Content area
Higher education institutions have various and mostly well-established methods for students to consult with their lecturers. Lecturers have traditionally expected students to use face-to-face interaction through after-class consultations and asking questions in class. It is, however, imperative that higher education reflects on whether these traditional consultation methods appeal to today's students where there is a generational differential between the lecturer and the student who is part of Generation Z. Generational differences include the integration of technology, such as access to the Internet and various other technological platforms for communication on a variety of social media applications. As such, lecturers need to understand why a student might not be comfortable with traditional interaction methods and must consider student feedback in creating interaction opportunities that consider all stakeholders' needs. Following a qualitative deductive approach, this study used online questionnaires to obtain students' perceptions of the potential shortcomings and advantages of a variety of consultation methods available to them at a residential university in South Africa. This variety included incorporating technology into consultation methods in contrast to traditional consultation. The questionnaire was formulated using Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper's (2001) reflection model and grounded in attribution theory, whereby student-lecturer interaction methods were analysed. The study findings show that students will engage with a lecturer if they feel the lecturer is approachable and helpful, regardless of the nature of the consultation method. Lecturers can invest in improving their soft skills to enhance being perceived as approachable by students. The findings also highlight that the method of interaction may cause anxiety and that students sometimes feel too overwhelmed to ask the lecturer for help. The students suggested consultation methods that provide a quick turnaround time and are easy to use (for example, being in a WhatsApp group with their lecturer). The findings of this study provide insight info what higher education institutions and lecturers can use to improve students' usage of student-lecturer interaction methods.
ABSTRACT
Higher education institutions have various and mostly well-established methods for students to consult with their lecturers. Lecturers have traditionally expected students to use face-to-face interaction through after-class consultations and asking questions in class. It is, however, imperative that higher education reflects on whether these traditional consultation methods appeal to today's students where there is a generational differential between the lecturer and the student who is part of Generation Z. Generational differences include the integration of technology, such as access to the Internet and various other technological platforms for communication on a variety of social media applications. As such, lecturers need to understand why a student might not be comfortable with traditional interaction methods and must consider student feedback in creating interaction opportunities that consider all stakeholders' needs. Following a qualitative deductive approach, this study used online questionnaires to obtain students' perceptions of the potential shortcomings and advantages of a variety of consultation methods available to them at a residential university in South Africa. This variety included incorporating technology into consultation methods in contrast to traditional consultation. The questionnaire was formulated using Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper's (2001) reflection model and grounded in attribution theory, whereby student-lecturer interaction methods were analysed. The study findings show that students will engage with a lecturer if they feel the lecturer is approachable and helpful, regardless of the nature of the consultation method. Lecturers can invest in improving their soft skills to enhance being perceived as approachable by students. The findings also highlight that the method of interaction may cause anxiety and that students sometimes feel too overwhelmed to ask the lecturer for help. The students suggested consultation methods that provide a quick turnaround time and are easy to use (for example, being in a WhatsApp group with their lecturer). The findings of this study provide insight info what higher education institutions and lecturers can use to improve students' usage of student-lecturer interaction methods.
Keywords: student-lecturer interactions, consultations, student perceptions, resources, Financial Accounting, Generation Z
1. Introduction
Universities have traditionally established consultation methods to help students through the interaction and exchange of information between students and lecturers. These can range from consulting with the lecturer before or after class, sending an email to the lecturer, discussion posts on the university's learning portal, booking a consultation in the lecturer's office, and attending tutorials (Ontong, et al., 2020a; Ontong, et al., 2020b; Quezada, et al., 2020). The question is whether traditional methods of student-lecturer interaction appeal to students of today's generation. Are there perhaps other consultation alternatives that are more appealing to students? For this study, the perceptions of Financial Accounting students at a South African residential university were obtained regarding the consultation methods available.
