worth remembering that at its core, rapport between educators and students is really all about human relationships, “I think if you can make a group of students laugh then you’ve got them. It’s a connection, isn’t it?” (Dr K, Medicine)
Considerations
Students may be reluctant to share personal information with the whole class so you may wish to consider using low stakes activities that provide students with options. You can find examples on our icebreaker post, linked below.
Common Ground
The Common Ground research project (4) set out to source rapport building activities from our King’s colleagues; observe these activities in the classroom; and survey educators and students about their efficacy. We have collated some of our findings in a series of blog posts on the King’s Active Learning site. These posts are designed to enable busy educators to easily find tried and tested rapport building resources. You can read the full report here: Common Ground Report
Linked posts
Using Icebreakers to Build Rapport
About the Common Ground Project
References
- Gehlbach, H., et al., 2016. Creating birds of similar feathers: Leveraging similarity to improve teacher–student relationships and academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), p.342.
- Dwyer, K.K. et al. (2004) Communication and connectedness in the classroom: Development of the connected classroom climate inventory. Communication Research Reports, 21(3), pp.264-272.
- Burke-Smalley, L.A., (2018) Practice to research: Rapport as key to creating an effective learning environment. Management Teaching Review, 3(4), pp.354-360.
- Samuel, V. and Vogel, M., (2022) Common Ground Project, King’s Academy,
Photo by Priscilla du Preez on Unsplash
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