Motivating Presence

I recently came across the concept of “motivating presence.”  I was captivated by it because, with almost 35 years of teaching experience, I have found a term that truly reflects the nature of the impact we have as teachers. One of the most common themes I have heard from faculty is that they miss physically being with their students. This feeling goes beyond the forced shift to teach online as a result of the pandemic. A study conducted in 2014 by Chambliss and Takacs provided evidence supporting what many of us are feeling and experiencing. They discovered that people, not programs or classes, are the defining and most significant learning experiences in higher education. These experiences are most powerful when it occurs in person. The authors noted that it could be as little as a single encounter with a professor around a student’s work or performance that impacts that student’s success far beyond any other factors. In essence, our interactions with students significantly affect what they choose, decide, and even their overall educational experience. The truth is our students and we are missing something that genuinely matters – motivating presence.

There is further evidence to this concept that I suspect many of you can appreciate. We know we have had such an impact on a student when they come to us, perhaps after they graduate, and tell us that something we did profoundly positively affected their lives. Even though we may have taught them for two or more years, it is my experience that they tend to identify one particular encounter or situation. I also believe that motivational presence is a two-way street. When we learn that something we did or said made such a difference in a student’s life, our lives are also changed. It is a confirmation and reminder of the importance of what we do as teachers.

References 

Chambliss, D. F., and Takacs, C. G. (2014). How college works. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Supiano, B(2021). A window to what could have been. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/teaching/2021-04-22