Suggestion 101. Establish a Liaison Committee

IF YOU WANT TO:

• Know if the class is understanding you or not

• Know if the students are bored or confused

• Get to know at least some of your students

• Identify any problems students may be having in the course

Establishing a Liaison Committee of three to five students to meet with you once a week to discuss student difficulties or dissatisfactions.

In a very large class, the students should be selected on a "district" basis so that all students have relatively easy physical access to one of the members of the Liaison Committee. You can rotate membership on the committee from a list of volunteers, but be sure the entire class knows who the Liaison students are at any given time and how and why they should use them. Be sure, too, that the Liaison students understand their function and encourage them to circulate and seek out information from the other students.

This technique was initiated as a research project at the University of Minnesota and has been used successfully by 50 teachers at the University of Texas. Evaluations of its usefulness for both students and instructors indicate that most students felt that actual improvements had been made in the course as a result of the committees' interaction with the instructor, and students especially appreciated the opportunity to get to know one of their instructors better.

Benefits cited by faculty included increased faculty awareness of student learning needs and increased student awareness of the instructor's teaching problems and educational philosophy.

Limitations on Use of Suggestion

  Discipline:  None
Course Level:  None
 Course Size:  None
        Mode:  None

Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California

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