Reviving the human connection in teaching

By Justine Cotton

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is a vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.
― Carl Jung

I recently attended the funeral of a lady I have known my entire life, who was a kindergarten teacher and one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met. While I never saw her teach, her daughter told me she had a way of recognizing the uniqueness in each child and an ability to help those who needed extra love, encouragement or challenge. She would often point out many positive qualities in my own children, making them beam, and leaving me proud and more confident as a mom. I often imagined how much her little students would have adored being in her kindergarten classroom.

It made me reflect on the many human qualities that go into great teaching. It’s often impossible to pinpoint exactly what makes exceptional teachers so influential. Are they funny? Do they listen deeply when you ask a question? Do they create a classroom that feels really cosy? Often, it’s a combination of these qualities and how they make us feel.

This Fall, many of us go back into the classroom to teach a variety of library skills. You may be reflecting on the continued impact of A.I. and what that means for this new group of learners. Of note, many incoming students will have experienced a fairly normal four years of high school). I wonder:

• Will these students be more open to in-class discussions and answering questions?
• Will they be seeking more opportunities to connect offline?
• Will they be less or more likely to engage with A.I.?

While we can’t predict the perspective of these new students, I’d like to invite you to bring a little more vulnerability, warmth and motivation to your teaching this fall. These very human elements are what makes the education experience truly special and are lacking in the current state of A.I.

What does this look like?

Vulnerability through honest conversations

We can be honest in ways that A.I. cannot — we know that chatbots are sycophantic and often confidently wrong. I think of videos online where a chatbot responds to a question like “I’ve just crashed into two cars in a parking lot, what should I do?” with something like: “First, your honesty is to be commended. Let’s unpack the reasons why this is actually a great thing!”

Many students have a deep fear of failure, which is what attracts them to GenAI in the first place. When we are willing to share the challenges and iterative nature of research, we model that failure is okay and an important part of learning. When we are vulnerable and admit times when failure doesn’t spell disaster, we can invite students to sit with the reality that learning is meant to be messy at times.

Warmth through emotional connection

It’s easy to forget that A.I. tools only mimic conversations, and don’t care how the advice it gave you turned out. A.I. tools do not ‘see’ us as whole, imperfect people with emotions and lives the way humans do. Emotions are such a big part of how humans learn that it’s essential to reflect on the role of emotional intelligence in the classroom. As Joshua Eyler writes in How Humans Learn, “the research on positive emotions and learning reveals that the single most important strategy we can use to help our students to succeed in our courses is to care about them as learners and as human beings.” (129)

From a read of the energy level when we enter a classroom or a meeting with a student, to observing the body language of a student answering a question, we rely on these softer skills to tailor our approach. Listening to students’ questions has long been a part of our training as librarians, and we can use the opportunity to teach with warmth and kindness, looping in other supports as needed.

Motivating learners

While we do not have the same ongoing connection with students as their professors, teaching librarians nevertheless have a critical role to play in promoting the essential research and critical thinking skills often expected by first-year university, but rarely taught. We can use our teaching time to encourage students to go beyond the neatly-packaged answers provided by GenAI and find more research on the topic or a different perspective. We can challenge students to approach research with curiosity and care, scaffolding the concepts they need to become highly skilled at navigating research. Where A.I. offers simple and fast answers, we can teach the messy but rewarding hard work of research.

We may not be able to predict where A.I. will go in the next year, but we can continue to cultivate these human qualities to help students flourish in ways that technology cannot. Focusing on the positive effects we can have on how a student feels brings me a lot of joy as a teacher and librarian.

Happy fall term!

References

Eyler, Joshua R. How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching. First edition., West Virginia University Press, 2018. Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

—

Justine Cotton is currently the Acting Head, Teaching & Learning, at Brock University.