The study sought to answer the following questions: What are the students' perceptions of using these resources? What are the potential barriers for them to use these resources? What benefits/disadvantages do students perceive in using these resources? How can lecturers encourage students to use these resources more often? The participants were undergraduate students; the vast majority of the participants were thus born between 2005 and 2007. People born between 1995 and 2009 form Generation Z (Hernandez-de-Menendez, et al., 2020). Generation Z is the first generation to have Internet access, having been brought up in a digitally connected world (Geck, 2006). These students are thus used to being connected and receiving information in real-time (Geck, 2006), which could strongly influence these students' learning styles (Nicholas, 2020). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether existing channels for students to interact with lecturers in one-on-one consultations are sufficient and appropriate for this generation of students. The objective was to determine the reasons that students make use or do not make use of existing consultation methods. Furthermore, the study sought insight into possible alternative consultation methods that are not currently implemented in the modules applicable to this study.
This study contributes to existing literature by seeking an understanding of students' perceptions of the suitability of consultation methods. This can assist lecturers in improving their pedagogical approach to current consultation methods and provide insight into implementing new consultation methods based on the feedback obtained from the students. Financial Accounting students at a residential university in South Africa were provided with a questionnaire to complete. The qualitative data obtained from the questionnaires were analysed accordingly. The study and questionnaire were based on the attribution theory and Rolfe её al. (2001) reflective model. The latter is based on three questions: What? So what? Now what? In this study, these questions were applied: What consultation methods are available to students? What are their perceptions of it? What can educators do differently knowing the students' perceptions?
The following section provides an overview of applicable literature, followed by a discussion of the methodology used to examine the information obtained from the participants. The findings are then discussed and analysed, and the conclusion is presented.
2. Literature review
Consultation methods commonly used between students and lecturers are well-established and have been used for many years. The question is, are they keeping up with a new generation of students? Today's students grew up in the digital world of the Internet and social media. They want answers and access to information instantly (Szymkowiak et al., 2021). Understanding students' perceptions of the academic support offered is critical to achieving student success (Goegan & Daniels, 2021; Ontong, et al., 2020b). The traditional classroom format is only suitable for specific learning styles and preferences (Bruwer & Swanepoel, 2020; Costa et al., 2020); additional teaching interventions are thus needed (Costa et al., 2020; Ontong et al., 2020a). This study is grounded in the attribution theory and Rolfe et al.'s (2001) reflective model. Literature on student-lecturer interaction methods was important to reflect on to enable the development of a questionnaire to obtain student perceptions.
Methods such as email and bulletin boards on a university's learning management system (LMS) enable lecturers to communicate with students electronically, irrespective of their geographical location (Scull et al., 2020). Snowball and Mostert (2010) suggest testing students' information literacy skills to identify whether they need help managing technology interaction methods.
Students tend not to ask for help because many feel too embarrassed (Symonds, et al., 2008). Lecturers should remind students of available resources and encourage the usage thereof (Crawford, 2020). The stigma around asking for help should be eliminated by educators (Yang, et al., 2021; Ontong & Smit, 2023). The relationship between students and lecturers influences their learning ability and performance; it is therefore important for lecturers to have a good relationship with their students (Uleanya, 2020). Students at a residential university usually consult a lecturer in their office and ask questions about the learning content (Uleanya, 2020). Students, however, often feel too intimidated and anxious to ask a lecturer questions and interact with them (Symonds et al., 2008). The closest equivalent for students of a distance learning institution is an online Teams or Zoom meeting with their lecturer (Keevy, et al., 2023).
Tutorials commonly entail a session where students attempt a question with the course lecturer moving around and assisting individually when the students have questions (Mason & Gayton, 2022; Ontong, et al., 2020a). In the study by Ontong et al. (2020), students indicated that smaller group sizes and more personal assistance were perceived benefits of tutorial classes.
In recent years, email has been the preferred and most established written communication method between lecturers and students in higher education (Tratnik et al., 2024). A discussion forum, on the other hand, is a bulletin board on a university's LMS on which students can post questions that can be answered by lecturers or fellow students (Moodle, 2023). According to Snowball and Mostert (2010), discussion forums can efficiently substitute face-to-face consultations. Even if all students do not contribute, they can still see one another's posts and benefit from them (Crawford, 2020). Students cannot ask questions anonymously on some university LMSs, for example, Moodle-based systems (Moodle, 2023).
