Student experiences and preferences for offline interactions with university lecturers

As Australian universities continue grappling with how to engage students, and create satisfying learning environments in an increasingly “online” sector, it is necessary to examine if, why, and with what consequence, students still pursue offline interactions with their lectures. This research contributes findings from undergraduates’ lived-experiences to inform literature and policy supporting student retention and degree completion initiatives in changing rural societies. Although educational technologies have an unprecedented capacity to foster responsiveness, and personalise online learning in environments that transcend geophysical places (notably the confines of rural communities), there remains a persistent metropolitan/non-metropolitan divide in university degree completion. Additionally, research reveals the quality of student–lecturer interactions is consistently perceived as absent, or diminished, in online environments. This article furthers understanding the type of social contact students sought from their lecturers, and why such interactions were initiated by students. In a policy environment where efficiency initiatives seek to maximise automation and increase student–lecturer ratios, this analysis of over a hundred interviews with undergraduates enrolled at a rural-regional Australian university reveals lecturers’ social characteristics affect students’ “interaction-seeking” behaviours, communication mode preferences and student satisfaction with learning experiences. Informed by sociological thought, findings show students thought lecturers that provided emotionally-managed communication created positive, efficient and academically purposeful social interactions. Findings support theory and research advocating the relevance of understanding how interactions are socially constructed, and actively curated, to co-produce the meaningful social relationships required for student satisfaction, and institutional reputation, in globally competitive, fiscally challenged higher education landscapes.