The desired teaching qualities of lecturers in higher education: a means end analysis

Abstract

Purpose -The study aims to develop a deeper understanding of the teaching qualities of effective lecturers that students desire and to uncover the constructs that underlie these desire expectations and reveal the underlying benefits that students look for.Design/Methodology/Approach -A semi-standardized qualitative technique called laddering was applied that allows researchers to reach deeper levels of reality and to reveal the reasons behind the reasons. The study was conducted amongst teacher education students at a large German University of Education and laddering questionnaires were handed out to 53 students enrolled in a business management course. Findings -The exploratory study gave a valuable first insight into the desired qualities of lecturers. In particular, the study results indicate that students want lecturers to be knowledgeable, enthusiastic, approachable, and friendly. Students predominately want to DESIRE EXPECTATIONS 2 encounter valuable teaching experiences to be able to pass tests and to be prepared for their profession. This study also showed that students are mainly concerned about vocational aspects of their studies and are less interested in their subject.Research limitations/implications -Due to the exploratory nature of the study and the scope and size of its sample, the results outlined are tentative in nature. As the study involved only a single group of university students from one university, the results cannot be generalized to the student population as a whole.Originality/value -The study was the first to successfully apply the means-end approach and the laddering technique to the issue of service quality in higher education. The study has, hopefully opened up an area of research and methodology that could provide considerable further benefits for researchers interested in this topic. Keywords Service quality, Higher education, Means and ends, Laddering Paper Type Research paper The Desired Teaching Qualities of Lecturers in Higher Education -A Means End Analysis IntroductionIn January 2005, Germany's highest court overturned a federal law that had banned the introduction of fees and thereby paved the way for German universities to start charging student tuition fees for the first time. By 2009/2010 German universities will also have switched completely to the two-level system of higher education (bachelor-master) to achieve the objectives of the Bologna process. The aim of the so-called Bologna process is the establishment of a European higher education area by harmonising academic degree standards and quality assurance standards throughout Europe by 2010. 45 European countries participate in the Bologna Process, which is named after the Italian city of Bologna where the Bologna declaration was signed by European ministers of education in 1999. All participating DESIRE EXPECTATIONS 3 countries commit themselves to adopt a system of comparable academic grades, introduce a system with two main cycles (undergraduate/graduate), and to promote European cooperation in quality...

Student Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness: An Importance - Performance Analysis (IPA)

“…Hill, Lomas, and MacGregor (2003) investigated students' perception of quality education and discovered that students appreciated lecturers who are well organized and knowledgeable in their subjects. Similar results were obtained by Voss and Gruber (2006) where students prefer teachers who are knowledgeable, enthusiastic, approachable, and friendly. Geall (2000) meanwhile found teacher attributes appreciated by the students were: giving feedback during classes and in assignments, and being helpful and friendly.…”

The Effect of Teacher Charisma on Student Attitude Towards Calculus Learning

“…Third, he/she should have a good sense of humour since students prefer attending to an interesting class [35] [36]. Finally, he/she should adopt appropriate teaching method in order to appeal students to learn [34] [37]. In short, Huang and Lin proposed that a teacher possesses of the four characteristics, including professional knowledge, positive character traits, sweet humour and good teaching techniques, can be regarded as a charismatic teacher [31].…”

“…The teacher should have knowledge and can use this knowledge in teaching practice. Second, because a teacher is expected to be good role models for students, he/she should have positive character traits (e.g., friendliness, approachability, patience and enthusiasm) [32] [34]. Third, he/she should have a good sense of humour since students prefer attending to an interesting class [35] [36].…”

Which classroom service encounters make students happy or unhappy?

“…Two sets of cards were used, one for the descriptions of positive incidents and one for the anecdotes of negative incidents. These incident summaries were then classified using the list of quality dimensions identified by authors such as Andreson (2000), Sander et al (2000), Lammers and Murphy (2002), Hill et al (2003), Brown (2004), Swanson et al (2005), and Voss and Gruber (2006).…”