WhatsApp is regarded as the most used messenger platform in the world (Statista, 2024a) and South Africa (Statista, 2024b). WhatsApp is a low-data usage app that is very effective and easy to use as a timely communication tool (Manji et al., 2021). Delport (2022) used WhatsApp as a standalone method of instruction during the COVID-19 lockdown and afterwards sought the students' perceptions of this usage. The students indicated that they preferred WhatsApp over their university's learning platform. The students also indicated that they enjoyed the emotional connection with one another in the group, including the lecturer, who was there to assist.
Students spend more time on social media platforms and engage more often than with their university email or the university's web-based LMS (Bruwer & Swanepoel, 2020; Greenhow & Chapman, 2020). Bruwer and Swanepoel (2020) experimented with an Instagram page for their students, where they posted information about the module and were invited to ask questions about the content. The students in Bruwer and Swanepoel's (2020) study indicated that a social media platform could co-exist with the university's web-based LMS. However, they should not be the primary source of information (students' perceptions as such were not obtained of social media as a consultation method with the lecturer, as was done in this study). Jones, Gaffney-Rhys and Jones (2011) indicated that most students consider social network sites as their own space, not as a place where they want to interact with their lecturers.
An external resource that students also use is private tutoring, whereby an outside party is paid to assist students, thereby indirectly creating an intervention to assist students based on their learning style and perceived lack of interventions at the higher education institution, which in general are free (Sriprakash, её al., 2016). Similarly, another intervention that students can create among themselves is studying together (peer learning), where students study together and help one another (Li et al., 2020). Peer learning can improve student performance (Li et al., 2020).
3. Methodology
3.1 Overview and theoretical underpinning
An electronic questionnaire was set up to obtain students' perceptions of both the studentlecturer interaction methods currently available to them and possible alternatives not currently available that were identified from the literature that could potentially assist students. The questionnaire was set up in Microsoft Forms. The questionnaire was developed in line with the attribution theory and Rolfe et al.'s (2001) reflective model. Rolfe et al. (2001) reflective model is based on three questions: What? So what? Now what? These questions guided the thought process of creating the questionnaire.
Students' opinions were obtained regarding various interaction methods to determine what they thought worked or did not work regarding a particular method of interaction. What personal factors (internal/external) support their attributable success or failure of a particular method and their input on how an interaction method can be more useful were also gathered to enable the development of a framework that can provide recommendations and considerations. The questions were open-ended so the participants could provide their perspectives without being guided into a response.
No artificial intelligence tools were used during any stage of this study.
3.2 Population and sample
The link to the questionnaire was distributed to the email addresses of all 2023 registered students for Financial Accounting 188, 288, and 389 at Stellenbosch University. The total population of students for these three modules amounts to 2 166 students (1 359 students for Financial Accounting 188, 540 students for Financial Accounting 288, and 267 students for Financial Accounting 389). The feedback received per module is summarised in Table A.
A 10% or lower response rate is not uncommon for web surveys (Van Mol, 2017). Fosnacht et al. (2017) indicated that estimates based on data with a 5% to 10% response rate were reliable for sample sizes over 500 for online questionnaires. Fosnacht et al. (2017) examined data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), one of Canada's most widely used higher education instruments and the United States of America. Lee et al. (2022) emailed their online survey to a sample of 1 160 participants and received a 5.43% response rate. Since the response rates achieved in this study for each of the three sub-groups are higher than those achieved in the above references, the attained response rate is deemed sufficient for analysis and interpretation.
3.3 Ethical clearance
The entire process was conducted in line with Stellenbosch University's ethical research policy. Participation was voluntary, with no adverse effects for students who declined to participate. The participants were informed of their rights, that their feedback would be used in a study, and that they would not be identified as part of the research output.
3.4 Questionnaire methodology and data analysis
The participants were asked about the various student-lecturer interaction methods, whether they have used a particular method, what their experiences of the methods were, and what lecturers could do to encourage the usage of a particular method.
Each interaction method and how it functions within the university (for existing interaction methods) is discussed in the findings section. The results are then analysed and summarised accordingly.
