2024 ASM Conference for Undergraduate Educators

Instructor Talk (IT)—the noncontent messaging that educators employ while creating the learning environment of a course—has been shown to directly influence student engagement and success. First-day Instructor Talk (FIT) is hypothesized to be especially important for establishing classroom culture and addressing early student concerns. As previous research on FIT has largely centered on faculty lecturers, the FIT used by educators in biology laboratory courses remains understudied. In this session, I will introduce attendees to IT frameworks, explore findings from a laboratory-based FIT study that our team conducted, and prompt attendees to consider the “right FIT” at their institutions.