This study compared student evaluations of teaching (SET) for limited-term lecturers (LTLs) and full-time faculty (FTF) using a Likert-scaled survey administered to students (N = 1,410) at the end of university courses. Data were analyzed using a general linear regression model to investigate the influence of multi-dimensional evaluation items on…

The authors captured students' and instructors' views of teaching effectiveness at the postsecondary level in two ways: open-ended questions delivered online to 500 students and one-on-one interviews with 15 instructors. A grounded theory approach suggested that effective teaching involves good communication aimed at helping students…

This study examined the characteristics of effective teaching as perceived by undergraduate adjunct faculty members in a large proprietary university. Three factors were identified through an exploratory factor analysis: Regard for the Student, Instructor Competence, and Instructional Proficiency. The author concludes that additional studies are…

Surveys to evaluate instructor effectiveness are commonly used in higher education. Yet the survey items included are often drawn from other surveys without reference to a theory of adult learning. The authors present the results from a validation study of such a theory-based survey. They evidence that an evaluation survey based on a theory that…

The author looks at the meaning of specific terminology commonly used in student surveys: "effective teaching." The research seeks to determine if there is a difference in how "effective teaching" is defined by those taking student surveys and those interpreting the results. To investigate this difference, a sample group of professors and students…

The authors present initial findings from a collaborative self-study exploring student engagement as a measure of teaching effectiveness. Focused on their college classrooms during one semester, the study pilots a peer observation model of the Instructional Practices Inventory (IPI) (Valentine, 2005). Data collection included IPI codes, anecdotal…

What is considered effective teaching varies across cultures, institutions, and disciplines. Concepts of effective teaching reflect the values and expectations of the educational culture and language in which it occurs. This study examines how participation in a course on intercultural communication affects the observable teaching behaviors of…

This article draws from an action research case study undertaken by an African-born faculty member who speaks English with a foreign accent. The study employed co-teaching as an intervention method to (a) test the hypothesis that co-teaching with an instructor born in the United States from the dominant racial and linguistic group might reduce…

International instructors in U.S. institutions of higher education boost the academic quality of education available to U.S. undergraduate students. Many university students, however, regard nonnative English-speaking teaching assistants (NNESTAs) as problematic. Innovative programs for enhancing undergraduates' capacity to understand NNESTAs'…

The purpose of the authors' study was to understand the reasons why students comply with requests instructors make and compare these reasons with instructors' perceptions of why students comply. Students and faculty at two universities completed the Interpersonal Power Inventory to assess reasons for compliance. Students were more likely to comply…

Building upon a related 2005 panel presentation at the 25th annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, the authors, several tenure-track assistant professors and tenured associate professors who have participated in a Research and Teaching Faculty Learning Community at Bowling Green State University, share their…

The Russian-educated author describes active-learning classroom activities that she created and implemented during her first experience teaching lower- and upper-level undergraduate mathematics courses in the United States. The article begins with a discussion of how the author incorporated humorous stories and memo-pictures into the classroom.…

The authors conducted a study of effective teaching using structured interviews of 29 university professors who had won teaching awards. They found that effective teaching is more than a bundle of techniques used in a masterful manner. Indeed, it embodies an elusive quality that the authors call caring. Caring, they found, reveals itself in two…

Students (n=222) who had graduated from Rollins College (Florida) 8 to 25 years earlier responded to a request for narratives concerning their most effective and most ineffective professors. Analysis suggested that ineffective professors shared three characteristics: lack of passion for their subject matter, inability to connect students to…

Good college teachers are masters of their subjects; are organized, prepared, and clear; demonstrate that they know and care about their students as individuals; display listening skills; create a positive environment for learning; and relate abstract ideas to the realities of everyday life. (JB)