4. Findings and discussion
Various interaction methods are currently available to students to consult with their lecturers. The students' perceptions of these methods are analysed in this section. The attribution theory and Rolfe et al.'s (2001) reflective model were considered as the theoretical framework for developing the questionnaire; the feedback obtained from the participants is therefore summarised accordingly. Firstly, the section focuses on what is the student-lecturer interaction method concerned (What?), then it reflects on what was said (So what?), and thereafter it makes recommendations that educators can incorporate into their student-lecturer interaction methods (Now what?). The section concludes with practical limitations and areas for future research.
4.1 In-person interactions
4.1.1 Asking the lecturer questions before or after class
Asking a lecturer questions before or after class would not traditionally be considered a form of consultation with a lecturer. However, it can be of immense value as the student is already attending a traditional face-to-face lecture and can immediately before or after a lecture obtain real-time feedback in person regarding any uncertainties with the learning content. Sixty-three percent of the first-year participants, 78% of the second-year participants, and 86% of the third-year participants indicated that they have used this method of interaction before. These results indicate that, especially at the first-year level, much can be done to improve participation. The participants who have used this method of consultation before indicated that the lecturers were very welcoming (approachable) and took the time to help them understand the content better. Four participants indicated that the lecturers seemed to be in a rush, and six participants indicated that the time was too limited, which impacted their experience negatively.
"The lecturers personally explain a lot better after a class. For me, personally, I think this is due to the lecturer being able to have a one-on-one with you rather than speaking to an entire class." - Participant 14.
"The lecturers are very approachable and don't mind re-explaining if I do not understand." - Participant 109.
Of those who have not yet used this method of interaction with the lecturer, nine participants indicated that the queue is too long after the lecture and they cannot wait long as they have to get to their following lecture. Ten participants indicated they were too nervous, anxious, and/ or intimidated to approach the lecturer.
"I am shy, and sometimes I have to rush to my next lecture." - Participant 71.
"... scared of being judged and I feel intimidated." - Participant 199.
When asked what the lecturer could do to encourage this method of interaction, 31 participants said the lecturer should aim to create a class environment where students are treated with respect and can experience a happy class atmosphere. This also links with 57 participants who indicated that the lecturer should encourage this method of interaction more often.
"To be more open and friendly. A simple greet as a lecturer walks past a student. This may contribute as building blocks to the beginning of a student/lecturer conversation." - Participant 225.
"Announce at the beginning of the lecture that students are welcome to ask questions after class." - Participant 148.
Eighteen participants indicated that lecturers should leave more time for consultations at the end of the period. Lecturers can be encouraged to help students outside the lecture hall in the passage if time runs out or ask them to book a consultation.
4.1.2 Consultation in the lecturer's office
Nineteen percent of the first-year participants, 33% of the second-year participants, and 67% of the third-year participants indicated that they had used this interaction method before, clearly indicating that junior students do not utilise it much. In contrast, senior students feel more comfortable with this method. For participants who have consulted with a lecturer, the feedback was very positive about the experience, with several participants pointing out the value of a one-on-one in-person interaction.
"| like the one-on-one conversation in person." - Participant 85.
"One-on-one help is the best, and there are no distractions." - Participant 19.
The recurring theme of why students do not go to the lecturer's office is that they felt intimated, were too shy, and/or uncomfortable doing so.
"I have social anxiety, and I wouldn't feel comfortable speaking to lecturers through a oneto-one consultation." - Participant 4.
"| would find it intimidating." - Participant 186.
When the participants were asked what the lecturer could do to encourage this method of interaction, the majority said they wanted to be encouraged more and that the lecturer must be inviting.
"To encourage the consultation more, because in person is better." - Participant 22.
"Mention it more often and make themselves more approachable." - Participant 67.
Eight participants indicated that the lecturer must explain in detail how to book a consultation, and 10 participants asked that booking slots should always be available on the university's web-based LMS to make booking a consultation easier. The structure of booking a consultation with a lecturer varies across modules. However, the prevailing tendency is that students email a lecturer to request a consultation and/or the lecturer makes booking slots available on the university's web-based LMS (usually only done two working days before an assessment, of which the suggestion was to do it permanently).
