Beyond Boundaries: The Case of Student-Faculty Interactions Outside the Classroom

Abstract

Student-faculty interaction can happen in everyday life in the academe -during class hours or outside the four corners of the classroom. Compared to the previous generation, students nowadays are more comfortable talking to their professors after class. The utilization of social networking sites is widely used to share announcements –where relationships may get into a personal level. Co-curricular activities serve as ways for the students to work with other students; at the same time, it gives them easier access to communicate with their instructors, particularly with the student organization advisers and their faculty friends. This study is anchored in Kantian Ethics which argues that an action is ethical if an individual focused on the necessity to do such as part of fulfilling his or her duty. This study worked on the status of student-faculty interaction outside the classroom. Particularly, social media interaction and co-curricular activities are the factors looked upon by the researcher. Various research studies focusing on student-faculty interaction, social networking site use in the academe setting, and involvement of students in the educational institution’s co-curricular activities are analysed. It is concluded that social media and co-curricular activities play an important role in the lives of the students. It influences their classroom performance and it highly impacts their sense of belongingness. These variables are identified as best practices in the student-faculty interaction. Applying social media utilization and co-curricular activities involvement will help in determining classroom management strategies effective in the delivery of the educational service sector.