1. Report on Teaching for Undergraduates at Rice
Constantine Tzouanas
Paul Dingus
Jacqui Lee
Rushi Bhalani
Kathy Wei
Sahil Patel

2. About Me Bioengineering Major, Neuroscience Minor
Hobbies: Ultimate frisbee, running, making crepes
Childhood dream job: Skyscraper architect

3. Rice University Mission Statement
As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to pathbreaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world…

4. Undergraduate Priorities from Survey of All Students – Spring 2016
Students ranked 7 potential priorities for the SA
Teaching for undergrads was top choice
Three recurring areas in qualitative feedback
Classroom experience
Student-professor communication
Major elective information flow

5. Background of Survey of Teaching for Undergraduates
Secured endorsement of SA Senate for follow-up survey
Received feedback from Center for Teaching Excellence, SA Senate
Two objectives:
Collect focused information on recurring areas in student feedback
Develop foundation for SA initiatives in partnership with faculty and administration

6. Survey Responses Provide Meaningful Information on Teaching at Rice
n = 882 responses, nearly a quarter of Rice undergrads
Even splits across years
School response totals were proportional to size of school

7. Campus-Wide Dialogue Meetings with: Focus groups with:
Dean of Undergraduates
Deans at School of Engineering, Humanities, Social Sciences
Department Heads
Focus groups with:
Professors in Department of Physics
Professors in Department of Economics
Students at Baker College

8. Key Areas from Campus-Wide Dialogue
Major Electives
Student-Professor Interactions

9. Findings on Major Electives
Across schools, a majority of upperclassmen report issues with the accuracy and availability of information on elective courses in their major.
There is a need for more easily accessible, up-to-date information on upcoming offerings of major electives within each department.

10. Current State of Major Elective Information

13. Conclusions on Major Electives
Consistent trends in student feedback on major electives
Centralizing information within each department
Ensuring information is accurate and up-to-date
Exploring fall/spring offerings of electives
Initiative: Surveying declared majors about interest in taking potential elective courses in the upcoming semester

14. Findings on Student-Professor Interactions
Across majors and years, students tend to be hesitant in approaching professors.
Given the strength of Rice’s faculty and instructors, the Student Association advocates for efforts to bring these groups into closer, more frequent contact.

15. Frequency of Student-Professor Interactions
Roughly half of Rice students interact with professors once per month or less
Consistent across years, academic schools
Trend that starts freshman year and continues until senior
Occurs regardless of area of study

16. Student Hesitancy in Approaching Professors

17. Causes of Student Hesitancy

18. Focus Group Information
Professors in Departments of Economics and Physics:
Reported that encouraging students throughout the semester to come to office hours is most effective way to increase out of class student interactions
Students at Baker College:
If the professor were to be more encouraging of out-of-class interactions, 90% of respondents were “sure” or “believe that” they would engage with professor more

19. Conclusions on Student-Professor Interactions
Students tend to be hesitant in approaching professors due to…
Appearing unknowledgeable
Interrupting lecture
Asking the “wrong” question
“Activation energy” model: initial hesitancy in approaching professor, but positive overall interaction
Initiative: Anonymous online tool to close the feedback loop between students and professors

20. Next Steps Working group on major electives
Implement initiative to incorporate student views in elective scheduling
Working group on student-professor interactions
Implement initiative for online, anonymous feedback to bring professors and students into more frequent contact