"Make more consultation slots available, especially during the semester, e.g., during a difficult topic in class." - Participant 151.
"Informing students how to access it." - Participant 61.
A suggestion was also made to encourage walk-in times and to allow group consultations.
4.1.3 Attending a tutorial
When attending a tutorial, a student aims to answer questions based on content recently covered in class. This is a low-stakes environment with no pressure, where the students can be assisted immediately by a student assistant (a student who passed the module in the previous year), a lecturer, or their peers. Seventy-one percent of the first-year participants, 56% of the second-year participants, and 95% of the third-year participants indicated that they have used this method of interaction. This method was thus used extensively by the students. The decrease in second-year students utilising this method can be attributed to the variety of degrees taking the module with only one timeslot available to attend tutorials; many students thus experience timetable clashes. The feedback was very positive from students who have attended tutorials. They found it a very comfortable experience to receive help from student assistants (less intimidating than talking to a lecturer). The participants also liked receiving immediate help/feedback when they struggled, and they felt it prepared them well for assessments.
"Student assistants are helpful because they are familiar with the work and are much easier to talk to." - Participant 38.
"It was very useful as I was able to work through examples and get help with things that confused me." - Participant 93.
The main reason given by the participants who have not attended tutorials was that the timeslot did not suit their schedule (15 participants) and that they were not aware of when the tutorials were (eight participants).
"I have another lecture during that period." - Participant 179.
"I did not know Fin Acc 188 had tutorials." - Participant 61.
The main recommendations in this regard were to add more tutorial sessions (depending on budget constraints and cost-benefit analysis), often inform students in the class of tutorials, mention the benefits of attending tutorials and make tutorials compulsory for at-risk students.
4.2 Formal written communication interaction
4.2.1 Sending an email to the lecturer
Sending an email is common for working professionals dealing with enquiries from colleagues and clients, but how do today's students experience emailing a lecturer? Thirty percent of the first-year participants, 50% of the second-year participants, and 86% of the third-year participants have emailed their lecturer before; thus not many first- and second-year students have utilised this method. Many participants who have emailed their lecturer indicated that it was beneficial and informative. Twenty-six participants indicated that the response/turnaround time was rapid, which seems important to students, as various participants mentioned that a negative aspect of emailing the lecturer was that the response time was too long.
"It was excellent, I was answered very quickly." - Participant 24.
For students who have not yet used this method of interaction with the lecturer, the reasons included that many students preferred in-person interaction (which indicated that this method might not suit all students) and that they wanted real-time feedback and would rather ask their friends than wait for an email response.
"I would rather ask a question in person." - Participant 1.
"Emails are restricted to a certain period and responses are not in real time." - Participant 33.
When asked what the lecturer could do to encourage this method of interaction, 55 participants indicated that this method must be encouraged more often, and 22 participants mentioned that the lecturers must provide their email addresses in class often and emphasise that emails are welcome (this is even though lecturers" email addresses are available on the university's web-based LMS - possibly indicating that today's students want easy access to information but are not willing to look for it).
"Assure students that they are allowed to email." - Participant 8.
"Provide her email once a week in classes." - Participant 77.
Twenty-three participants mentioned that a short turnaround time was necessary to convince them to use this method of interaction.
"If they can assure that they will get back to students ASAP." - Participant 14.
"Ensuring that responses are a little bit faster." - Participant 29.
Lecturers could also potentially use a shared email address to which all the lecturers have access and take turns answering the students' emails after hours.
This interaction method could suit shy students who prefer writing to visiting a lecturer's office.
4.2.2 Posting on the modules' online bulletin board (on the university's webbased LMS)
The university's web-based LMS allows students to post questions on the modules' bulletin boards. Only 11% of the first-year participants, 24% of the second-year participants, and 48% of the third-year participants have utilised this method before. Very little positive feedback was received; only five participants indicated it was a great way to interact with their peers. The main reasons that students did not use this interaction method were that they preferred inperson interactions (24 participants), they did not like other students seeing their names and questions (one cannot post anonymously - 19 participants), the slow response time (seven participants), and they preferred using WhatsApp groups to ask questions (10 participants).
