The Eyes Have It: Professor Listening Skills in the College Classroom

• In Event: 165 - Regular Session. Teaching Sociology

Abstract

Contemporary pedagogical techniques such as the “flipped classroom” alter the power balance between teacher and student as student input is actively incorporated into the learning process. While most seminal texts on pedagogy include a chapter on lecturing, these same texts offer little advice on how we might improve our listening skills in ways that will enable us to incorporate student contributions into our lesson plans in such a way that they are more likely to enhance the learning experience. Scholarship on teaching and learning in the sociology classroom has linked effective listening to important pedagogical goals for our students such as inspired classroom discussion (Hollander 2002), critical thinking (Hinrichs 1990), inquiry guided learning (Rusche and Jason 2011) and student engagement overall (Van Auken 2013). Faculty must model the essential skill of listening, if we expect our students are to acquire it. However, we must first conceptually understand the key features of good listening, as well as the role of listening in the learning process. This paper begins with a review of the communications literature on listening and a consideration of the ways in which a “listening professor” might incorporate this research into her pedagogy. Next, I share preliminary insights provided by students enrolled in Introductory Sociology about their perceptions of the key attributes of a “listening professor.” In conclusion, I will argue that contemporary pedagogical techniques, which emphasize a student-centered approach, suggest the need for an increased attention to faculty development initiatives that are designed to improve faculty listening skills.

Author

• Suzanne S. Hudd, Quinnipiac University