The Road Through Communications
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Authors
Jamie Diedrich
Issue Date
2026
Type
Language
Keywords
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Abstract
My name is Jamie Diedrich, and I would like to present my findings on college-level instruction with a specific interest in the communications side of it. How can the new generation of college professors do better by their students to inspire success? What really matters when it comes to creating the best environment for learning? The goal of my research is to gather data to answer these questions and find out what characteristics of the classroom most contribute to student success, happiness, and focus. Successful college instruction is determined less by specific teaching strategies and more by the professor’s preparation, clarity of communication, and ability to adapt instruction to diverse learning needs, as well as by the intentional design of the learning environment in which instruction takes place.
This information is being gathered through shadowing or interviewing various professors, meticulous note-taking, and debriefing. The process starts by asking the professor questions about how they teach, what materials they use, and anything else noteworthy. I will then sit in for a single course, or multiple if necessary, and take notes on how they present. Demeanor, student reactions, notes about the atmosphere and environment, etc. On average, there are at the very least three pages of handwritten notes per class taught. Then, if the professor wants to go over those notes, that can be in the debrief or its own thing. Those notes are turned into a report that Doggett and I go over and discuss, and this information is selected based on importance and added to the more long-term findings.