Students’ Perceptions of the Characteristics of Teaching Excellence.
Uwakmfon
Students’ Perceptions of the Characteristics of Teaching Excellence.
A study 4as conducted at Saint Louis Community College, in Missouri, to determine the characteristics that students associated with excellence in teaching. In the first phase of the study, an open-ended questionnaire was administered to 497 full-time students enrolled primarily in English, Natural Sciences, the Social Sciences, and Business courses, asking students to list those methods and behaviors wh:ch they felt resulted in teaching excellence. Utilizing the 20 most frequently cited characteristics and behaviors, a second questionnaire was administered to 423 students in introductory Biology, Business, Chemistry, Psychology, and Sociology courses to develop a point value score for each characteristic. An analysis of results from both phases revealed little overall agreement among students regarding the characteristics of teaching excellence, with the dissimilar characteristics, “uses facts and examples not in the text” and “lectures on contents of the text,” both making the top 20. A second pair of dissimilar characteristics, “flexibility” with “an adherence to regulations” was also cited. From the second phase, the top five ranked characteristics were the following: (1) use of relevant examples; (2) clear emphasis on facts; (3) use of visual aids; (4) use of humor; and (5) projects enthusiasm. Appendixes include the open-ended survey instrument used in phase one and the teaching excellence survey instrument from phase two.