"| personally prefer to ask in person." - Participant 72.
"Your name and surname are displayed. I would not like my question to be permanently displayed next to my personal information." - Participant 1.
"Other people could see the question and judge me." - Participant 5.
"Use the groups on WhatsApp where the class can interact and help each other." - Participant 172.
Lecturers who want to use this method can consider asking students to email them their questions and then post them on the students' behalf. Lecturers should also respond timeously to encourage students to use this method.
4.3 Social media
Social media plays a massive role in the lives of today's students. The modules in this study do not use social media. Firstly, the students' perceptions were obtained regarding the use of WhatsApp as an interaction method and, secondly, of all other social media methods, such as Facebook and Instagram.
4.3.1 WhatsApp
WhatsApp is the most popular and often-used social media platform in South Africa. Most people use it daily due to its instant messaging capabilities and low cost (Statista, 2024a, 2024b; Manji et al., 2021).
Students have been using private WhatsApp groups for years; their perceptions of using these groups were thus obtained first. Secondly, their perceptions of possibly being on a WhatsApp group with a lecturer (currently not done in any modules concerned in this study) were obtained.
4.3.1.1 WhatsApp groups among students (no lecturers present)
Ninety percent of the first-year participants, 96% of the second-year participants, and 86% of the third-year participants indicated that they have been part of a student WhatsApp group. Their experience with the use of WhatsApp groups mainly was very positive. The participants indicated that it helped them to stay updated (81 participants), they enjoyed helping other students (19 participants), and they appreciated the quick response time to their questions (10 participants).
"It is very informative and ensures that students are kept in the loop about everything." - Participant 29.
"I find it helpful and a get way for peers to help one another." - Participant 72.
"It is also a lot faster than booking consultations or waiting till the next day to ask the lecturer." - Participant 124.
The negative feedback received was that the messages went off-topic or that spam messages were sent (30 participants). Several participants also mentioned that it was difficult to know if the information provided was correct (six participants). These challenges can be overcome by having ground rules in place that are enforced by the administrator(s) of the group.
"It isn't great and creates confusion and a lot of spam." - Participant 42.
"There is a lot of stress that stems from the groups as misinformation is everywhere from confused students." - Participant 182.
Regarding false information, lecturers can encourage students always to verify information on the university's web-based LMS or encourage students to correct misinformation spread by other students.
The main reason for students not using WhatsApp groups was that they were not aware of the various WhatsApp groups (these are not advertised on the university's web-based LMS).
4.3.1.2 WhatsApp groups with a lecturer in the group
Eighty-four percent of the first-year participants, 78% of the second-year participants, and 86% of the third-year participants indicated they were interested in joining a WhatsApp group with a lecturer present to help answer their questions. This result is interesting since this consultation method is not currently implemented and can be considered. For the participants who indicated that they did not want to be part of a WhatsApp group with a lecturer present, the prominent reason indicated by 14 participants was that they believed other university resources were sufficient. Three participants indicated they would not feel comfortable being in a WhatsApp group with a lecturer.
"There are other ways to get access to a lecturer. I don't need their phone number, and I don't think they want constant questions." - Participant 149.
"Students would not feel comfortable interacting with each other with the lecturer present." - Participant 181.
4.3.2 Other social media platforms
The participants were asked if they would be interested in joining a social media page (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, etc.) where they could ask the lecturer or fellow students questions. Forty-five percent of the first-year students, 17% of the second-year students, and 38% of the third-year students indicated they would like to join such a social media group. Thus, for all the year groups, most students did not want to join a social media group, despite the majority wanting to be on a WhatsApp group with a lecturer. The following responses were received when the participants were asked why they did not want to be on a social media group with a lecturer and fellow students: they preferred social media for private use (15 participants), WhatsApp as a social media tool regarding academic help was sufficient (22 participants), other university resources and channels were sufficient (15 participants), they already spent too much time on social media (13 participants), and social media was too distracting (six participants).
