Initiating and Maintaining Student-Instructor Rapport in Online Classes

• In Event: Factors Contributing to a Positive Learning Environment in Various Contexts

Abstract

We investigated the behaviors and contextual factors college instructors rely upon to initiate and maintain rapport with students in asynchronous online courses. Phenomenological interviews revealed that college instructors rely upon different strategies and contextual factors to initiate and to maintain rapport in online courses. At the beginning of the semester, these instructors rely upon connecting, information sharing, and common grounding behaviors to initiate a sense of rapport from their students. Going forward throughout the semester, these instructors rely upon attentive and courteous behaviors while providing learners with personalized instruction to maintain rapport. Findings provide insights into how college instructors initiate and maintain rapport with online students and can be used as a framework for making rapport-related decisions in online classes.

Authors

• Abraham Flanigan, Georgia Southern University

• Mete Akcaoglu, Georgia Southern University

• Emily Ray, Georgia Southern University