Teaching as the Practice of Cultivating Relationships

Most discussions about teaching focus on how to achieve the goal of learning. But teaching is also a practice of relationship-building that thrives when meaningful bonds form among its participants. In this chapter, we (an instructor, teaching assistant, and student) illustrate how educators in IST can center relationships in their teaching practice, using examples from the course that brought us together. Priya and Yao have taught the course, an upper-level undergraduate elective on technology and society, for five consecutive semesters, and Ananya was a student in their third iteration. We walk through four principles of relationship-rich education, offering details about how the course’s assignments, activities, and policies embody these principles. For each principle, we also offer personal reflections that bring to life the way these course design decisions affected us in our own educational journeys. We conclude with observations about how instructional teams and administrators can foster relationship-centered learning environments on their campuses.