Table 9 Trine institutional analysis—Theme 2

Value of the instructor as a learning resource

s = 11

“All the classes are taught by professors; we don't have TAs or anything like that. There's always office hours… Our dynamics professor, specifically, he comes in some Sundays even, to give kids help on the homework and stuff like that… The professors are all super helpful.” (Trine: Student 12)

Expectations of faculty’s availability and willingness to engage

s = 11

“All of the professors are willing to put in a lot of extra time to help you understand the material if you're willing to ask. That's probably the biggest thing.” (Trine: Student 2)

Interactions extend beyond the classroom

s = 9

“I do go talk to him quite a bit to get help. I use both, [my professor] and [the other dynamics professor] because he has office hours Sunday afternoon, five to seven. It's a good time if I'm trying to get my homework done… I go talk to [my professor] a decent amount too. Sometimes each one, the way they explain things is a little different.” (Trine: Student 14)

Negative perceptions of influences that restrict instructor actions

s = 7

“I feel like it's not quite as student success oriented as most of Trine’s other classes. As I said, if you go and talk to any of your professors, they're very willing to help at any point in time. [Our professor] has done that but because so much of it is online and he’s doing everything that he can with the lecture material and the examples that he’s given, I feel like it's a little limited in that regard if that makes sense.” (Trine: Student 3)