Has It Become Harder to Connect With College Students?

EdSurge

Jeffrey R. Young

June 13, 2023

Many professors are struggling to connect with their students these days. First the pandemic forced emergency remote learning, where professors had fewer avenues to see and interact with students the way they were used to doing in person. Then the sudden rise of ChatGPT late last year has left many professors wondering if the work students are submitting flows from their own minds or was written by an AI bot.

“I see so many people so hungry for connection with students,” says Bonni Stachowiak, dean of teaching and learning at Vanguard University of Southern California and host of the weekly podcast Teaching in Higher Ed (and columnist for EdSurge).

When we talked to Stachowiak for the EdSurge Podcast at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, her advice on how college professors could adapt to the sudden move to online education became one of our most popular episodes ever. It’s now three years later, and we decided to check back in with this teaching expert to learn what she sees as the biggest challenges at this moment.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts, or use the player on this page. Or read a partial transcript below, lightly edited for clarity.

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