The improvement of university teaching.

Abstract

Three distinct and different types of teaching improvement are identified and described. Type R (Remedial) consists of the detection and elimination of errors in teaching, such as in preparation or evaluation. Type F (Facilitative) emphasizes the use of appropriate general principles: use of objectives, frequent testing, knowledge of results, etc., to facilitate student learning. Type O (Optimizing) requires the use of a research orientation in order to determine the procedures and techniques which do, in fact, produce the highest level of student achievement. Several examples are given to illustrate the contention that procedures which are actually effective for type O improvement cannot be identified through theory or intuition, but can only be discovered by a systematic programme of introducing variations, gathering data, and evaluating the results.

Classroom teaching behaviors related to college teaching effectiveness

“…McLean suggested that poorer teachers tended to be unaware of their own classroom behaviors and thus were more in need of specific behaviorial feedback than their higher-rated colleagues. This interpretation is consistent with Sullivan's (1983) view that progressing from poor to adequate teaching requires the elimination of specific behavioral weaknesses or errors, a process that Sullivan has called remedial teaching improvement. Statistical regression was not seen as a viable interpretation of the improved performance of low-rated teachers because performance gains were restricted to time periods following the introduction of feedback and were not apparent in repeated pre-feedback measures.…”

The Role of Scholarship in University Teaching

“…In so doing, the focus in instructional development practices shifts from the remediation of teaching behaviours to full partnerships with scholar-teachers characterized by their research orientation. Sullivan (1983) considered this progression from "remedial" to "optimizing" levels of instructional development as one which would most benefit student learning.…”

“…For these reasons, the "basic instructional skills" approach to instructional development lacks credibility among many professors. Despite a shift away from this approach by instructional developers (Donald, 1986;Sullivan, 1983), faculty perceptions of the basic skills approach (and their reasons for not participating) persist.…”

Attributes of Effective Lecturing in the College Classroom

“…Progressing from poor to adequate lecturing requires eliminating specific behavioural weaknesses. Therefore, feedback for poorer lecturers can lead to significant improvement in perceived lecturing effectiveness (Sullivan, 1983). For instance, a group of instructors trained on a limited set of behaviours known to contribute substantially to overall lecturing effectiveness (e.g., vocal variation, facial expression, movement and gesture, use of pauses for emphasis) demonstrated significant gains in student ratings from pre-to post-test, indicating that behavioural training produced significant improvement in classroom instruction effectiveness (Murray & Lawrence.…”