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The Pulse of Connection: Professors' Experience of Positive Relationships with Students–An Interpretative Phenomenology and Photovoice Study

Grosman, Ileya N.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5005-8436
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1731607919879889

Abstract Details

2024, Ph.D., Antioch University, Leadership and Change.
In higher education, the focus on student success often takes center stage in research and the professor-as-teacher practice. While numerous empirical studies concentrate on the growth and development of undergraduate students, this dissertation delves into professors’ relational and felt experiences in positive teaching-learning relationships. Four terminal-degreed professors from four different schools and three different disciplines–education, humanities, and leadership–engaged in photography and were then interviewed. Participants reflected on their photographs and their experiences in a teaching-learning relationship with their students. The present study aimed to illuminate the unspoken language of connection by utilizing interpretive phenomenology and photovoice to uncover professors’ relational and felt experiences and how these moments energize and rejuvenate them. Research revealed two overarching themes: generativity and seeing students’ humanity; and five group experiential themes: foundational influences, relational proximity, intentional presence, assessment as a learning conversation, and feeling aligned. The theoretical foundation of this dissertation weaved together a diverse array of theories and concepts, including relational cultural theory (RCT), somatics, and embodiment. The insight from the literature combined with the findings from this study offer understanding in how professor-student relationships in higher education can be places of mutual empowerment, empathy, and mattering. By grounding the research framework in human interaction’s relational and fluid, alive, and pulsating bodies, this dissertation contributes to a more humanized and inclusive understanding of the intricate relationships that shape higher education. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).
Harriet Schwartz, PhD (Committee Chair)
Fayth Parks, PhD (Committee Member)
Celeste Nazeli Snowber, PhD (Committee Member)
234 p.
Academic Guidance Counseling; Adult Education; Aesthetics; Alternative Energy; Behavioral Psychology; Clinical Psychology; Communication; Community College Education; Continuing Education; Counseling Education; Counseling Psychology; Curriculum Development; Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Elementary Education; Ethics; Gender Studies; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Management; Middle School Education; Multicultural Education; Music Education; Peace Studies; Personal Relationships; Philosophy; Psychology; Reading Instruction; School Counseling; Science Education; Secondary Education; Social Work; Spirituality; Systems Design; Teacher Education; Teaching; Vocational Education
relational teaching; mattering; embodied knowing; felt sense; connection; mutuality; leadership; undergraduate faculty; intersubjectivity; embodiment; relational cultural theory; mentoring; interpretative phenomenology analysis; photovoice

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Grosman, I. N. (2024). The Pulse of Connection: Professors' Experience of Positive Relationships with Students–An Interpretative Phenomenology and Photovoice Study [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1731607919879889

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Grosman, Ileya. The Pulse of Connection: Professors' Experience of Positive Relationships with Students–An Interpretative Phenomenology and Photovoice Study. 2024. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1731607919879889.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Grosman, Ileya. "The Pulse of Connection: Professors' Experience of Positive Relationships with Students–An Interpretative Phenomenology and Photovoice Study." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1731607919879889

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

antioch1731607919879889
48
© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.