"Social media is not personally for work-related things." - Participant 32.
"I do not want to combine my studies with other social media for discipline." - Participant 39.
"I don't think it would be as effective as a WhatsApp group, for example." - Participant 47.
"We have WhatsApp, Sunlearn, and email, which work well enough." - Participant 60.
It is, therefore, not recommended that lecturers consider other social media platforms as educational resources.
4.4 Other student-related methods
Two other methods that students often use to help with their studies that do not entail interactions with the lecturer are studying with fellow students (peer learning) and obtaining help from an external tutor (non-lecturer). The students' perceptions of these methods were also obtained as they can influence student-lecturer interaction methods.
4.4.1 Peer learning
The literature indicates various benefits to the learning process from studying with a peer (Li et al., 2020); lecturers can encourage students to utilise peer learning. Sixty-seven percent of the first-year participants, 71% of the second-year participants, and 67% of the third-year participants indicated that they have studied with fellow students. The majority of the students viewed peer learning as a good experience. The participants indicated that it helped with their learning process and that seeing different perspectives benefitted them. Students who did not engage in peer learning mostly cited that they preferred working alone or not having class friends.
4.4.2 External tutor
Eighteen percent of the first-year participants, 19% of the second-year participants, and 19% of the third-year participants indicated that they have used a private tutor. A consultation with an external tutor is similar to consulting a lecturer. However, the benefit for the student is that consulting with a lecturer is free of charge, although the student is expected to come prepared for the consultation. Students who have used a tutor had a mostly positive experience. Many students indicated that they were not keen to use a private tutor due to the costs (31 participants), while 23 participants indicated that the free resources of the university were sufficient.
4.5 Recommendations
Based on the reflective process entailing the "Now what?" narrative questions, key support tools were identified from the feedback obtained from the participants. Educators can use these recommendations to improve their student-lecturer interaction methods. The key recommendations are summarised in Table B.
4.6 Practical limitations and opportunities for further research
4.6.1 Practical limitations
The study was performed at one university with three particular financial accounting modules; the results may, therefore, vary in a different context.
4.6.2 Areas for further research
The participants were asked if they could think of other possible student-lecturer interaction methods not covered in the questionnaire. The participants' suggestions included, among others, making video lectures available, using Microsoft Forms questionnaires to obtain student feedback regularly, Zoom or Teams consultations, and more interactive use of class representatives. These methods can be considered further in future studies. Furthermore, in this study only students' perceptions were obtained regarding student-lecturer interaction methods. A future study can obtain and analyse lecturers' perceptions regarding studentlecturer interaction methods.
5. Conclusion
This study aimed to understand students' perceptions of the student-lecturer interaction methods available to them and possible alternatives that can be explored further. Students' perceptions of lecturers are vital in consultation, as they involve interaction with the particular lecturer. Students want to feel that a lecturer is eager to help them, so they will be comfortable approaching a lecturer. Lecturers should focus on expanding their soft skills to be more approachable (it will be helpful to students if lecturers are supportive and encouraging when they feel overwhelmed). Mental health support should be promoted to students so that students who feel overwhelmed and too anxious to interact with a lecturer can get help and feel comfortable doing so.
Furthermore, today's students want consultation methods that are easy to use with a quick turnaround time. In today's fast-paced world, students want help quickly without too much hassle; otherwise, they will not use a particular consultation method. One alternative consultation method in this study that came to the foreground is a WhatsApp group where a lecturer is present to assist with the students' questions. The students also indicated they wanted detailed explanations of how different student-lecturer interaction methods work (e.g., booking or arranging a consultation with a lecturer). It should not be assumed that all students are aware of all the different resources and how to utilise them.
Overall, this study contributes to the body of literature with various easy and practical measures that educators can implement to assist students in utilising student-lecturer interaction methods more frequently and efficiently, as well as by making suggestions on possible alternative consultation methods that lecturers can explore. Areas for further research were also identified, such as obtaining lecturers' perceptions of student-lecturer interaction methods and how they feel they can be improved.
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