(517h) My Professor Listens to Rage Against the Machine? Using No-Stakes Personal Trivia Questions to Build Student-Teacher Relationships

Interactive polling software tools such as Top Hat have enabled entire classrooms of students to rapidly provide answers to instructor questions. This practice has many advantages, particularly by enhancing just-in-time teaching through allowing faculty to identify areas in which students have muddy understanding of course concepts. However, these software tools can also be used for more informal endeavors not driven by course content. This work describes using polling software to communicate personal information about the course instructor through a series of questions throughout the semester, with the goals of increasing student engagement and allowing students to view their instructor as a “real person,” thus improving student-teacher relationships. In a sophomore numerical methods course taught by the author, a 5-minute break was regularly provided in the middle of each 75-minute T/Th lecture period. On each Thursday throughout the semester when no exam was scheduled, this break included a single no-stakes polling question regarding the course instructor’s personal life. For instance, one question asked students to select which band (out of four choices) performed at the only music concert the instructor attended in 2022. Once the answer to the question was revealed, the instructor provided brief commentary on the correct answer, poll results, etc. Since the instructor writes all questions, the personal information shared with students is at their discretion. This talk will share example questions and tips for faculty interested in the practice. Further, in order to understand student perspectives on this practice a question was included in end-of-semester course evaluations which asked students whether they felt these polling activities were worthwhile and if they recommend the instructor continue the practice in future semesters. A brief qualitative investigation via thematic analysis of responses will be presented to illustrate prevailing student perspectives.