Thanks for your feedback Ruth. Students can sense if an instructor really cares or if they are just there to pick up a paycheck. Effective teaching is not about friendship but it does involve relationship building and creating a work like feel in the classroom. For some students they have never been in a formal environment and their classroom is their only experience into the working world. Even those students that have prior work experience tend to think of education as a place where they can relax. They should feel unthreatened and free to ask questions but the environment should always be formal and within a structured setting. By creating a fear free but structured environment, students are free to learn and engage in constructive discourse and walk away with true learning outcomes. Regards, James