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A description of effective college teaching in five disciplines as measured by student ratings

Research in Higher EducationPublished 1 January 1976
John T. Pohlmann
Citations28
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.06
SNIP1.89

Abstract

Student rating of teachers in five disciplines (science and math, education, social sciences, humanities, and business) were analyzed to determine which teacher attributes were important in predicting ratings of teaching effectiveness. Rating results from 1,439 courses taught at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale from 1973 to 1974 were used as data for this study. The results indicated that the instructor attributes rated as characteristic of effective instruction were highly consistent across disciplines, and the effective instructor was described as (1) knowing when students understood him, (2) increasing students' appreciation of the subject matter, (3) answering impromptu questions satisfactorily, (4) achieving the objectives of the course, and (5) giving several examples to explain complex topics.

Keywords

Social SciencesBusiness, Management and Accounting